subject: 55 Entered In 2012 Coral Welsh National [print this page] With a prize fund of 90,000 available for the 2012 Coral Welsh National, it's no surprise that the race has attracted 55 entries from trainers in both the UK and Ireland who are all eager to enter the first of the season's Grand Nationals.
The race, which is scheduled to take place at Chepstow Racecourse on December 27th 2012, is run over over three miles and five furlongs with 22 fences to be jumped. The Coral Welsh National is the richest and biggest race held at the racecourse in Wales during the calendar year and is usually a grueling test of stamina over a course that is one of the most demanding in the country.
First staged in 1949, the race has produced a number of horses such as Rag Trade (1976), Corbiere (1982), the triple National hero Earthsummit (1997), Bindaree (2002) and Silver Birch (2007) who have all gone on to win the Aintree Grand National.
Entries for this year's race include last year's winner Le Beau Bai, the Rebecca Curtis trained Teaforthree, Michel Le Bon from Paul Nicholls yard and recent Cheltenham winner Monbeg Dude. Harry The Viking, owned by a syndicate including Sir Alex Ferguson, is also among the 55 entries.
Irish trainer Willie Mullins has thrown his hat into the ring with cross-county specialist Uncle Junior and Irish Hennessy winner Quel Esprit but the list of Irish entries doesn't stop there.
Becauseicouldntsee, who unseated at fence 8 in the Aintree Grand National earlier this year, Ardglen, Jadanli, Raz de Maree and Gordon Elliott's pair of Chicago Grey and Tharawaat also feature.
Highest weighted this year is the Paul Nicholls trained Tidal Bay who will carry 11-12 due to the fact that he has the highest official rating of 166. He's followed by Quel Esprit on 11-05 and the Colin Tizzard trained Hey Big Spender on 11-03.
Teaforthree has proven to be the race favourite to date and that won't be a surprise to fans of racing as he seems to be a roll having landed the National Hunt Chase over four miles last March, and had a decent warm-up in the Henrietta Knight Handicap Chase at Cheltenham on November 17th despite finishing in 8th place.
"Teaforthree proved his liking for a marathon trip when scoring at last season's Cheltenham Festival, and his recent reappearance behind Monbeg Dude and Bradley was a decent first step to Chepstow, where he would be an extremely popular home winner of Wales's greatest race," said Coral's David Stevens.
A significant number of entries are also being considered for 2013 Aintree Grand National entry and with such a linked history between the two races, it will be very interesting to see if a good race here proves to be winning key on April 6th 2013.
