Horse Racing

New Chepstow clerk of the course Dai Jones says he will continue to use his son, jockey Ben Jones, as a sounding board after moving to his new post from Ffos Las.

In something of a transfer window merry-go-round within Arena Racing Company’s racecourses in Wales and the west of England, Jones has moved eastwards to Chepstow to replace Libby O’Flaherty, who has switched to Worcester Racecourse.

Jones’ old position at Ffos Las has been taken by Tracey O’Meara who has returned from Ireland after previous spells as clerk of the course at Fontwell and Brighton.

“It’s a bit like the Premier League transfer window, except we’re not quite in their pay league,” said Jones.

“I’m really looking forward to the role at Chepstow. It’s one of the great jumping tracks, with undulations and the hill that presents a real challenge in the racing. It’s a true test.”

One of Jones’ early decisions in the role he began on January 8, was to cancel Chepstow’s fixture on Tuesday (Jan 16) – what would have been his first meeting in charge – because of frozen ground after an 8am inspection.

It is the fall-out from abandoned meetings and unexpected conditions that Jones reckons causes clerks most headaches.

That is why he intends to carry on taking soundings from the weighing room from son Ben, a New Year’s Day winner at Cheltenham.

“To be a successful clerk of the course, you need to have a good team around you, and be able to have good relationships with trainers, jockeys and other stakeholders – the people who come racing,” added Jones.

“Having Ben as a jockey is helpful as he makes sure he carries back to me when something is not right. I find out pretty quickly when things are not done to the jockeys’ liking.

“My own pet hate is having meetings called off late in the morning. People have prepared, people have travelled – often very far to a place like Ffos Las – and you know if you call off meetings late in the day then you’ll be in the firing line.

“So long as you are honest with people and feed their expectations, so trainers, owners and jockeys know exactly what is going on, then you can’t do much more than that.”

 

Cycling

Emma Finucane insists she is carrying the tag of Olympic favourite lightly enough as the countdown starts to the Games in Paris this summer.

The Welsh track cyclist is looking to her next big challenge after becoming European champion last week in the Netherlands to add to her world title.

Finucane’s success at the European Track Cycling Championships included women’s keirin and team sprint silvers and an individual sprint gold.

The Carmarthen-born athlete had already conquered her rivals by taking gold in the women’s sprint at the Cycling World Championships in August.

She said: “Getting to the Olympics is one dream of mine. Competing for medals and winning is another dream.

“I’m just going to take each race as it comes. I learnt a lot about myself at the Euros because, being world champion, I went into it as the favourite, and I overcame the pressure and the fears and how to deal with that.

“It’s a pretty cool feeling. I love the feeling of having to perform under pressure.

“Having to go up to the start line when all the girls are looking at you and thinking, ‘She can do this!’ and then having to perform. It’s mentally challenging but that side of it is really exciting.

“I’ll keep building up the confidence. Hopefully I get selected for the Olympics – I think we find out in June. I guess I’ll just keep channelling my nerves and pressure in the lead up and see what happens.”

 

Rugby League

Wales coach Tom Brindle is confident his team can get past Ireland and either Italy or the Netherlands to make it to their first Women’s Rugby League World Cup.

The European qualifiers draw for the 2026 tournament has been completed and sees Ireland and Wales placed together in a group.

Group A will feature Wales as the top seed, Ireland, and either Italy/Netherlands – who will meet in a preliminary qualifying match in April.

Four nations have already qualified – Australia (winners), New Zealand (runners-up), England and Papua New Guinea (both semi-finalists), as the four semi-finalists in the previous World Cup in England.

But four places still remain, and Bridle said: “Everything over the last few years has been about putting ourselves in the strongest possible position to qualify for the World Cup.

“We took a lot from testing ourselves against France and England in the autumn and we’ll look to put those experiences to best use for these two matches.

“We’ve not played Netherlands before, but we’ve faced both Ireland and Italy over the last couple of years and had positive results.”