THOUSANDS of fans will be flocking to Chepstow Racecourse this Saturday (December 27) for the biggest horse race in Wales – the £170,000 Coral Welsh Grand National.

And many of the expected 12,000 crowd will be rooting for a home win, with last year's runner-up Jubilee Express – trained near Cardiff by Monmouthshire Gold Cup-winning jockey-turned-trainer Sam Thomas – among the hot favourites.

Thomas won the 2021 race with Iwilldoit, who was third behind his stable mate last year, when Val Dancer romped through the fog under Charlie Hammond to take the top prize.

Home fans had waited 54 years for a home success before 2019, when Welsh-trained Potters Corner stormed to victory.

And having been starved of success for so long, the next two winners Secret Reprieve and Iwilldoit were also from Welsh yards, followed in 2022 by Pontypridd conditional jockey David Prichard keeping his nerve to land the biggest win of his career on 16-1 shot The Two Amigos.

But they haven't had a winner since, and will be hoping that Abergavenny-raised Thomas’ Jubilee Express repeats the form he showed winning the National Trial race under Lorcan Williams earlier this month, with the bookies installing him as a 6/1 favourite last week.

Cheltenham Festival winner and Irish Grand National hero Haiti Couleurs is also hotly fancied for a Welsh home win, trained by Rebecca Curtis at her Newport stables in Pembrokeshire.

Val Dancer trained by Mel Rowley in Shropshire is entered again, but there hasn’t been a back-to-back winner since Bonanza Boy in 1989.

Mountainous was the last dual winner of the race in 2015, which 2023 winner Nassalam trained by Gary and Josh Moore in West Sussex, who romped to a 34L success two years ago, will be trying to match.

And it’s been eight years since the trophy was last taken back across the Irish Sea, when Gavin Cromwell’s Raz De Maree landed the spoils for his connections in 2017.

This year there were seven entries from Ireland, including former Irish Grand National winner Intense Raffles and Gigginstown House Stud’s Stellar Story.

The highly progressive Mr Vango could also make his seasonal return in the contest, having previously landed the Peter Marsh Chase and Midlands Grand National.

And Nigel Twiston Davies, who has won the Welsh National twice before courtesy of Earth Summit (1997) and Bindaree (2003), has entered Top Of The Bill and Uncle Bert.

Luke Admans, General Manager at Chepstow, said: “We’re thrilled to see a real depth of strong entries for this year’s renewal of the Coral Welsh Grand National.

“Headlined by Irish Grand National winner Haiti Couleurs, winners from the past two years in Val Dancer and Nassalam, multiple Irish entries and some really highly rated domestic runners.”

The Coral Welsh Grand National is at 2.50pm on Saturday (December 27) and is live on ITV1 and Sky Sports Racing.

Gates open at 10am and Jack Pack, the swing group who were Britain’s Got Talent finalists in 2014, will also be playing after the last race, having performed at the likes of the Glastonbury Festival.

Tickets, including a wet weather guarantee, and more information are available at www.chepstow-racecourse.co.uk

Meanwhile, Wye Valley back-to-back Peterborough Chase winner Djelo is rated at 12/1 for Boxing Day's King George VI showcase at Kempton – a step up in class to Grade 1 for the Venetia Williams-trained seven-year-old.

The Ross-on-Wye-based horse secured his ticket to the £142,375 festive classic with an emphatic 4 3/4L win in Huntingdon’s £80,000 Grade 2 chase under jockey Charlie Deutsch at the start of the month.