Val Dancer came out of the gloom to claim the Coral Welsh Grand National, hanging on to the game to thwart Sam Thomas’ two-pronged attack at Chepstow.
Trained by Mel Rowley, the 8/1 winner braced for this marathon task with a winning return at Carlisle last month and was among the men watching the leading Amateur in the early exchanges.
The favored runners, Dan Skelton’s Gallia De Litto and Jonjo and AJ O’Neill’s pair, Iron Bridge and Montbeg Genius, were drawn into contention when the runners went down the back for the second time as the runners came out in the hunt. view on the furthest part of the course.
However, with fog making visibility difficult, it was Val Dancer who started to run as the runners came back into view with five fences to jump, and the seven-year-old has Thomas’ 2021 winner Iwilldoit for company.
Val Dancer and Iwilldoit engaged in a ding-dong battle at Chepstow, and although Iwilldoit’s challenge began to falter in the closing stages, his stablemate, 6/1 joint favorite Jubilee Express, took the mantle to push the winner to the line :
With Charlie Hammond winning, Val Dancer edged out Jubilee Express by half a length at the finish, with Iwilldoit a similar distance back in third, with Monbeg Genius the favorite of the O’Neill pair in fourth.
The win not only broke Rowley’s duck at the South Wales Stadium but also secured the Shropshire handler the biggest success of his fledgling coaching career.
He told Sky Sports Racing. “I can’t put it into words, and for our little backyard in Shropshire, days like this we’re not a part of. It’s unbelievable, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, to be honest.
“We were following the rail, but it was a bit like joining the whales because you couldn’t see much. When we saw him come out of the gloom and he was still there and in contention, I thought, ‘Oh my God.’ He had not run this distance before, but we were pretty sure he would keep going.
“Charlie Deutsch rode him on the last day but had to be somewhere else today so the other Charlie took over and they had a long chat. Charlie Deutsch told Charlie Hammond what to do and he did it to perfection, it was fantastic. “
Welshman Thomas may not have won the big race at his home track for a second time, but he was still proud of his two horses.
He said: “All credit to the winner and Charlie Deutsch told me he was the horse to beat when we were talking about the race last week, he thought Val Dancer was the perfect horse for the race Full credit to the Rowley team and we will be back again.
“It’s a really good race for us and we’re enjoying coming here. We were so close but there’s nothing to complain about and we’re just delighted and proud of the horses and proud of the team at home.”
Iwilldoit has provided the Gold Cup-winning jockey with some of the best days of his short training career, while hopes are high that Jubilee Express will continue to emulate his senior stablemate and become a standing dish in the most prestigious handicap events.
Thomas added: “When you keep going with horses like that, they tell you when they’re ready to retire and Iwilldoit just loves the game. You can’t run him too often and he’ll want a good break again now, but when.” that’s how they want to do it, there’s no reason not to continue.
“We’ll have to watch and see with Jubilee Express but those races look tailored for him and I daresay if the ground was a bit softer like usual it would help him. I’m delighted he’ll hunt at home.” it’s like, so calm.
“The plan didn’t work out at all and we were supposed to do a prep run but for one reason or another it just didn’t happen. Big credit to him and he’ll improve for that race.”
