A competitive field of 17 lined up for the 2025 edition of Chepstow’s late Christmas treat, with challengers from England, Wales, and Ireland doing battle for £170,000 in prize money.
Defending champion Val Dancer skipped this assignment. However, 2024 runner-up Jubilee Express was a popular option with punters in his bid to go one better for Welsh handler Sam Thomas. Rebecca Curtis’s Irish Grand National champ Haiti Couleurs added to a strong home challenge with Welshman Sean Bowen in the saddle. His stablemate, Pats Fancy, was one of the more interesting outsiders, as a dual course winner who had slipped down the handicap.
Joe Tizzard’s Rock My Way was very well backed in the week leading up to the race. The seven-year-old represented owner J P Romans, who won this race with Elegant Escape in 2018. The big gamble on the day was the Nigel & Willy Twiston-Davies runner Uncle Bert, who arrived on the back of an impressive 9½l success at Aintree.
Recent London National winner O’Connell was another English runner to note alongside Jamie Snowden’s Git Maker, who finished third in the 2024 Scottish Grand National. Further down the betting list, 2024 Irish Grand National winner Intense Raffles provided France-based Bryony Frost with a big race ride back in the UK.
Result
- 1st – Haiti Couleurs 5/1, Jockey: Sean Bowen, Trainer: Rebecca Curtis
- 2nd – O’Connell 9/1, Jockey: Danny McMenamin, Trainer: Joel Parkinson & Sue Smith
- 3rd – Deafening Silence 28/1, Jockey: Tristan Durrell, Trainer: Dan Skelton
Prize Money Breakdown
- 1st – £96,815
- 2nd – £36,329
- 3rd – £18,190
- 4th – £9,061
- 5th – £4,556
- 6th – £2,278
Tote and Forecast Payouts
- Tote Win – £6
- Tote Places – 1st – £1.90, 2nd – £2.50, 3rd – £4.20
- Exacta – £61.50
- Computer Straight Forecast (CSF) – £48.17
- Trifecta – £3,036.80
- Tricast – £1,194.31
Recap
There was a dash for lead when the flag went down. Jubilee Express, Monbeg Genius, Dom Of Mary, and Haiti Couleurs were among those seemingly intent on making the running. Monbeg Genius won the race to the first bend, followed through by Jubilee Express, Dom Of Mary, Haiti Couleurs, and Uncle Bert, who maintained his position despite an error at the first. The well-fancied Rock My Way sat nearer last than first in the early stages, with Git Maker and Tanganyika bringing up the rear.
Towards the end of the back straight, Jubilee Express outjumped Monbeg Genius to grab the overall lead. Haiti Couleurs moved nicely in third with Dan Skelton’s Deafening Silence advancing into fourth. Turning into the home straight, Sean Bowen and Haiti Couleurs swept around the outside to grab the lead and began to increase the tempo.
Passing the winning post for the first time, Haiti Couleurs had opened up a two-length advantage at the head of an increasingly strung-out field. Monbeg Genius and Jubilee Express shared second, with Deafening Silence, Collectors Item, and Uncle Bert making up the next wave of three. Dom Of Mary had dropped to midfield as Rock My Way and O’Connell began to progress through the field.
The increased pace had some of those in behind under pressure, including Jubilee Express, who made a juddering error at the 14th fence. Monbeg Genius and Deafening Silence kept tabs on the leader with Livin On Luco making a move into fourth as the runners approached the turn for home. O’Connell and Rock My Way were hanging onto the tails of the leading quartet, with the other runners looking up against it.
Haiti Couleurs continued his relentless gallop into the long home straight but hadn’t quite shaken off his pursuers. Deafening Silence was the first to challenge. The Dan Skelton runner got to the leader’s quarters, but that only inspired Haiti Couleurs to kick two lengths clear. Four lengths ahead over the second last, Haiti Couleurs had one last challenger to see off in the shape of O’Connell, who stayed on well into second. The mount of Danny McMenamin was only two lengths down over the last, but that was as close as O’Connell got. Showing his class and staying power, Haiti Couleurs toughed it out for a brilliant three-length win under 11st 13lb. O’Connell held on for second from the rallying Deafening Silence taking third.
A big success for Wales as Rebecca Curtis and Sean Bowen won the race for the first time. Bowen followed in the footsteps of his younger brother James, who won the Welsh Grand National as a 16-year-old in 2017.
Runners
- 1. Intense Raffles – SP: 33/1, Trainer: Thomas Gibney, Jockey: Bryony Frost
- 2. Haiti Couleurs – SP: 5/1, Trainer: Rebecca Curtis, Jockey: Sean Bowen
- 3. Mr Vango – Non-runner
- 4. Nassalam – Non-runner
- 5. Monbeg Genius – SP: 20/1, Trainer: Jonjo & A J O’Neill, Jockey: Jonjo O’Neill Jr
- 6. Rock My Way – SP: 11/2, Trainer: Joe Tizzard, Jockey: Brendan Powell
- 7. Tanganyika – SP: 28/1, Trainer: Venetia Williams, Jockey: Charlie Deutsch
- 8. Uncle Bert – SP: 7/1, Trainer: Nigel & Willy Twiston-Davies, Jockey: Sam Twiston-Davies
- 9. O’Connell – SP: 9/1, Trainer: Joel Parkinson & Sue Smith, Jockey: Danny McMenamin
- 10. Collectors Item – SP: 11/1, Trainer: Jonjo & A J O’Neill, Jockey: Kevin Brogan
- 11. Git Maker – SP: 9/1, Trainer: Jamie Snowden, Jockey: Gavin Sheehan
- 12. Deafening Silence – SP: 28/1, Trainer: Dan Skelton, Jockey: Tristan Durrell
- 13. Jubilee Express – SP: 9/2F, Trainer: Sam Thomas, Jockey: Kielan Woods
- 14. Where It All Began – SP: 50/1, Trainer: Gordon Elliott, Jockey: Conor O’Farrell
- 15. Livin On Luco – SP: 14/1, Trainer: Philip Hobbs & Johnson White, Jockey: Callum Pritchard
- 16. Dom Of Mary – SP: 14/1, Trainer: James Owen, Jockey: Derek Fox
- 17. Hung Jury – SP: 28/1, Trainer: Martin Keighley, Jockey: Tom Bellamy
- 18. Beaufort Scale – SP: 28/1, Trainer: Gordon Elliott, Jockey: Paddy Hanlon
- 19. Pats Fancy – SP: 100/1, Trainer: Rebecca Curtis, Jockey: Jamie Brace
Non-Runners
Mr Vango (unsuitable ground), Nassalam (withdrawn)