23-07-2025
Chepstow to launch three-day Welsh racing festival
Chepstow Racecourse is to host a new three-day jump racing festival which organisers hope will offer an "intimate" alternative to the Cheltenham Welsh Racing Festival, which will run from Friday, 10 October to Sunday, 12 October, will launch this year's British National Hunt organisers hope the event will build on the track's traditional jump season opener, expanding it with a third day of racing and a broader entertainment programme."It will be amazing and full of fantastic, really competitive racing," said Chepstow's general manager Luke Admans."There will be loads of prize money up for grabs and loads of entertainment off the track as well."
While Cheltenham remains the benchmark for jump racing festivals, Admans believes Chepstow can offer something different - particularly in the wake of falling attendances at Cheltenham."It will very much be a bit more intimate than Cheltenham," Admans said."We really want to go down that sort of affordable festival route and it's a great opportunity for the new racegoer or a seasoned racegoer to come and enjoy top-class, competitive racing."Chepstow is expecting more than 10,000 racegoers across the three days.
The jump season starts here
The Chepstow festival will feature graded jump racing throughout the weekend, including the Grade 2 Persian War Novices' Hurdle on Friday, and a Sunday card headlined by the Welsh Champion Hurdle, which returns to Chepstow from Ffos Las."Chepstow has always had the jump season opener meeting and is really well known within the industry as kick-starting the jump season across the UK," Admans said. "We've taken the third day of the festival, which has come from Ffos Las - which is the Welsh Champion Hurdle day - and we've formed a new Welsh Racing Festival across the three days."Admans expects the meeting to attract top yards and promising horses, with many trainers using the fixture to test runners before the key winter months."We know a lot of the stables target this meeting as the start of the jump season," he said. "They bring their horses here and really test them out to see what they've got and how competitive they are, and where their targets are going to be for the rest of the year."
