Seventeen runners have been declared for Friday’s DragonBet Welsh Champion Hurdle at Chepstow (3.12pm), and Captain Hugo heads the market in a handicap that has Dan Skelton and the Welsh locals all fighting for a share.
It is a Class 2 handicap over two miles and 16 yards, part of a Chepstow card that is run on the Flat track, with the going given as good to soft, good in places after watering. We covered the earlier confirmations earlier this week, and Dave Young has looked at the trends for the Persian War and Silver Trophy at the same meeting, and our Chepstow pace analysis looks at how the track has played over hurdles.
Welsh Champion Hurdle market: Captain Hugo and Le Beau Madrik lead
Captain Hugo is the one they all have to beat for Philip Hobbs and Johnson White, with Sean Houlihan booked. His form reads 21F12, so he was second last time and has a fall on the card. He is a deserving favourite, but a handicap this competitive leaves very little room for something to go wrong, and these races rarely go to plan for the market leader.
Le Beau Madrik is next in the market and is the only one of Dan Skelton’s four runners with a jockey so far, Harry Skelton taking the ride. The five-year-old won on his latest start (211P1) and runs off 11st 5lb, which is a hefty burden for a young horse in a handicap this competitive. Skelton also runs Kateira, Knickerbockerglory and Listentoyourheart, but the market rates them as outsiders, and none of that trio has a jockey declared.
Laafi carries top weight of 11st 12lb for William Durkan. His form reads 55D1-28, so he has been beaten in his last two starts, and giving weight away to this field looks a big ask. Pioneer Pete, for Jonjo and A J O’Neill, has won two of his last three and is the more interesting of the two, with 10st 7lb to carry.
Local interest and the each-way chances
Sam Thomas has trained the winner of the last two runnings, both ridden by Dylan Johnston, and the pair are back together with Doctor Blue. The six-year-old runs off 10st 5lb, a lot less than the first two in the market will carry.
Others to note are Serious Challenge for Fergal O’Brien, who has been in the first three in three of his last four starts (4P123), and Morning Mayhem, who has finished in the first two in two of his last three starts. Gibbs Island comes from the Tom Lacey yard that won this in 2021.
Filibustering for Harry Derham, with Paul O’Brien booked, has won two of his last three (51-113), and Hamlet’s Night is another to consider. Sageborough, Tennessee Tango, Queenie St Clair and Sony Bill complete the field and look the outsiders.