Kelso racehorse trainer Sandy Thomson chalks up four wins in three days
Kelso’s £280,000-plus racecard on Saturday was the second of three meetings making up this year’s Racing Post Go North finals weekend, starting at Musselburgh the day before and concluding south of the border at Carlisle on Sunday.
Borders trainers Donald Whillans and Sandy Thomson notched up wins with Bollin Matilda and Sanilam respectively at the weekend’s opening round in East Lothian.
Ridden by Murray Dodd, the former, owned and bred by Whillans’ son Callum, finished three lengths in front of Jonjo O’Neill junior on 6-4 favourite Dearkeithandkaty in the two-mile-seven-furlong Racing Post Ultimate Go North Brindisi Breeze Hurdle Series Final at 13-2.
That win – the eight-year-old bay mare’s first since two in April 2024, at Perth with Dodd riding and Newcastle with Dylan Johnston as jockey, and third overall – brought with it a prize of £20,812.
The latter, with Conor O’Farrell as jockey, took top-weight to victory in the Heritage Portfolio Go North Night Nurse Series Final Novices’ Handicap Hurdle over two miles and three furlongs at 11-2, also earning £20,812.
The six-year-old bay gelding, owned by Jimmy Fyffe and Wilma Duffus, crossed the finishing line almost three lengths ahead of Peter Kavanagh on Killycarn.
That was his second win of the month and fourth all told, following ones at Newcastle two weeks previously and Ayr in January, both with Brian Hughes as rider, and Ayr last March with Kelso’s Ryan Mania in the saddle.
Mania also ended up in the winners’ enclosure last Friday after guiding Feach Amach to victory for Northumbrian trainer Adam Nicol at 11-2 in the last of the meeting’s six races, the two-mile-three-furlong Heritage Portfolio Mares’ Handicap Hurdle, picking up a prize of £10,562.
That was the six-year-old chestnut mare’s first win since one at Kelso last May with Joshua Thompson as jockey and fifth all together.
It was also Mania’s second in two days as he went on to finish first at Kelso the day after on Speiriuil for Nicol.
Thomson chalked up further wins at Kelso on Saturday with King Kubala and Carlisle on Sunday with Marty McFly, both ridden by Danny McMenamin, and Wolfburg at the Cumbrian course, with Patrick Wadge as jockey.
Marty McFly, an eight-year-old bay gelding owned by Duffus, finished three lengths in front of O’Farrell on Coup de Coeur in the one-mile-eight-furlong Mark Nield Wealth Management Go North One Man Series Final Handicap Chase at 5-1 to collect £20,576 in prize money.
That was his fourth win on the spin and sixth all told, following ones at Catterick in North Yorkshire earlier this month and in January, Musselburgh in January, Hexham last June and Perth in June 2024, with Brian Hughes in the saddle for 2026’s other first-placed finishes, McMenamin riding last summer and Mania a year prior.
11-4 favourite Wolfburg finished nine lengths ahead of Tommy Combats, trained in Cumbria by Martin Todhunter and ridden by Hawick’s Jamie Hamilton, in the two-mile-four-furlong Racing Post Subscription Go North Monet’s Garden Series Final Handicap Chase, earning £20,576.
That was the seven-year-old bay gelding’s third win, its predecessors having been at Wetherby in West Yorkshire in December and Catterick in February 2024, with Hawick’s Craig Nichol and Mania riding respectively.
Hamilton was also among Sunday’s winners, on 10-3 favourite Chasingouttheblues for Mark Walford’s North Yorkshire yard in the three-mile Mark Nield Wealth Management Go North Red Rum Series Final Handicap Chase.
The seven-year-old bay gelding pipped Fierce Warrior, ridden by Nico de Boinville, to the post by almost two lengths to land a payout of £20,576.
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