Chepstow Racecourse celebrated the arrival of summer on 3rd June with an afternoon of entertaining flat racing.

There were no equine stars on show but there were some famous names such as trainer Ralph Beckett, who four days before had saddled the first two in the Oaks at Epsom.

Sadly his runner in the first, Taquka, let its supporters down, being beaten into fourth place by locally trained Mr Dandy Man.

The Ron Harris two year old looks a good sort and should give its owners lots of fun as the season progresses.

The highlight of the card was a double by trainer Andrew Balding who saddled Dandy to win the ten furlong handicap and Queen's Star to win the second division of the two mile handicap.

David Probert, who rode a well timed finish on Queen's Star to deprive Fuzzy Logic, suffered an unfortunate fall after the winning post.

David was taken to hospital after his mount clipped the heels of another horse and this gave the opportunity for Cathy Gannon to take the ride on Dandy.  Cathy had never ridden the horse in public before but rode a great race to hold off the splendidly consistent April Ciel, another fine advertisement for the Ron Harris stable.

There was also local success for Caerphilly trainer, Bernard Llewellyn and Gloucestershire trainer John O'Shea.

Peak Storm won for the second time at the course this year for John O'Shea and Kashgar was shrewdly placed by Bernard Llewellyn to win his second race in four days.

Chepstow claims to be Wales's premier racecourse, and so it is, but the racecourse commentator once again failed to shine in the Welsh language pronunciation stakes.

Croeso Mawr is easy enough to say even by school boy standards but the commentator must have offended someone with his less than perfect pronunciation.

A little bit of research would have also helped in the same race to enlighten racegoers as to how to pronounce the name of the five-year-old gelding trained in the Vale of Glamorgan by Tim Vaughan.

The commentator insisted on calling him "If An" when it should be pronounced like the English name Ivan.

The next meeting is on Saturday 14th June when Madness will be appearing after racing in front of a sell-out crowd.

If you haven't got a ticket you will have to wait until 24th June for your next chance to enjoy a day out at your local track.

The track will be offering free entry for over 60s on that day – so get out your bus pass and get down to the track for a Croeso Mawr.