LAST year BIGIRONONHISHIP gave us a huge thrill winning the Borders National and he’ll try to repeat the feat at Kelso this afternoon.
His return at Ayr a few weeks ago, finishing second in a close finish, was decent and this has been his target all along. He’s nine pounds higher than he was twelve months ago but we’d like to think he’s improved again to cope with that.
At Ayr his jumping wasn’t as good as it could be, it was a bit disappointing at stages, but that was his first run for a long time and hopefully having a race under his belt will iron that out. We’d love him to go close again.
COOLE HALL will also take his place in the field and we’re trying a few new things with him. He’s wearing blinkers for the first time to see if they make an impact and it’s just about trying something different with him.
He’s a horse with a lot of ability and while he’s never been this far before, we thought we’d give it a go.
While the main event is the last of the day, we’re involved right through the card.
Our first runner on the day will be TROOPER TURNBULL (11.55) who ran a very good second here back in October on his first outing of the season. As everyone who regularly reads the blog will know, he’s one we have thought a lot of for some time. In time we’ll step him up in trip but this is a good race for him at this stage so we’re hoping for another encouraging run.
DOKTOR GLAZ (1.00) goes in the 3m handicap chase, making his second start of the season after a long layoff. He ran well on his comeback at Newcastle over two-and-a-half miles, finishing second. He came out of that in good order and is ready to go again, although we wouldn’t want much more rain going back up in trip with him.
WILD POLLY (1.32) won impressively at Ayr last time and has been great order at home since. This race qualifies her for the EBF Final at Newbury in March so hopefully we can do that and I’d be hopeful of her being good enough in this despite having to give away a 6lbs penalty.
After Polly, HITMAN FRED (2.02) is next and he should find the conditions to suit him. The last twice he’s run here it has been on good ground, which is not what he’s looking for, so the rain Kelso have had over the last week or so has been welcome for him. Second in a bumper here in his younger days, having things in his favour again we’re hoping for a good run.