THERE was a bumper eight-race card at Chepstow Racecourse last Thursday (16th July) and the going was good to firm, good in places.

The meeting saw doubles for jockeys Oisin Murphy and Tom Marquand, and also for trainer Richard Price. The last six winners were trained relatively locally in Wales or the west country.

Statisticians will have noted that David Probert's four Chepstow rides in recent years on horses trained by Patrick Chamings have yielded four wins.

Hit The Lights (5/2 fav), who was narrowly beaten at Bath last week, extended that sequence in the five furlong handicap. He took the lead with a hundred yards to go to beat Top Cop by three quarters of a length.

The six furlong maiden for two-year-olds appeared to be in Andar's grip, having disputed the lead prior to going ahead two out and drawing away from the field – with the exception of Dubai's Secret (7/2), on whom Pat Dobbs conjured a terrific late run to lead on the line. The Richard Hannon trained colt won by a short head.

An open-looking six furlong handicap went to Midnight Rider (8/1), from Rod Millman's yard. Oisin Murphy brought him from midfield to lead with 150 yards to go and hung on despite a swish of the tail.

Frustratingly for favourite backers, Cool Bahamian started slowly, came over to the stands side and finished fast in the final furlong but could only get to within a neck of the winner.

Previous meeting's winner Peak Storm was strongly fancied for the first division of the seven furlong handicap, but he had to give best to the Richard Price trained Zaria, who was backed from 7/1 to 5/1.

The pair drew away from their rivals in the last furlong and ran neck and neck to the line, where the verdict went to Zaria by a head. She was ridden by the in-form apprentice Tom Marquand.

In the second division, despite a series of unflattering form figures against his name Dandys Perier (12/1) made all the running under Oisin Murphy.

He was a length ahead and going easily three out, by which time all the others were in trouble. Nothing else got into the race and Ron Harris's four-year-old kept on strongly to finish four and a half lengths ahead of Luv U.

The one mile handicap had only five runners, but there was such a conundrum that they were priced in a narrow range from 3/1 to 9/2.

In hindsight it was generous to let the 14-race winner Pick A Little, trained by Michael Blake, go off at 9/2. Timmy Murphy kept him by himself on the far side, not the route of choice previously, but it worked.

He disputed the lead with Prim And Proper in the final furlong and battled on gamely to prevail by a short head.

Richard Price and Tom Marquand teamed up to good effect again in the one mile two furlong, when their Distant High (7/2) confirmed the promise of her second place here last week. She took the lead a furlong out and scored fairly comfortably by two lengths from the front-running My Son Max.

Ring Eye (6/1), though a seven-year-old, had only run four times on the flat prior to the one mile four furlong apprentices' handicap.

He showed a little improvement during the previous meeting but made great strides on Thursday, taking the lead with three furlongs to go and being driven out in the final furlong by Eddie Greatrex to win by two lengths.

Petrify, who was second, is proving expensive to follow after being placed for the third time in a row after starting slowly.