WELSH bookie James Lovell reckons everyone remembers their first time. For him, his maiden Welsh Grand National at Chepstow arrived early at around the age of five.

Janet Davies has paid tribute to her late husband Peter, and the support received from trainer Evan Williams and his staff, after earning her 100th winner as an owner. Minella Missile gave Janet her century mark with a debut victory under rules in the recent Trustatrader Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Welsh jockeys have crowned their own champion in Connor Brace and helped raise £15,000 for Welsh children’s cancer charity, Latch. Brace – whose younger brother Max plays rugby for the Ospreys Academy – won the Welsh Jump Jockeys’ Derby last weekend at Chepstow Racecourse.

Welsh jockey Richard Patrick is celebrating a home success after winning the DragonBet Welsh Champion Hurdle on board Nemean Lion at Ffos Las. On a weekend when there was contrasting fortunes for Wales’ national rugby and football teams, Patrick tilted the balance in home nation favour on Sunday by winning the country’s biggest jump race after the Welsh Grand National.

The DragonBet Welsh Champion Hurdle will take centre stage at Ffos Las on Sunday as the climax of three days’ racing across Wales. The £50,000 race – which forms part of Gentlemen’s Day at the course – will celebrate its 102nd running, the culmination of the return of the jump season after two days of meetings at Chepstow.

Kitty’s Light – and jockey Jack Tudor – have been made favourites to win a Friday test of the best among the top Welsh riders. Wales’ leading jockeys will battle it out in their own Unibet Jump Jockeys’ Derby as part of the two-day season opener at Chepstow Racecourse this weekend.

Welsh jockey Alan Johns will saddle up for the Loch Ness Marathon on Sunday – less than 48 hours after he hopes to ride a monster winner at Worcester. Johns will catch a flight from Bristol – and a fast car – to the Scottish Highlands in order to raise funds for Latch, the Welsh children’s cancer charity.

Lindsay Knox is prepared to go the extra mile as the new general manager at Chepstow Racecourse. That’s in keeping, as she once raised thousands of pounds for charity by sledging 250 kilometres (155 miles) across the Arctic Circle.

Sean Bowen has half a dozen more opportunities to put some distance between himself and Brian Hughes at the top of the Jump Jockeys Championship at Ffos Las on Thursday. The Welsh jockey currently leads the way, having ridden 20 winners so far this season, which runs from the start of May to the end of next April.

Adam Wedge will bide his time before he bids to nose past Sean Bowen and become the leading all-time jockey at Ffos Las Racecourse. The Vale of Glamorgan-based Wedge was neck-and-neck with Bowen in the race to overtake the legendary AP McCoy, who led the way at the Carmarthenshire track with 69 winners at the venue before his retirement in 2015.

Welsh jockey David Probert is set for a swift return to action having escaped serious injury when kicked by a horse at Windsor on Monday night. The incident occurred in the parade ring before the 5.35pm race where Probert – nicknamed The Bargoed Bullet – was due to ride Bits And Bobs for trainer Andrew Balding.

DragonBet on-course bookmaker James Lovell gives the inside track on Welsh sport – what’s hot, what’s not, and who’s the talk of the betting ring. Bookmaking is a strange business and sometimes you’re happy when you lose. We’ve all heard the saying, “You never see a bookie on a bike.”

DragonBet on-course bookmaker James Lovell gives the inside track on Welsh sport – what’s hot, what’s not, and who’s the talk of the betting ring. I stand with the vegans. Ban the Grand National! Well, that’s what my empty pockets are telling me, anyway.

Tim Vaughan, Sam Thomas and Peter Bowen will bid to end over a century of pain for Welsh horse race trainers at the Grand National on Saturday.  It is 118 years since a Welsh-trained horse won the iconic race at Aintree, but if one of the trio does triumph then the roar will go around Chepstow as well as Aintree. For the first time, Chepstow Racecouse have shaped an entire day’s racing around the biggest race in the calendar, which is taking place 186 miles north in Liverpool. 

DragonBet on-course bookmaker James Lovell gives the inside track on Welsh sport – what’s hot, what’s not, and who’s the talk of the betting ring. To a bookie, spring means only one thing. Aintree. The Liverpool meeting on April 15 is big. It’s not Cheltenham big, but it’s the next best thing.

DragonBet on-course bookmaker James Lovell gives the inside track on Welsh sport – what’s hot, what’s not, and who’s the talk of the betting ring. Cheltenham 2023 will live long in the memory. It had it all – a horse for the ages, emotion by the bucketload, and a Welsh winner to cherish.

The last Welsh jockey to win the Gold Cup reckons that record may need updating before the end of this year’s Cheltenham Festival. It’s now 15 years since Sam Thomas became the last Welshman to ride to glory and win the Cheltenham Gold Cup, when he saddled the magnificent Denman to victory over great rival, Kauto Star in 2008.

DragonBet on-course bookmaker James Lovell gives the inside track on Welsh sport – what’s hot, what’s not, and who’s the talk of the betting ring. If last week was about recovery, this week was about getting prepped for attack! I was pleased – although you may not be – that we managed to win a few quid on the site. Nothing ground-shaking and that penthouse villa in Barbados is still a very, very long way off, sadly. But as the saying goes, little acorns make big trees.

DragonBet on-course bookmaker James Lovell gives the inside track on Welsh sport – what’s hot, what’s not, and who’s the talk of the betting ring. Let’s start with a little confession. I’m still slightly punch drunk from that big football hit the week before (the one with lots of zeroes on the end), so this week was all about recovery.

Chepstow-based Sarah Guest believes horse racing can provide a positive future for people working in the industry – at all levels. Guest – who lives just a mile from Chepstow Racecourse – has scooped two awards at the 2023 Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards, held at York Racecourse. Not only was she named Employee of the Year for her role as yard manager at trainer John O’Shea’s stables in Gloucestershire, but she also won the Leadership Award.