I HAVE mentioned the positive state of Welsh horse racing in this column on numerous occasions and the successes keep on coming.

Robert Stephens, who trains at Penhow, had one of the biggest wins of his career last Sunday when The Caller made the long trip to Sedgefield worthwhile by winning the £30,000 Durham National Handicap Chase.

The eight-year-old gelding is owned by Colleen Ford-Ellis who, I think it’s fair to say, had a memorable day, and the 280-mile trip home probably went quite quickly!

The same day one of the best racehorses in Wales, Silver Streak, made an impressive seasonal re-appearance by winning a £40,000 race at Kempton Park.

The six-year-old grey horse is trained by Evan Williams in the Vale of Glamorgan and won last year’s Welsh Champion Hurdle at Ffos Las. He ended the season finishing third in the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. He undoubtedly has a big year ahead.

There’s plenty more positive news.

Welsh flat jockey David Probert last week rode his 100th winner of the year and young jump jockey Ben Jones from Pembrokeshire rode the first treble of his career at Hereford. Two of those victories were for local trainer Grace Harris – Searching and Field Exhibition.

Ben also won aboard King Alfonso at Ffos Las on Saturday where Pembrokeshire trainer Rebecca Curtis had a double with Special Princess and Joueur Bresilien

A legendary horse from Carmarthenshire was remembered at the same meeting.

Norton’s Coin, trained by his farmer/owner Sirrell Griffiths to win the 1990 Cheltenham Gold Cup at odds of 100-1, had a race named in his memory.

The horse was trained around 20 miles from Ffos Las and Sirrell was in attendance on Saturday along with Graham McCourt, the jockey in the saddle on the big day. It’s important to remember these great horses and the race will be run annually.

Our next meeting at Chepstow is on Tuesday, 29th October. There are seven races from 1.20pm and admission is £16 in advance.

For the Christmas Party Race Day on Saturday, 7th December, we have booked The Wurzels to play live after racing. It’ll be a fun day to come and let your hair down!

All the details are available on our website.