IT’S impossible to keep James Bowen out of the headlines.

Hot on the heels of his Welsh Grand National victory at Chepstow on Raz De Maree, he won Kempton’s big handicap hurdle on Saturday riding William Henry.

The horse’s owner Dai Walters said: "That boy is going to be another AP (McCoy) without a doubt. For a 16-year-old it is unbelievable."

He admitted he had been considering retaining the young man. Walters has several horses in training and owns Ffos Las racecourse.

The horse was top weight, so his trainer Nicky Henderson put the teenager on board in order to make good use of his five pound allowance. It turned out to be vital, for the winning margin was only three quarters of a length.

Bowen’s rise has been so rapid that despite turning conditional at the end of May he is only two winners away from seeing his allowance drop to just three pounds.

Champion jumps jockey Richard Johnson has become an ambassador for Chepstow racecourse in 2018.

He will be doing regular interviews in the parade ring and taking part in various events, including ‘An Evening with Richard Johnson’, where customers will be able to dine with him and hear him reflect on his hugely successful career in the saddle.

Among other things, on race days he’ll be talking in the restaurant and some of the hospitality boxes. And in the summer, customers will be able walk the course with Richard and get a real insight about what it takes to be one of the most successful jump jockeys of all time.

He will also be writing a blog, which can be found via the racecourse website’s News page as well as Facebook and Twitter. His latest entry mentions one of the horses he is hoping to ride at the next Chepstow meeting. That’s this Friday, when admission can be obtained for as little as £11 if booked in advance.

Winners keep coming for the David Evans yard. Felisa won the first race of her three-year-old season at Lingfield on Friday. She was kept busy as a two year old, but thrived on it. Though she only won once, she was only out of the first four in four of her 15 races. In contrast, Los Camachos won two days earlier at Lingfield last week on just his third start.

The stable has had three second places since then and is obviously in good form, as is that of Robert Stephens. For the second Thursday in a row he had a winner under the Chelmsford floodlights with Adam Kirby taking the mount. This one was Espresso Freddo, and it was the horse’s first win since he was bought out of the Sir Mark Prescott yard almost a year ago.

To improve an ex-Sir Mark horse is quite a challenge, but this four-year-old was game at Chelmsford and gave hope that there could be more to come.