Tag: chepstow

Which was the last horse that John Francome rode?

In April, 1985, having ridden 1,138 winners and won the National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship seven times, John Francome announced his immediate retirement from the saddle. His decision, at the age of 32, took many observers by surprise, but Francome had made it known to his one and only boss, Fred Winter, a year earlier that the 1984/85 would be his last. Indeed, Francome later cited disillusionment with continuous dieting, constant hunger and other lifestyle factors, including driving, as the principal reasons for calling time on his riding career; by his own admission, he ‘probably got a little bit bored with it’.

Nevertheless, his decision to retire was hastened by events at Chepstow on April 9, 1985. Having parted company with his mount, The Reject, who fell at the open ditch, Francome found himself briefly ‘hung up’, with his foot jammed in a stirrup iron and the stirrup leather twisted around his shin in such a way that he could not free himself. Thankfully, he managed to avoid a potentially life-threatening situation by seizing the reins before The Reject could gallop off, but thereafter his ‘head wasn’t in the right place’ and he ‘quit there and then’, without giving the decision a second thought.

Wales is home to how many racecourses?

Nowadays, Wales is home to three racecourses, namely Bangor-on-Dee, Chepstow and Ffos Las. Historically, Wales was home to various other racecourses, including those at Cardiff, or Ely, Newport and Oswestry and Llanymynech, but by the middle of the twentieth century they had all closed their doors.

Not to be confused with the seaside resort of Bangor, in Gwynedd, northwest Wales, Bangor-on-Dee is a National Hunt venue in Clwyd, northeast Wales. The racecourse, which is situated approximately 6 miles south-east of Wrexham, on the banks of the River Dee, has the distinction of being the only one in Britain without a grandstand.

Chepstow, situated on the northern outskirts of the town of Chepstow, in Monmouthshire, southeast Wales, near the English border, is a dual-purpose racecourse. Billed as Wales’ premier racecourse, Chepstow is home to the most prestigious race of the year in Wales, the Welsh Grand National, which is staged annually on December 27.

Ffos Las, situated just north of the former mining village of Trimsaran and approximately 4 miles east of Kidwelly, in Carmarthenshire, southwest Wales, is another dual-purpose racecourse. Built on the site of a former open cast coal mine, Ffos Las opened in 2009, making it the first new turf racecourse in Britain for 80 years.