Another step towards the point-to-point season’s opening fixture takes place on Sunday (October 26) when Lower Machen holds an open day.
The South Wales course, just a short drive from junctions 28 or 32 of the M4, is set to stage racing on Sunday, November 9, when the curtain rises on the 2025/26 season. It heralds the reopening of a course which closed in 2019, but has been given a new lease of life since being bought by racehorse owner Dai Walters.
Clerk of the course Tim Jones says: “We are opening the course from 11am until 1pm for owners, trainers, riders and the public to come along and judge things for themselves. There will be hot and cold refreshments – including Jonny Tudor’s famous burgers – and we will be parking cars.
“At this stage I would call the fastest bit of ground as ‘good’ with quite a bit of ‘good to soft’, and I’m optimistic that we will be racing on ground on the easy side of good on race day, whether we create it or the good lord plays a hand.”
Tim Jones, delighted with the support he has received in preparing Lower Machen for the season's opener (Ce)
Jones says he has been amazed by the number of people who have spent time in work parties on the course, and the distance they have travelled.
He says: “We have organised work parties every Sunday for the past seven weeks and I’ve been blown away by the support. There has generally been between 11 and 15 people each time, and they’ve not been all local people. We’ve had help from as far away as Tenby and Hereford. Even the people who have joined us from Bridgend have had an hour’s trip. It’s been fantastic.”
Asked why he felt such support had been forthcoming, Jones says: “People loved the course before, but at that time they had their own meetings and courses to look after. Now most of those courses have gone, and they feel we’ve got to pull together to keep point-to-pointing alive in Wales.
“I’d like to think we could stage four or five meetings a season at Machen in the future, and with five or six meetings a year in Wales that would encourage Welsh people to own horses.”
Jones thanks Walters for the support he has provided to upgrade the course, and he says that when Will Biddick and former Jump jockey Sam Thomas rode around the course recently they gave it the thumbs up.
The six scheduled races include the first in a 15-race series of maiden races for four- and five-year-olds – the winner of each race qualifies for a bonus of £25,000 (GB bred) or £15,000 (non-GB bred) if going on to success in selected races under rules – while the card’s two open races are each worth £1,000 in total.
Racing at Lower Machen on November 9 will commence at noon, there will be hospitality for owners and trainers, and entry to the course is £15 for adults or £12.50 for Early Bird tickets bought via this website – go to Fixtures & Results for information.