KELSO will celebrate 200 years of racing there tomorrow, which will be especially poignant in the circumstances following the death of The Queen, who was loved by all racing fans for the positive influence she had on our sport.
It has been a dreadful few days of bad news in these parts, first hearing that Sandy Jeffrey died very suddenly. He was a key member of the Friday Lions and at only 66, fit and healthy, it has come as a huge shock to everyone. Sandy was a great man, loved and respected by all so everyone is devastated.
On top of that, long-time chairman of Kelso Johnny Jeffries also passed away. He had been in ill health for some time but it’s still a great sadness. He was a local legend.
Both men were huge parts of the yard here at Hazelrigg, being important members of the Friday Lions syndicate who have been very loyal friends to us for a long time. So there’s a great sadness around the place at the moment and Kelso will likely be a sombre evening for many.
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SLANELOUGH (5.45) heads to the Borders as our only runner on the card. It’s a tight race with just five runners and I think everyone involved will be thinking they should have a bit of a chance. From our perspective, I think we're likely to need the run, he’s still a little bit heavy and will come on for it but he’s in good order and this will be a nice starting point.
The only issue we might have is if the ground gets too quick because we wouldn’t want that. If that’s the case, we’ll just bring him home again and look for something else.
Slanelough popping a few obstacles indoors with Craig Nichol