THE last meeting of Chepstow’s jumps season is on Friday, with the first race due off at 4.50, writes Jim Beavis.

The going is currently good to soft, which has encouraged 243 entries to be made. There could be some big fields. Tickets are as little as £15 if booked in advance.

The Dunraven Bowl is the highlight, the novice hunter chasers’ championship for South Wales. It has been sponsored for many years by local businessman and racing enthusiast David Brace. Born into a mining family, he worked in the pits before becoming a double glazing salesman. Eventually he did so well that he set up his own firm named after the Dunraven estate. His other companies sponsor the rest of Friday’s card.

Brace has owned and trained horses for years, accumulating over a hundred winners in the point-to-point arena, and his stud has housed some leading jumps sires, such as Dr Massini and Brian Boru. He is also clerk of the course for the point meetings at Pyle, near Bridgend.

Brace himself has tried without success to win the Bowl for years. His Colorado Doc looks to have a good chance of breaking his hoodoo, and he has Pink Eyed Pedro and Robin Des People entered as well. His 16-year-old grandson Connor will be riding one of them. Tinkers Hill Tommy would be a serious threat based on his Chepstow second a month ago, but has to bounce back from a disappointing run since at Exeter.

Deborah Faulkner’s Beallandendall has form figures at Chepstow this year of 112. He’s in the two and a half mile chase at 5.50 and could face recent Ffos Las winners Never Equalled, trained by Bernard Llewellyn, and Maguire’s Glen from the Grace Harris yard.

Harris could have a couple of other runners on the card. Faint Hope was a close third at Ffos Las ten days ago and one of her old stagers, Grams And Ounces, could attempt to win his 12th race on what would be his 99th racecourse appearance. A newcomer to her stable, Bungee Jump, finished second at Bath on Saturday on the filly’s second outing since being bought out of a Lingfield claimer for £10,000. As it was the three-year-old’s fourth victory one wonders why her former connections let her go.

One local trainer who won’t have runners at Chepstow on Friday is David Evans, who is concentrating on the flat these days. He had an across-the-card double last Friday at Newbury and Bath. He found a relatively weak Class 2 handicap at the Berkshire track for his sprinter Gracious John, who achieved his 12th victory from 42 starts. His wins, mainly over five furlongs, are shared equally between the all-weather and the turf, where he prefers a bit of juice in the ground.

In the same race Ron Harris’s Just Glamorous ran a respectable fifth on his first start for six months, and though he is not as prolific a winner he’ll no doubt find a race or two this year. He too is best over five, and has won on going ranging from soft to good to firm.