We are well and truly gearing up for our Dragonbet Welsh Racing Festival next month and you can be sure the Bowen family will make a splash at the meeting. Previously a two-day affair, the fixture now takes place across three afternoons on October 10-12 and a pass for entry costs just £39.
Feature races include the Dragonbet Persian War Novices' Hurdle, the Wasdell Group Silver Trophy Handicap Hurdle and the DragonBet Proud Sponsor Of The Welsh Champion Hurdle, which had been run at Ffos Las.
The safest bet is that the Bowens will be involved in some fashion. Father Peter trained from his Pembrokeshire base for a number of years, gaining a reputation as a prolific operator never afraid of travelling a horse for the right race.
His eldest son Mickey took over the training licence earlier this year and has enjoyed a fine time of things, while Peter’s other son Sean (photographed) was crowned champion jockey for the first time last season.
He is odds-on for another title and leads their other sibling James, who has an association with powerful trainer Nicky Henderson, in the championship. Sean currently has 83 winners and James has 35 successes.
It was James, however, who had bragging rights over Sean last year when Flying Fortune - then trained in partnership by Peter and Mickey - landed the Persian War, which has been won by some smart performers. They include the Paul Nicholls-trained Silviniaco Conti, successful in 2010 before going on to capture two King George VI Chases.
All three Bowens remain in cracking form and will hope to carry that on when we opened our doors for the jumps season in a few weeks.
Local trainer Robert Stephens might also have an eye on the races there and his latest runner Sneaky Blinder shaped with promise when fourth at Wolverhampton last week.
His Monmouthshire counterpart Christopher Mason was also represented at the track on Saturday when Gilt Edge finished sixth under Gina Mangan, while Thomas Faulkner - another based in the area - will take heart from Serious Look’s recent fourth at the Midlands venue.
Grace Harris has been going great guns for most of the summer, but her two runners at Newbury last week - Fullstop and Nakaaha - failed to fire, although she has plenty to look forward to in the form of Exclamation.
Owned by Foxhills Racing Limited, he performed with credit for the Gwent-based Harris at Royal Ascot in June before winning at Doncaster, which is where he headed this month for the Group 2 Flying Childers. Outrunning odds of 80-1, he finished fifth, beaten just three and a quarter lengths. It will be interesting to see what route Harris takes with the colt, who is entered in next week’s William Hill Two Year Old Trophy, a Listed prize staged at Redcar and worth £150,000.
