Tregaron weekend of turf racing a must to see

This weekend on Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th July sees the highlight of the turf harness racing season in Great Britain with the Tregaron Trotting Club hosting the Welsh Classic Festival. Tregaron itself is a unique place to race a horse with the half mile grass track at Dolyrychain Farm situated on the edge of the Cors Caron Nature Reserve whilst also being nestled under the Cambrian Mountains. The people of Tregaron and the county of Ceredigion have traditionally been true horse lovers, this being the birthplace for the Welsh Cob, a breed that has gone on to be exported and enjoyed in all corners of the globe.

This local enthusiasm for the horse and picturesque setting goes a long way to explaining why the best horses from England, Ireland & Scotland make the annual pilgrimage to Tregaron to take on the Welsh on their home ground.

The main event for the weekend is the Clasur Cymru – Welsh Classic which takes place on the program. The Clasur Cymru – Welsh Classic has evolved to be almost as unique in its place in the world of harness racing as the surroundings.

The 40 pacers with the highest national rating entered for the weekend race in 4 Elimination Heats over one mile using a preferential barrier draw behind the mobile start. The 1st and 2nd placed horses from each Heat then qualify for the Final later in the same day.

All standard enough but here’s the twist, in the Final, the horses race from handicap trails where for every 10 points increase in the national ratings a horse must start an extra 10 yards behind the mobile starting gate, this being their trail. With the spread of ratings for horses entered in this year’s event there is the potential for the back marker to start from a 70 Yard Handicap Trail. It could be the location, the event format or just that Wales is the land of Myth & Legend but much like the World’s greatest steeplechase the Grand National, behind every Clasur Cymru – Welsh Classic Winner is a story.

Clasur Cymru – Welsh Classic Quick Facts

• First ran in 1984 & won by Mountain Hero.
• First Mare to win was Black And Silver in 1988.
• First Female Driver to win was Megan Taff in 1997 with Disraeli Force, she repeated the feat in 1999 with Saunders Celestial. Brenda Dean is the only other female driver to pick up the main prize so far, she did it in 2002 with Stormy Reveller.
• The Driver with the most Clasur Cymru – Welsh Classics to their name is Mick Lord with 5 victories. 1988 – Black And Silver, 2003 – George Arthur, 2004 – Shady Romance, 2005 – Day Dreamer & 2013 – Infinatey.
• In 2009 Earned Income won the Clasur Cymru – Welsh Classic from a 50 Yard Handicap Trail.
• 2015 was the slowest Clasur Cymru – Welsh Classic on record, 2.26.4 on the heavily rain affected track but had the closest finish, with the first 6 horses home all finishing within 1 length of each other.
• No horse has won more than one Clasur Cymru – Welsh Classic but in 2022 Evenwood Sonofagun who currently holds the track record of 2.00.8 from 2019 , got within a neck of the eventual winner Laneside Logic despite starting from a 60 Yard Handicap Trail.
• Grant Cullen has driven the last 2 Clasur Cymru – Welsh Classic Winners, Live In Star in 2021 & Laneside Logic in 2022.
• The Clasur Cymru – Welsh Classic is backed up across the weekend with a smorgasbord of feature races that would be top billing on any normal day.
• The Ystrad Fflur – Strata Florida follows the same format as The Clasur Cymru – Welsh Classic but for lower rated horses and races on Saturday.
• The Dragon Races are a stakes series for 2 & 3-year-old pacers split into Colts/Fillies divisions all at Group I Level.

There are 4 one and a half mile Trotting Handicaps with incredible depth to them thanks to TROTBritain embracing the LeTROT initiative and facilitating an annual sale of Trotteur Français to British owners, which has led to LeTROT sponsoring the prize money for the weekends Trotting races under the governance of TROTBritain.

And then we have the single race with the highest potential for sparks to fly and track records to fall, The Electric Mile, this year named in honour of the recently passed Scoot Around.

Scoot Around is Tregaron born & bred by local businessman and Clwb Trotian Tregaron committee member Huw Evans, who was also the Owner, Trainer and Driver for Scoot Around’s first victory which came at Tregaron in 2003 as a 4-year-old. Scoot Around was sold soon after his maiden win to Les Fell & Family from Settle, Yorkshire where he continued to race and win until the age of 12 and then enjoy his retirement in their care.

Despite not racing in any of the lucrative juvenile stakes series Scoot Around went on to collect just shy of £60,000 in lifetime earnings, breaking the Great British Record 2 times (1.57.1 in 2005 at York & 1.56.9 in 2010 at York) and being named British Harness Racing’s Horse Of The Year 3 times (2004, 2005 & 2010) across his career.

Huw Evans “Probably the worst decision of my life to sell the horse that became a legend in British Harness Racing but that said he was in very capable hands that took his career through to the age of twelve, winning races, breaking records and hoovering up awards -simply the best.”

The Welsh Classic Festival is more than just Horse Racing and aims to be a true family day out with Trackside Food, Bar, Entertainment, Bookmakers & Kids Zone to keep everybody entertained between races. When the final horse has crossed the winning line on day one, it’ll be time to start the evening’s Bant A’r Cart – Chariots On Fire! human sulky race, which will see teams of 3 people (2 pulling the sulky & 1 driver) representing local Sports Teams, Gyms & Stables race over 300 yards in front of the trackside bar for Cash Prizes and all proceeds raised will be donated to the Wales Air Ambulance. It promises to be a weekend not to be missed.

To watch the Welsh Classic video, click here.

by Mike Evans, for the Tregaron Trotting Club