WELSH racing is in great shape at the moment.

I don’t profess to be any sort of racing historian but surely there has never been such a positive time for the sport in Wales.

We have a range of leading trainers, including Evan Williams, Ron Harris, Peter Bowen and Tim Vaughan, as well as some jockeys performing consistently well at the highest level, with Sean and James Bowen, from Pembrokeshire, leading the way, along with David Probert.

Probert is on course to riding 100 winners for the season on the flat.

I was lucky enough to have a tour around Tim Vaughan’s yard last week. He’s in the middle of building two large barns to house around 90 horses and is certainly a very impressive businessman as well as a talented trainer.

There is also plenty of young talent making steady progress, including trainers Robert Stephens, Christian Williams and Grace Harris. Among the riders on the way up are Connor Brace, Richard Patrick, Lorcan Williams and Alan Johns.

And last Sunday, Isabel Williams, daughter of trainer Evan, showed her skills in the saddle when she won aboard Skewiff at Fontwell Park. Isabel has been impressing plenty of observers and looks to have a bright future.

If I have excluded anyone from the above summary, please forgive me – there are so many to mention!

We are, of course, looking forward to seeing many of the leading Welsh trainers and jockeys in action at our Jump Season Opener meeting on Friday 11th and Saturday 12th October.

As well as top class jump racing, there is an Oktoberfest theme both days and local band Rusty Shackle playing after racing on the Saturday. All the details are on our website.

Last week, the death was announced of trainer Ferdy Murphy at the age of 70.

One of the best horses he ever handled was Anaglogs Daughter. She was a bold, front-running mare, who acquired a great following as she cleaned up numerous two mile chases on both sides of the Irish Sea.

After she won the Arkle at Cheltenham in 1980, her journey home was deferred so that she could collect the Aynsley China Cup at Chepstow just four days later, with Murphy in the saddle.

These days it is almost impossible to believe a horse would run just a handful of days after winning a big race at the Cheltenham Festival.

Finally, there are race meetings at Chepstow on Thursday 12th and Tuesday 17th September, while Ffos Las has a fixture this Sunday 15th September.