Val Dancer came out of the dark to take the Coral Welsh Grand National, holding on bravely to thwart a double charge from Sam Thomas at Chepstow.
Trained by Mel Rowley, the 8/1 winner set himself up for this marathon task with a winning return to Carlisle last month and was among those trailing the leading Amateur in the early exchanges.
Favorite runners Dan Skelton’s Galia Des Liteaux and Jonjo and the pair of Iron Bridge and AJ O’Neill’s Monbeg Genius moved into contention as the runners made their way down the back for the second time, with plenty left in the hunt as the runners moved out of sight of the furthest part of the track.
However, with fog making visibility difficult, it was Val Dancer who made the run as the runners came back into full view with five fences to jump, the seven-year-old kept company by Thomas’ 2021 winner Iwilldoit.
Val Dancer and Iwilldoit engaged in a ding-dong battle on the long, hardy Chepstow Flat and although Iwilldoit’s challenge began to falter in the closing stages, his stablemate, 6/1 joint favorite Jubilee Express, took the mantle of push the winner all the way to the line.
Guided to victory by Charlie Hammond, Val Dancer finished a length and a half clear of Jubilee Express, with Iwilldoit third over the same distance. Monbeg Genius was the O’Neill couple’s choice in fourth place.
The victory not only broke Rowley’s duck at the south Wales stadium but also gave the Shropshire manager the biggest success of her fledgling coaching career.
She told Sky Sports Racing: “I can’t put it into words and for our little backyard in Shropshire, days like this that we see on TV, we’re not part of it. It’s unbelievable, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry to be sincere.
“We were looking at the fence but it was like connecting the dots because you couldn’t see much. When we saw him come out of the dark and he was still there and in the fight, I thought ‘oh my God’ .. He didn’t before ran this distance, but we were pretty confident that he would continue.
“Charlie Deutsch rode him the last day but he had to be somewhere else today so another Charlie took the reins and they had a long chat. Charlie Deutsch told Charlie Hammond what to do and he did it to perfection, it was fantastic.”
Welsh-based Thomas may have barely managed to win a major race at his local track for the second time, but he was still proud of both of his placed horses.
He said: “Congratulations to the winner and Charlie Deutsch told me he was the horse to beat when we talked about the race last week, he thought Val Dancer was the perfect horse to race. Well done to the Rowley team and us I’ll be back again .
“It’s a really good race for us and we’re enjoying coming here. We were so close but we’ve got nothing to complain about and we’re just delighted and proud of the horses and proud of the team at home.”
Iwilldoit has provided the Gold Cup-winning jockey with some of the biggest days of his short training career, while hopes are high that Jubilee Express will repeat his older colleague and become a regular at the handicapper’s most prestigious event.
Thomas added: “When you go on with horses like that, they tell you when they’re ready to retire and Iwilldoit just loves the game. You can’t run him too often and now he’ll want a good rest again, but when they want to do it like that, there’s no reason not to classes.
“We’ll have to look and see with Jubilee Express, but those steady races look tailor-made for him and I daresay it would help him if the ground was a bit softer than it usually is. I’m delighted and he’s like a hunter at home so relaxed.
“The plan didn’t work at all and we were supposed to have a warm-up run but for one reason or another it just didn’t happen. Credit to him and he’ll improve a ton for that race.”
