AMIGOS IS A FRIENDLY FESTIVE FACE

Andy Newton reveals an interesting trend which might earn you a Christmas bonus at Chepstow

- Andy Newton

As well as the King George, another of the big Christmas races over the festive period is the Coral Welsh National – which is always staged on December 27 (unless it gets postponed).

The race adds a bit of spark to the dull period between Christmas and New Year and with bookmaker Coral having backed the race since 1973, it’s the longest-running sponsored jumps race.

The only downside to the race is that the Chepstow track can often get hit with bad weather in late December and in recent years the race has had to be rescheduled five races since 2011 and run in the following month – fingers-crossed the race gets the all-clear.

Staged over 3m6f at Chepstow racecourse, this is also the first of the big National contests of the season, with the Irish, Scottish and Aintree renewals to follow.

Being a National, and run over one of the longer trips in jumps racing, then horses with stamina in abundance is a must – plus, with the ground conditions often on the soft side this puts even more emphasis on staying power.

This is all backed up with ALL of the last 21 winners being previous winners over at least 3m.

Twelve months ago, we witnessed the 10-year-old The Two Amigos win the race for trainer Nicky Martin and 5lb claiming jockey David Prichard.

This 10-year-old was also the fourth winner in a row that carried 10-4 or less, with only 10-1 on his back and beat a couple of ‘Bigs’ in The Big Breakaway and The Big Dog.

So, what are the main Welsh Grand National trends to look for?

Age – In recent years, we can safely say there is not really a standout age trend with winners ranging from 6 up to 13 in the last six years alone.