Welsh wizard Bowen unveils Grand plan

But the rise of the so-called 'Tafia' of Peter Bowen, Evan Williams and Alison Thorpe has meant runners trained in Wales are enjoying an increasingly high profile.

We are used to Irish winners at Aintree - five of the last eight - but what are the chances of a Welsh win?

Lurking at the bottom of the weights for Saturday's Grand National is a gelding that some feel could crown the resurgence of the jump trainers in the region.

McKelvey, who is likely to be partnered by Tom O'Brien, is an outsider that is sweating on making the final 40 for the race. But, off his low weight, Bowen's gelding has caught plenty of eyes.

A staying- on sixth to Eurotrek in the shorter Becher Chase at Aintree in November was a promising dress rehearsal for the eight-year-old who has won six of his 19 starts, especially as Bowen had not been able to train McKelvey how he would have wished in the build-up to the race.

A win over hurdles at Bangor last month, his only run since, confirmed his well-being.

Bowen said: "When he ran in the Becher Chase he had hardly been trained. The owner wanted to sell the horse and then decided not to, so we had not trained him until three or four weeks beforehand. I was surprised he did what he did.

"He's not that easy to train. He's a lot better fresh. The fact that he had a race in March is an ideal break before he runs again.

"The hurdle race was to brighten him up. There's nothing like a race to put them spot on. He stays well, handles the track and handles the fences so there is no reason why he shouldn't have a big chance."

Grand Nationals in the early part of the last century were steeped in Welsh connections.

The 1905 winner Kirkland was trained there. Welsh jockey Bill Rees, champion five times between the two world wars, won the great Aintree contest in 1921 on Shaun Spadah, and fellow countryman Dudley Williams was successful on Kellsboro Jack 12 years later.

Fulke Walwyn, winning jockey on Reynoldstown in 1936, may have been based in Lambourn but was a Welshman, and the great Anthony brothers, Ivor, Jack and Owen, are entwined in Aintree folklore.

The sons of a Carmarthen farmer, Jack rode the winner in 1911, 1915 and 1920 on Glenside, Ally Sloper and Troytown. Ivor trained two winners, Kellsboro Jack (1933) and Royal Mail (1937). Owen trained 1922 winner Music Hall.

But of the modern generation of trainers, Bowen's reputation for innovation and that buzz phrase "thinking outside the box" give him a great chance to recreate the glory years.

In racing circles, such is his reputation that if any salesman needed to promote a new equine product, all he would need to do is say that Bowen, who is also based in Carmarthen, uses it.