The unusually dry autumn has kept one of jump racing’s biggest names off the track for two entire months. But Venetia Williams, a Grand National-winning trainer who famously prefers to run her horses on soft going, hopes to have runners in the near future and reports her team to be in excellent health with the core jumps season on the near horizon.
“It’s just ground, ground, ground,” Williams said this week when asked about her lack of recent runners. “Did you see the times they achieved in those races at Ascot on Saturday? It was frightening.
“My horses are fine, we’ve got plenty on the starting blocks, just waiting for a bit of rain. Unfortunately, I can’t see any sight of it.
“I’ve made some entries for this week, and I might send a couple up to Hexham on Friday, which would probably be the first time this century I’ve had runners there. I don’t like subjecting owners to large transport bills this early in the season, although one of the owners concerned is based in the north.”
Importantly, Hexham’s going is soft in places, making it unusual among jump tracks after such a dry spell. Others due to race this week, such as Chepstow, Musselburgh and Fontwell, report good to firm in places.
“All trainers make their own decisions and maybe I’m being ultra-cautious,” Williams said. “But at the end of the day I’m just not comfortable with the risks one takes in running on this sort of ground.”
This is a theme the Herefordshire trainer tackled in a recent interview with Owner Breeder magazine, when she said: “Running them on drier ground is asking for trouble. When owners buy horses, they expect them to be racing up to the age of 12.”
Williams adds now: “We always have plenty of horses for veterans races, and we like to think that our horses last. Anyway, we have plenty of horses ready to run and in another week’s time we’ll have more. We’ve got lots of exciting horses for this season and some nice young ones.”
