The going was good, good to soft in places for this sunny evening meeting that celebrated the tenth anniversary of the opening of Ffos Las. As at the previous fixture, no hurdles were jumped in the home straight due to the setting sun. The last five races were notable for most of the field being closely grouped and in with chances as they started up the home straight. Evan Williams trained the winner of the …

A mild, wonderfully sunny evening. So much so, in fact, that in the last four races all the hurdles in the home straight were omitted because of the low sun. The going was good, good to soft in places. We began with an open-looking 3m chase. The Boom Is Back, heavily gambled on to no avail here on his last start and well supported again today, was poised to gain compensation for connections when hitting …

Madness concert night at Ffos Las was preceded by some racing. The going was good, good to firm in places. There was an all-Welsh success in the first race, a 3m hurdle. Buck Bravo (9/2) was trained by Dai Rees and ridden by Sean Bowen. He had a great chance on one piece of 2018 form, and was backed from 25/1 this morning with the confidence it would be reproduced, with first-time blinkers added to …

It has been somewhat a slow start to the new season but that is expected this time of year as the racing isn’t quite as competitive as the winter months. However, I kicked the season off with a winner in Ludlow 10 days or so ago with Cubao who won the bumper for trainer Rebecca Curtis, he is a well-bred 5 year old by Fame and Glory and what was more promising was that it …

This evening fixture was transferred at short notice from Wincanton, where the ground was deemed too firm to be safe. No such problems at Ffos Las, where the going was good after watering. Racing began with a 2m mares hurdle. Katy Price’s Definite Winner (11/4) had won over further and Gavin Sheehan wisely set out to make all the running on her. Her stamina enabled her to fend off her rivals coming up the straight. …

There has been no jump racing this week in Britain, so I managed a flying visit home to see the family which was nice, it is always nice to go home and catch up with family and with racing on a lot, it is difficult to do. My nephews have had a new pony so they were playing. Hopefully, they’ll be following in mine and James’s footsteps in the near future. As I said, it …

As the season draws to a close, I have been busy with a few winners recently. Last Sunday I was in Ffos Las with two winners for Dad, Statuario was the easier winner of the two, there wasn’t much pace on so we made all and he stayed on well to win by quite a wide margin. My other winner came from Alf ‘N’ Dor who won a handicap chase, which was his second win …

The Easter Sunday meeting at Ffos Las was blessed with warm sunshine and big crowds taking advantage of all the family-friendly entertainment.  The going was good and five of the six races were won by Welsh-trained horses.   The mares-only 2m6f hurdle went to the Evan Williams stable, when Mac Bella (6/1) won her first race at the 16th attempt.  Carrying at least 13 pounds less than her rivals, her jockey Adam Wedge sensibly set …

Tobefair, the best horse to be trained in Carmarthenshire for many a long year, will have a race named after him at Ffos Las on Easter Sunday.   The ‘Congratulations Tobefair Handicap Chase’ will be run in honour of a horse who has proved that in jump racing humble beginnings don’t necessarily prevent you from playing, and winning, in the big league.   He’s nine years old now.  As a foal he had been given …

Last weekend was questionably the best days racing I’ve ever had. I rode my first Grade 1 winner in Aintree on Grand National Day. I rode If The Cap Fits for Harry Fry and the Rooney family in the Ryanair Stayers Hurdle. The horse shown a lot of guts to get his head back up on the line to win, I thought we’d lost it after jumping the last hurdle but he stuck his neck …