One of the highlights of the National Hunt Season at Chepstow is the Unibet Jump Season Opener Meeting, which falls across two days in October and traditionally launches the winter national hunt programme in the UK. The Racing Horse has longed believed the National Hunt Season starts at Chepstow at this October meeting. Richard Johnson agrees, he describes it as the start of the serious business.

The action starts on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th October 2021 when all the big names in racing compete for fantastic prize money across the two day, this year it totals £400,000, making for fabulous excitement and high class racing.

Friday is the first day of the Unibet Jumps Season Opener meeting and is one of the finest Chepstow events on the horse racing calendar. The £60,000 Grade 2 Unibet Persian War Novices’ Hurdle over 2m3½f is the day's feature race, which has been won by many high class horses including Silviniaco Conti and Bonanza Boy. Twelve times champion trainer Paul Nicholls has trained eight winners of the race including McFabulous and Secret Investor.

The first running of this race  was in 1977 and was named after Persian War, who was a three-time winner of the Champion Hurdle and was trained near Chepstow. The race was moved to late October in 2004 and then to an earlier date in October 2015.

The Racing Horse will be supplying a FREE RACECOURSE TEMPLATE for the meeting and they will provide positive and negative traits, but at first glance the suggestion is to filter those aged 5 and 6yo, in the top three in the betting, who had won their last run and rated higher than 130, from the rest of the field. The winner will probably be found in this bandwidth. Here are the trends for the Persian War Novices’ Hurdle over the last 12 years:

9/12: Aged 5 or 6yo (75%)
9/12: Top three in the betting (75%)
8/12: Won on last run (67%)
7/12: Rated 130 or higher (58%)
5/12: Winning favourites (42%)
3/12: Previously ran at Chepstow (25%)
2/12: Previously won at Chepstow (17%)

Proving the quality of the race, 3 of the last 12 winners ran in the Albert Bartlett at the Cheltenham Festival, and 9 of those winners won at least one more race that season. Interesting that 6 of the winners ran in the Hyde Novices Hurdle at Cheltenham on their next run with 2 winning, whilst 4 won on their next start after this race.

Another of the day’s highlights is the £30,000 Professor Caroline Tisdall Supports Heroic Jumpers Veterans’ Chase.

Phil Bell (Executive Director) said: "It has taken a while but the word is well and truly out that spectators can come back to professional sport in Wales and in recent weeks our attendances at Ffos Las and Chepstow have flourished. The numbers through the gates in August have been far better than 2019 with Ladies Day at Ffos Las and the Big Bank Holiday Bash at Chepstow both attracting more than 4000 people. Restaurant and hospitality sales have also picked up strongly and all indications show this will continue in the coming months."

He continued: "Tickets for Chepstow’s Unibet Jump Season Opener on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th October are selling fast. We’ve put a lot of work into building this fixture, regarded in the industry as the start of the new autumn/winter season. This year has seen another big injection of prize money to £400,000. For the first time ever, we’ve got a waiting list for race sponsors. This is unprecedented! Race sponsorship is available at all fixtures for companies or individuals to advertise or to celebrate an event. The fact that it is so popular at this particular meeting demonstrates how its profile has grown."

The Racing Horse will be previewing and reviewing the two-day meeting which will include all the pertinent information needed to enjoy it, and hopefully make it profitable! 

Please note: Following the latest Welsh government announcement on vaccine passports and test passes, this fixture is not impacted and will operate as normal.

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Chepstow Racecourse is easily reached by public transport including bus and rail services. Due to extensive road links and the parking available on site, car is also a popular way to reach the course. The racecourse is on the A466 Chepstow to Monmouth road, not far from the now toll-free Severn Bridge. From the M4 East (Junction 21) or M4 West (Junction 23), take the M48 and exit at Junction 2 (Chepstow).

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