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Notwithstanding the addition of a furlong or so to the race distance in 2019, the Welsh Grand National has been run at Chepstow in Monmouthshire, South East Wales in more or less the same guise since 1949. Nowadays, the race is what the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) calls a ‘Premier Handicap’, run over 3 miles, 6 furlongs and 30 yards on going that is invariably soft or heavy.

The Welsh Grand National has a long history, having been run at the now-defunct Ely Racecourse in Cardiff between 1895 and the closure of that course in 1939 and making a one-off appearance at Newport Racecourse in 1948 before that course, too, ceased to exist. At its current venue, the race was originally scheduled for Easter Tuesday, in March or April, but was moved to February a decade later and to its current position on the calendar, on the day after Boxing Day, two decades after that.

Unsurprisingly, December is one of the coldest and wettest months of the year in Chepstow, with average rainfall in the region of 2½” and daily average low temperatures around 4°C, making ground frost a distinct possibility. It would be fair to say that climatic conditions, together with the dense, clay loam soil, which drains notoriously poorly, makes life interesting for ground staff, especially during the winter months. Somewhat ironically, despite extensive work to improve drainage in the last decade or so, the Welsh Grand National has been subject to postponement five times since 2010, once because because of frost and snow and four times because of waterlogging, having not previously been abandoned since 1996. Thankfully, on all five occasions, the Chepstow course had recovered sufficiently for the race to be staged the following January, a week or two after originally scheduled.

The late Lester Piggott, who died peacefully in Switzerland on May 29, 2022, aged 86, was, without question, the outstanding jockey of the postwar era and, arguably, the finest jockey ever to ride on British turf. Born in Wantage, Oxfordshire on November 5, 1935, he rode his first winner, The Chase, trained by his father, Keith, at Haydock Park in 1948, aged 12, and his last, Palacegate Jack, trained by Jack Berry, at the same venue in 1994, aged 58.

In between times, “The Long Fellow”, as Piggott was popularly known, rode a total of 4,491 winners on British soil and was champion jockey 11 times between 1960 and 1982. His 47-year career also included a record 30 British Classic winners, starting with Never Say Die in the Derby in 1954 and finishing with Rodrigo De Triano in the 2,000 Guineas in 1992. Indeed, Piggott remains the most successful jockey in the history of the Derby, with nine wins to his name, while his Classic haul also included the St Leger eight times, the Oaks six times, the 2,000 Guineas five times and the 1,000 Guineas twice.

Piggott is not, in fact, the most successful jockey in the history of the oldest Classic. His career total of eight wins is only good enough for joint-second in the all-time list, alongside John Jackson, a leading Northern jockey around the run of the turn of the nineteenth century. Both trail another nineteenth century jockey, William “Glorious Bill” Scott, by one.

For the uninitiated, the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase is, nowadays, a conditions or level weights steeplechase run over three-and-three-quarter miles on a dedicated cross country course at Cheltenham Racecourse in Gloucestershire, South West England. It is currently scheduled to be run on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival, staged annually in March, having originally been added to the programme when what is considered the pinnacle of the National Hunt racing was extended to four days from three in 2005. Until 2016, the race was run as a handicap steeplechase, but has, nonetheless, been sponsored by independent whiskey distillery Glenfarclas since 2009.

The Cross Country Course at Cheltenham was introduced in 1995 and consists of a variety of idiosyncratic obstacles, including banks, ditches, hedges and even an Aintree-style fence, reminiscent of those jumped during the Grand National. Given the marathon distance and the nature of the obstacles, 32 of which are jumped during the race, it should come as no surprise to learn that the most successful horse in the history of the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase is, in fact, Tiger Roll.

Of course, the diminutive Authorized gelding is best remembered for winning back-to-back renewals of the Grand National in 2018 and 2019. Nevertheless, Tiger Roll also won the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase en route to both victories at Aintree and did so again in 2021, for a total of three wins altogether. Indeed, he came within three-quarters of a length of a fairytale finale to his racing career when runner-up behind stable companion Delta Work in 2022, having only surrendered the lead in the last half a furlong or so.