Vicente pictured winning the Scottish National
Vicente pictured winning the Scottish National

Vicente heads Welsh National hopes at Chepstow


Vicente is at the head of the weights after 25 horses were confirmed for the rescheduled Coral Welsh Grand National on Saturday.

For the fourth time in eight years the Chepstow marathon had to be abandoned on December 27 due to a waterlogged track, but officials moved quickly to save the race and the rest of the card.

Vicente, winner of the last two renewals of the Scottish Grand National, will shoulder the welter burden of 11st 12lb if taking up his entry.

The nine-year-old is one of two possible runners for Paul Nicholls along with Silsol (11st 8lb).

Others towards the top of the field include the Philip Hobbs-trained Rock The Kasbah (11st 10lb) and Fergal O'Brien's runaway Haydock victor Chase The Spud (11st 9lb).

Sky Bet's antepost market is headed by Nicky Henderson's Beware The Bear (11st 6lb) at 8/1, while other fancied horses include the David Dennis-trained Final Nudge (11st 6lb) and Jack Barber's Ask The Weatherman (10st 13lb).

The Irish challenge is headed by last year's runner-up Raz De Maree (11st 1lb), trained by Gavin Cromwell.

The 12-year-old could be joined on the journey across the Irish Sea by Folsom Blue (10st 12lb) from Gordon Elliott's yard.

Kerry Lee, who won the Welsh Grand National with Mountainous two years ago, is looking forward to saddling both Bishops Road (11st 5lb) and Alfie Spinner (10st 7lb).

The latter was runner-up to the Tom George-trained Wild West Wind (10st 13lb), also in the mix for Saturday, in a Welsh Grand National trial at the track in early December.

Lee told At The Races: "I'm looking forward to Saturday. I'm delighted it's going to be on a week later. I've got Bishops Road and, of course, Alfie Spinner, who I think will love the ground.

"He ran in the trial race last time and had it been over the Welsh National distance, I think the result might have been different."

Chepstow clerk of the course Keith Ottesen is hopeful the high-profile fixture will beat the weather at the second attempt.

He said: "The problem we had the other day was we had 40 millimetres of rain in one episode followed by another 20 millimetres of rain. We'll obviously be watching the forecast, but at the moment it's looking like it will be drier later in the week and hopefully we'll be OK.

"We're not forecast the same volume of rain this week and at this stage it's all systems go."

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