The Coral Welsh Grand National will be staged at Chepstow on Monday, December 27, and will see Evan Williams’ Secret Reprieve return to scene of his last success as he bids to defend his title.
The Llancarfan-trained racehorse is bidding to join Limonali, Bonanza Boy and Mountainous to become just the fourth horse since the Second World War to win two Welsh Grand Nationals. A back-to-back win would be the first since Bonanza Boy in 1989.
The seven-year-old has not run since winning the race in January 2021, after waterlogging caused the postponement of the fixture from its usual post-Christmas slot in December 2020.
Secret Reprieve runs off a mark of 140 this time around, some 6lb higher than in January, but the presence of 2018 Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Native River - who won the Welsh Grand National in 2016 - at the head of the field means Williams’ runner will still be lightly weighted. Turning 12 in a few days, the Colin Tizzard-trained horse is in his final season before retiring.
The winner of the 2019 race, Potters Corner, is also competing again, trained by Ogmore-based Christian Williams. Before his win, it had been 54 years since a Welsh trainer won the Welsh race at Chepstow, and there have now been two Welsh winners in successive years.
Here's everything you need to know about the race:
What time is the Welsh Grand National 2021?
The 2021 edition of the Coral Welsh Grand National takes place on Monday, December 27, at Chepstow Racecourse at 2.50pm.
The ground at Chepstow has been eased to soft, heavy in places (from soft) after 6.5mm of rain on Monday morning.
Chepstow's biggest day of the year will be held behind closed doors after the Welsh Government announced new restrictions on major events from Boxing Day.
What TV channel is the Welsh Grand National on? What about live streaming?
The prestigious Coral Welsh Grand National is taking place behind closed doors due to new Welsh Government Covid regulations, but punters can watch the action live.
The Welsh Grand National is being broadcast live on Sky Sports Racing (Sky channel 415 or Virgin 535) and ITV4, and viewers can live stream coverage via the Sky Go/Sky Sports app or the ITV Player.
Welsh Grand National runners, riders, trainers and numbers
11. Secret Reprieve, ridden by Adam Wedge, trained by Evan Williams
16. Iwilldoit, Stan Sheppard, Sam Thomas
14. Hold That Taught, Charlie Deutsch, Venetia Williams
7. The Big Dog, Jonathan Burke, Peter Fahey
13. Deise Aba, Tom O'Brien, Philip Hobbs
6. Highland Hunter, Harry Cobden, Paul Nicholls
5. Mighty Thunder, Derek Fox, Lucinda Russell
20. Potters Corner, Jack Tudor, Christian Williams
10. Achille, Hugh Nugent, Venetia Williams
1. Native River, Brendan Powell, Colin Tizzard
19. Hill Sixteen, Craig Nichol, Sandy Thomson
2. Elegant Escape, Jonjo O'Neill Jr, Colin Tizzard
12. Discordantly, Gavin Sheehan, Mrs John Harrington
8. Ramses De Teillee, Tom Scudamore, David Pipe
4. Truckers Lodge, Lorcan Williams, Paul Nicholls
18. Captain Drake, Lorcan Murtagh, Harry Fry
17. Eva's Oskar, Alan Johns, Tim Vaughan
3. Kimberlite Candy, Richie McLernon, Tom Lacey
9. Mac Tottie, Sean Bowen, Peter Bowen
15. Colorado Doc, Connor Brace, David Brace
What is the Welsh Grand National prize money?
It's not the biggest race in the Welsh calendar for nothing. The Welsh Grand National is marked as a £150,000 race, with the winner pocketing £85,425.
Welsh Grand National's previous winners
Native River, his stablemate Elegant Escape, last year's winner Secret Reprieve and Christian Williams' Potters Corner are the runners to have previously tasted glory in this marathon test.
2020 - Secret Reprieve (T: Evan Williams. J: Adam Wedge)
2019 - Potters Corner (T: Christian Williams. J: Jack Tudor)
2018 - Elegant Escape (T: Colin Tizzard. J: Tom O'Brien)
2017 - Raz De Maree (T: Gavin Cromwell. J: James Bowen)
2016 - Native River (T: Colin Tizzard. J: Richard Johnson)
Welsh trainer Evan Williams' bid to win second consecutive Welsh Grand National
In front of empty grandstands, Secret Reprieve justified his position as the 5-2 favourite as he overcame a broken breast-girth to stay on convincingly and record a three-length success in the hands of Adam Wedge.
Dry weather and unsuitably good ground have prevented Williams from running the bay since that success, but the trainer has form for producing a big run from a fresh horse as State Of Play won the Ladbrokes Trophy, then known as the Hennessy, on his first run of the campaign in 2006.
“I would loved to have got a run under his belt, but I haven’t been able to do that because the ground has been far too dry for us. That’s the situation we’re in and everything else is fine,” Williams said on a press call hosted by Great British Racing.
“We were thinking about Cheltenham and then the Grand National, it looked like that job might happen and we missed the cut – the field was the only option then. He’s come in and he’s done his work all through the autumn. I would dearly have liked to have gone for a run somewhere, but the weather was just against us.
“Some horses need the confidence of running in races and winning and that gets them there, other horses you can slot in because they are good enough to slot in and I think if you’re classy enough, then you will get away with it.
“State Of Play won a Hennessy without a run and I keep clinging on to that. That was a good while ago and we weren’t as well known then, but they said that was impossible and nothing, absolutely nothing, in horse racing is impossible.”
Last season things did go in the gelding’s favour and Williams believes the stars aligned for his runner as a long-held ambition was realised in a race hugely significant to the Welshman and his family.
“It was a huge day, a day that I’d always wanted but was struggling to get, so when it came we were over the moon,” he said.
“There was a fair amount of relief more than anything, I think that’s the biggest emotion.
“On the run-up to a big race when you know that you’ve got an outstanding chance if it all comes right, it’s the relief and pride that’s a huge part of it because it is a race that I’ve always wanted to win.
“I’ve always gone on record as saying that the race I most wanted to win in my life was the Welsh Grand National.
“All of my life I really never thought that we would be training the quality and the number of horses that we have developed to train. I never dreamt that would happen.
“No matter what we win in the future and what we’ve done in the past, it will always be the extra special bit in the corner of your heart that we won the Welsh National.”
Native River's form
As for competition from Native River, Williams added: “I think the best horse in the race is the top (weight) horse (Native River), it makes the race a very classy race because he is a very classy animal.
“He’s a Gold Cup winner and I think he has an outstanding chance.
“We will need a lot of things in our favour, but it’s the same with any three-mile-six-furlong handicap chase at the highest level and what we have to remember is that this is a much better race this year.”
