Walters seeking Whisky win
Owner Dai Walters wants to beat the owners and trainers pitching up against Oscar Whisky in Saturday's William Hill Welsh Champion Hurdle at Ffos Las, but only as long as they all have a good time.
As well as owning a number of horses and a civil engineering company, Walters also owns Ffos Las itself and transformed the Carmarthenshire course from the former site of the largest open cast coal mine in Europe.
"We like to look after the owners and always give them a drink and I haven't heard many say they didn't enjoy Ffos Las. I treat people like I'd like to be treated at other tracks. Give them a drink and a sandwich. It's our Welsh way," he said."
Walters has racing interests with many of the top trainers, including Oscar Whisky's handler Nicky Henderson, David Pipe, Paul Nicholls, Tim Vaughan and Nigel Twiston-Davies.
He went on: "I've always had an interest in horses and I came from a farming background and rode myself as a boy. Because I'm in construction, there were a lot of Irish lads around and they talked me into buying a leg of a horse. I had one in Ireland with Noel Meade. I can't do anything in half-measures, so I took it from there."
Oscar Whisky is, however, clearly the apple of his eye. Since falling at the final flight on his seasonal return at Ascot, the seven-year-old has won twice at Cheltenham and now goes for back-to-back victories in the Welsh Champion Hurdle.
Walters continued: "I've never had a bet on Oscar in my life. You'll never get a price on him anyway. He was very unfortunate when he fell at Ascot, but he has done well in his last two races and has a really good turn of foot. It's good of William Hill to sponsor the race, and hopefully he gets a good test."
Tim Vaughan is not expecting Ski Sunday to worry the hot favourite on his first start over hurdles this season, but is hopeful he can grab a place.
The trainer said: "He has run third on his last couple of runs over fences and I thought we might as well bring him back to hurdles so he's still a novice chaser next season. He's shown good form over hurdles and we want to support this race and support the track, so we thought we'd let him take his chance.
"Oscar Whisky is going to be impossible to beat on all known form, but there is some decent prize-money on offer and we'll have a go and see what happens."
3 February 2012
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