A tumultuous week for Welsh trainer Evan Williams and his wife Cath took a massive upswing in Thursday’s Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Chase at Cheltenham when the 22-1 shot Ask Brewster won under 19-year-old Irish jockey Shane Cotter.
Earlier this week Williams was convicted of assaulting a dog walker on his land in December 2024 and his wife took over the trainer’s licence in time for Cheltenham.
Her first runner, Libberty Hunter, belied 50-1 odds to finish runner-up to Il Etait Temps in the Queen Mother Champion Chase and her second emerged a narrow winner in an exciting finish to the amateur contest.
She said: “I’m delighted, it’s been an emotional week and it is what it is, we’ll deal with it.
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“I don’t know the jockey but he was brilliant. I think Evan spoke to a couple of the Irish lads and so did Conor Ring and that is who we got. We were confident coming into it and we knew he was in good order. We just needed the good ground from yesterday and we were worried when it rained this morning.
“Our runners have finished first and second this week, what more can you ask? The two runs from our horses have been huge.”
Williams, 54, is awaiting sentencing next month having been found guilty of fracturing a dog walker’s arm and is facing potential jail time. His licence transfer was approved after consultation with the British Horseracing Authority. Williams is not a disqualified person in racing and can continue to work at his south Wales base.
Cotter, 19, is from Cork and was riding just his second racecourse winner anywhere.
“To have a ride here is unbelievable but to have a winner, I’m lost for words. I can’t thank the Williams team enough for putting me on this horse today and they prepared him beautifully. He jumped and travelled everywhere.
“There was not really any moment of worry until I popped the last and could feel something coming to me. I heard Patrick [Mullins on Road To Home] coming to me but when he got to me my horse went again, he was very game,” he said.
“I’ve ridden 20-odd winners in point-to-points and I’ve only one winner on the track at home, so hopefully after this people might start using me. This is my very first ride in England – it’s unbelievable,” he added.
The day three attendance at the festival was 55,648. That’s up from last year’s corresponding figure of 53,366 but well short of the track’s new capacity limit of 66,000. In the record-breaking 2022 festival, the Thursday attendance reached over 73,000.
It comes on the back of another increase in Wednesday’s rebranded ‘Ladies Day’ card. A crowd of 46,317 was up on the equivalent 2025 figure of 41,949, which was the lowest festival crowd this century. Tuesday’s attendance was 57,242.
There were no reported equine injuries on Thursday. On Wednesday, the Paul Nolan-trained HMS Seahorse had to be put down after falling at the last flight in the BetMGM Cup. The Gary Moore-trained Hansard sustained fatal injuries in Tuesday’s Arkle Trophy.
