Chepstow Racecourse held a 'free' race night on Tuesday 14th May and were rewarded with a good crowd who turned up despite the unseasonable weather.

The theme of the night was set in the first race. One of the pleasures of owning a racehorse is the right to choose its name.

This is often harder than it seems and whatever choice you make it will be scrutinised to make sure it doesn't cause offence or is a reserved name.

There is no point in deciding to call you horse Hoof Hearted, Red Rum or Nijinsky as the Jockey Club will not allow it.

One of the most important unwritten rules of naming a racehorse is to remember not to be too ambitious.

Naming your horse Pegasus or Lightning may backfire when it fails to win a single race. This rule was broken in the first race of the evening by Mrs J Wood who had named her two year old filly 'Fast'.

Fortunately for Mrs Wood, her name proved to be accurate as the champion jockey Richard Hughes came away with the first prize after pulverising her rivals.

This is certainly one for the notebook and may turn up at Royal Ascot. The second winner of the evening was Peak Storm, who was an appropriate winner in the weather conditions which were getting worse all the time.

By the time of the last race, most of the crowd had retreated to the warmth and light of the bars.

Spirits were low as the runners for the last race came into a dark and deserted paddock.

The race was run in rain and gathering gloom and even the normally sedate racecourse commentator could not help highlighting the comedy of the situation: "And they are off for the last race at the end of another balmy summer evening..."

Thoughts of balmy summer evenings were certainly in the mind of Mr J Parfitt and Blaenau Gwent trainer Dai Burchell when they named their nine-year-old gelding 'Acapulco Bay'.

To the surprise of almost everyone Acapulco Bay and Amy Scott lead all the way and came out of the darkness a worthy winner.

The meeting was designed to attract new racegoers to racing and despite the weather, the evening was enjoyed by all including the group who said as they left "I think we will stick to a game of bingo next time".

The next meeting at Chepstow will be on Monday 3rd June starting at 2.30pm when the hopes are for Acapulco Bay-type temperatures.