The familiar silks of Brocade Racing found their way into the winner’s enclosure at Chepstow on Saturday after Western General captured the 2m handicap chase, the highlight of the seven-race meeting.
Retired Somerset farmers Garth and Anne Broom are the husband-and-wife team behind Brocade racing, which has had most of its winners at Exeter and Newbury, but Chepstow is next on the list and another came over the weekend thanks to the Joe Tizzard-trained Western General.
Ridden by Brendan Powell, the eight-year-old was approaching a year since his last win and had not been in the best of form, but connections had given him a breathing operation after his last outing and it had the desired effect.
The 5-2 chance made most of the running and kept on well to seal a four-length victory - the 17th the Brooms have achieved at the course with Native River’s Welsh Grand National triumph in 2016 being their most memorable.
A qualifier for the Pertemps Final at next month’s Cheltenham Festival also featured on the bill and it went to the progressive Keable.
He represents the training combination of Philip Hobbs and Johnson White and has now won four of his last seven appearances, so it is easy to see why he was cut in the betting for the Pertemps Final, with odds ranging from 14-1 to 20-1.
Keable was a relative outsider at 10-1, but Marhaba Prince was among the winning favourites at Chepstow, producing a brave display in the maiden hurdle, for which he was a 7-5 shot.
Bande Organisee was another market leader to do the business, running away with the bumper as the 8-13 favourite.
Third at the venue in November, the Rebecca Curtis inmate built on that to come home unchallenged. He looks a relentless galloper in the mould of stablemate Haiti Couleurs, who landed the Welsh National in fine style this term.
Sean Bowen (photographed) was on board then and was all smiles at Ffos Las on Friday when he rode his 200th winner of a brilliant campaign.
That came on the Olly Murphy-trained Harbour Island in a novice hurdle, after which Bowen, who will be champion jockey for the second time this season, told Sky Sports Racing: "It's nice to get to 200 winners for the first time, and it's good to do it for the horse’s owners Grahame and Diana Whateley, who are big supporters of the yard."
Racing at Chepstow now takes a break until March 15 when the course hosts a St Patrick’s-themed day, which might be appropriate given the fixture comes at the end of Cheltenham Festival week.
Before that, Ffos Las is due to stage a seven-race card on Sunday that has a 2.00pm start and coincides with St David’s Day, so expect an afternoon bursting with Welsh pride and tradition, and thrilling sporting action.
Full details for the day including ticket prices and how to buy them can be found on the Ffos Las website.
