Chepstow Racecourse, situated in Monmouthshire, Wales, is one of just three racecourses in the principality, the others being Bangor-on-Dee, near Wrexham, and Ffos Las, near Llanelli. The dual purpose course staged its first meeting in 1926 and became the home of the Welsh National, a prestigious handicap steeplechase run over 3 miles 5½ furlongs, in 1948. Chepstow plays host to 14 Flat fixtures between May and September and 16 National Hunt fixtures in the remaining months of the year.
Course Characteristics
The round course at Chepstow is a left-handed, undulating, but galloping oval, approximately two miles in circumference. The straight mile course, like the round course, is generally downhill until the five-furlong marker and then generally uphill until the three-furlong marker before levelling out. On the National Hunt course, there are eleven, stiff fences, or seven flights of hurdles, per circuit. The nature of the subsoil at Chepstow means that conditions can become very testing indeed during spells of wet weather.
Track Facts
In 1933, Sir Gordon Richards rode eleven consecutive winners over two days at Chepstow and was beaten a head and a neck on his twelfth mount.
Former National Hunt jockey and trainer, the late David “Duke” Nicholson rode his first winner over obstacles, Fairval, as a 16-year-old in 1955.
The Welsh National is recognised trial for both the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National. The last horse to complete the Welsh National-Cheltenham Gold Cup double in the same season was Burrough Hill Lad in 1983/84, while the last horse to complete the Welsh National-Grand National double in the same season was Earth Summit in 1997/98.