The Winner

Bindaree

Bindaree won the day today with his guts and determination. He has not won a race since his win at Aintree in The Grand National in 2002. That said he has ran some great races at this Welsh track. At the start of the following season he was second in the John Hughes Rehearsal Chase and followed that up this season with the same position in the race this year. In 2002 he missed a race in the Welsh National but the year before he was a good third to Supreme Glory who ran a great race to come second in last seasons Grand National.

Bindaree is a great favourite of many regular visitors to Chepstow. The track can be tricky and horses either seem to like the course or hate it, thankfully for us Bindaree loves it. He is a brave horse, refelected by his jockey said after his win in the Grand National "He really fought for me, he was as brave as they come" His jockey today was his regular jockey Carl Llewellyn and he said of him "When he's feeling well he always does his best" Carl said this because the horse has had a few back problems in the recent past, but with this win now who knows what's in store for him with him being 10 on Jan 1st this could be one of his best seasons. He is going to try for another crack at the Aintree marathon and if he is on song and does not get too much weight who knows?

Nigel Twiston Davies

Nigel Twiston Davies, twice a winning trainer in the Grand National in a five year period this man knows how to train chasers. Of course he also trained Earth Summit to with a trio of Nationals as he won the Welsh, Scottish and also Grand National with that horse.
Nigel is a well liked trainer who does not like the limelight of giving interviews. He is soft speaking and was almost speechless today however he did say "It's great to win this, for me and Carl, it's our national" with both of them being Welshmen it was a great victory and will defiantly not be the last.

Carl Llewellyn

Carl Llewellyn must be fed up of ex-jockeys and television interviewers telling him he is the oldest rider in this or that race. The truth is that Carl is at the top of the tree and his experience in race riding can't be overlooked. He has won many great races including The Grand National twice on Earth Summit and Party Politics and he must be very excited about Bindaree's chances this year.
Although having ridden some fine races at Chepstow this win in the Welsh National was his first win in this race, he is the first Welsh winner since Dick Frances won the race in 1956. He is a top class jockey who has won over a half a million pounds in prize money in 2003 and has many good wins ahead of him I'm sure.

2nd place

Sir Rembrandt

Sir Rembrandt Came to this race on the back of a fine win in the John Hughes Rehearsal Chase a race that often picks out the winner of this race. He ran with great credit today but was just carrying too much weight in this ground.He is now 7 turning 8 and has been lightly raced with only 10 Starts and his results speak for themselves. 3,2,15,2,1,1,1,f, 1,2 He will win more races but his trainer has ruled out a crack at the Aintree marathon this season and it looks as if a tilt at the Gold Cup is in his calendar. This horse has a big future and will win more races and who knows could be of the very top class.

R.H.Alner

Andrew Thornton

3rd Place

Hedgehunter

Hedgehunter ran a great race today for a horse that had not set foot on this course before. Chepstow is a quirky course that has stiff fences and an undulating track. It also gets very tacky when it has been raining. The one thing he had in his armoury today was that he likes to front run so it was a surprise to see him held up at the back of the field for most of the race on a course that favours front runners. That said he did well in very poor conditions. Hedgehunter is a good chaser who will win more races in the future and he will be entered in The Grand National and if at the lower end of the weights don't leave him out of your calculations.

W.P.Mullins

Ruby Walsh

Ruby Walsh is I think one of the top three jockeys riding in this country today. He has had many winners and started his racing riding for his father the successful trainer and television-racing correspondent Ted Walsh. Ruby decided to come and race over here for the last two seasons and he has gone from strength to strength. He has won some very good races including The Grand nNational on Papillion in 2000. A very good jockey with many big days ahead of him.