Trainer Peter Scudamore – a seven-time champion jockey and one of the most respected voices in National Hunt racing – believes Sean’s talent is exceptional.<\/p>\n
“I was talking to Peter Scudamore the other day,” says Peter Bowen.<\/p>\n
“He said he had watched jockeys all his life and he told me he thinks Sean is the best he has ever seen.<\/p>\n
“To come from someone like Peter Scudamore, that is a hell of an accolade.”<\/p>\n
Peter believes both Sean and James possess a rare ability to “win races they really should not be winning”, describing that as the mark of a true champion.<\/p>\n
“They are also totally dedicated to what they do and spend a lot of time in the gym and running to be super-fit,” he adds.<\/p>\n
“All three of them have managed to stay really good friends and they must speak to each other about four times a day.”<\/p>\n
This weekend’s Welsh Racing Festival will showcase not only the Bowens’ brilliance but also the growing ambition of the sport across Wales.<\/p>\n
Sean Bowen, preparing for several key rides at Chepstow, says the event represents a major step forward for the country’s racing profile.<\/p>\n
“We need to promote Welsh racing all we can, because we’ve got some brilliant trainers and brilliant jockeys and obviously some big owners now as well,” he says.<\/p>\n
“So, I think Welsh racing is thriving at the minute. Obviously, our biggest race at the moment is the Welsh Grand National.<\/p>\n
“But this big festival meeting at Chepstow, where all the stars will start their season, is quite exciting.<\/p>\n
“I know Chepstow have done a good job with promoting it all. A few owners are telling me about the good deals they’ve done with hotels and buses and different things, so they’re making a good go of it and fair play to Chepstow Racecourse for that.”<\/p>\n
For Sean, Chepstow’s location is ideal – close enough to attract the top stables from England, while giving Welsh racing a central stage.<\/p>\n
“Even though Chepstow is in Wales, it is quite close to a lot of the jumps trainers over the border, so it’s not far for them to go,” he says.<\/p>\n
“A three-day festival is brilliant. A lot of people will enjoy staying over and will have a good time over the three days, so it’s really exciting.”<\/p>\n
As Welsh racing’s flagship festival prepares to open, a family rooted in Pembrokeshire soil are reaching for the top of British jump racing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trainer Peter Scudamore – a seven-time champion jockey and one of the most respected voices in National Hunt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-485935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115344845272926639","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}