Elegant Escape Earmarked For Chepstow Challenge - (2025)

Elegant Escape (5/1 – Welsh Grand National) has a number of factors in his favour ahead of today’s Welsh Grand National as trainer Colin Tizzard attempts to repeat the magic touch that saw his charge Native River prevail two years ago.

Like Native River, Tizzard’s sole entrant is six years old and in recent years it has paid to stick with the younger brigade for this traditional post-Christmas slog through the Monmouthshire mud.

You cannot discount last year’s remarkable performance from 13-year-old Raz De Maree in seeing off a field of younger types at odds of 16/1 but, statistically speaking, this has not been a kind race to the veterans.

Twelve of the last 14 winners have been aged between six and eight and Elegant Escape has shown a liking for the soft ground in prospect at Chepstow – notably when winning the (Listed) Future Stars Intermediate Chase at Sandown in November.

Elegant Escape has been eased 4lb despite finishing a brave second in Ladbrokes Trophy Chase at Newbury earlier this month and should run well.

However, not everything points to Tizzard’s gelding in what could turn out to be a wide-open race as 15 of the last 19 winners have carried 10st 9lb or less.

And only one winner in the past 26 years has carried more than the 11st 8lbs Elegant Escape will be asked to on Thursday afternoon.

Devon-based trainer David Pipe is still to sample the success that his father brought to the yard in the late 80s and early 1990s as the Pipe Team claimed victory in this race five times in six renewals between 1988 and 1993.

His nine-year-old contender Vieux Lion Rouge (11/1) was sixth in 2017 Grand National at Aintree and ninth there over the sapping 4m 2f trip last season.

The gelding stayed on dourly when runner-up in this year’s Becher Chase last time out and runs off the same mark so shouldn’t be too far away once again.

The Irish challenge could be a strong one this year with Gordon Elliott fielding Folsom Blue (15/2), who appears to have been aimed at this race since his excellent but still desperately unfortunate fourth place in last season’s Irish National.

He was brought to a standstill when arriving with what looked like a winning run at Fairyhouse, is only 3lb higher here and has been kept to hurdles for his two runs since.

Another contender from across the Irish Sea is Baie Des Iles (16/1), who was fifth in the 2016 Welsh National. This mare needs heavy ground and is classy enough to have scooped £87,000 by winning at Auteuil in June.

Odds subject to change.