Venetia Williams’ Cloudy Glen looking to honour memory of late owner Trevor Hemmings at Wetherby on Boxing Day

The eight-year-old was a popular and sentimental winner of Newbury’s prestigious Ladbrokes Trophy just 48 hours after racing gathered in Lancashire for a memorial service to Hemmings.

Williams was among those trainers to have a long association with the 86-year-old owner whose Trabolgan, Many Clouds and Cloth Cap were also triumphant in previous renewals of Newbury’s showpiece race.

She says Cloudy Glen, the mount of Charlie Deutsch, has it all to do after being allotted top weight of 11st 12lb but that she was short of alternative options.

“He’s come out of the Newbury race well and we are looking forward to this,” Williams told The Yorkshire Post. “A lack of opportunities means we’re going to Wetherby.”

Though many will be surprised if Cloudy Glen is not given a Grand National entry – Hemmings won the Aintree race on three occasions – Williams says it will be “one race at a time” following one of the most poignant wins in her entire carer.

“It was a wonderful performance and such a fitting race to win just two days after Trevor Hemmings’s memorial service,” she added. “It was also wonderful for his family to see that Trevor’s colours are still performing so well on the racecourse. In his early days, the horse was a bit of a ‘nutter’. Now he’s a bit more mature.”

Hemmings won the Rowland Meyrick with Lake View Lad in 2018 – and the horse will attempt to regain the title for trainer Nick Alexander and Middleham-based jockey Henry Brooke.

The 2019 winner Top Ville Ben, representing Catterick trainer Phil Kirby and jockey Tommy Dowson, is another intriguing entry in a quality renewal.

Officials at Wetherby continue to reiterate, however, that only people with tickets purchased in advance will be able to attend the two-day Christmas meeting due to Covid contingencies.

Tickets will be available to purchase via the website up until 9.30am on the morning of racing on both Boxing Day and December 27 where Micky Hammond’s former Grade One-winning hurdler Cornerstone Lad is an eyecatching entry in the feature Castleford Chase.

Meanwhile, Northern racing followers will be hoping that Lucinda Russell and Peter Scudamore’s Ahoy Senor can continue his rapid rise through the racing ranks by landing the Grade One Kauto Star Novices’ Chase at Kempton on Sunday.

On the day that Cloudy Glen was landing the Ladbrokes Trophy, Ahoy Senor and jockey Derek Fox produced a totally dominant performance to land the John Francome Novices’ Chase at Newbury by a wide margin.

But Ahoy Senor will have to be even better at Kempton if he’s to deny the Paul Nicholls-trained and Harry Cobden-ridden Bravemansgame whose co-owner John Dance enjoyed so many Group One successes on the Flat with Karl Burke’s Laurens.