THE coronavirus is clearly creating unprecedented situations across the world and the British Horseracing Authority has made the decision to halt all fixtures until the end of April.

This means the meetings at Chepstow on March 19th and April 4th, 13th and 24th won’t go ahead. The Grand National at Aintree has also been cancelled so Potters Corner, the winner of the 2019 Coral Welsh Grand National, will not be able to attempt a rare double for his trainer, Ogmore-on-Sea based Christian Williams.

Racing has also been called off in France, Italy and Germany until mid-April.

Clearly matters are changing daily and we’ll keep everyone posted on plans for May and beyond on the website and our social media feeds. I am lucky to have an experienced management team at the racecourse who are able to deal with the challenges the current situation is creating.

One decision we have been able to make is to move the band From The Jam from the race meeting on April 4th to the fixture on Saturday 10th October, Day Two of our Jump Season Opener. We had a large number of ticket sales for the original event so customers will be able to transfer to October.

There was plenty of action taking place on the track last week and Welsh racing continues in rude health.

Welsh jockey Lorcan Williams rode Truckers Lodge to victory in the £150,000 Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter on Saturday. The horse, trained by eleven times champion trainer Paul Nicholls, was runner-up to Potters Corner in last year’s Coral Welsh Grand National.

He was always travelling well over the marathon trip of four miles and two furlongs and won easily from Captain Drake and former Scottish Grand National winner Joe Farrell, trained in Pembrokeshire by Rebecca Curtis.

Just a few days earlier, Rebecca had been celebrating a huge success when the 50-1 chance Lisnagar Oscar, ridden by Adam Wedge, won the Grade One Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

The seven-year-old finally fulfilled all the promise he showed in his novice season a year ago. He was Rebecca’s fifth Festival winner and Adam’s first. Adam is having a tremendous season with 65 winners so far.

Sold for £105,000 after an Irish point win, Lisnagar Oscar was one of the leading staying novices last season, finishing fifth in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle and then coming third to Champ at Aintree. He didn’t take to fences last autumn and didn’t fire in his next two runs, back over hurdles. A close third to Paisley Park in the Cleeve Hurdle earlier this year heralded a return to form and he was going well at home according to his trainer.

In the Unibet Champion Hurdle, Silver Streak, trained in the Vale of Glamorgan, finished closer to the winner in finishing sixth this year than when he was third in 2019. He was 12 lengths behind Epatante in what was an underwhelming renewal of the race. Hopefully Evan Williams can find a Grade 2 for him in the near future. Fences presumably beckon in the autumn.

On Sunday, Pembrokeshire born jockey Ben Jones rode his 40th winner of the season when Playa Blanca won at Market Rasen for trainer Seamus Mullins. Ben is having a great season having won the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury on De Rasher Counter for trainer Emma Lavelle.