Sandy seeks happy occasion at Kelso’s new year meeting

Thomson is having a tremendous season with high-profile winners on ITV, such as Seeyouatmidnight and Yorkhill, and he is on schedule to beat his previous best score of 22, set last season.

Five of his winners this term have come at Kelso and Thomson said: “It’s been a great season already and its always nice to have winners at our local course, as it’s only 10 minutes along the road.”

The Scottish Government has given permission for horse-racing to continue, with strict protocols in place to reduce the risk of spreading the virus.

Racehorse owners will no longer be able to attend, however, as the Borders is now in lockdown again and only essential staff will be permitted on site.

High-street betting shops remain closed in almost all areas of Britain at the moment, but all the action from Kelso will be broadcast on Racing TV.

The feature race, the Edinburgh Gin Handicap Chase over 2m 7f, is shaping up to be a cracker and Thomson is likely to represented by Seemorelights.

“He’s only run twice over fences and he’s one of my leading novice chasers,” said Thomson.

“He was second on his debut at Ayr in November and then maybe his next run came a bit too soon. That first run was a very good one over two miles, given the trip, and that it was his first race since March. I’m really looking forward to running him.”

Last year, the race saw Lucinda Russell’s Big River record his sixth course win.

Kings Eclipse, also a winner on the card that day, is among the entries for his Cumbrian trainer Andrew Wilson along with 2019 Scottish Borders National hero Bigirononhiship.

Almazhar Garde, trained in Oxfordshire by Charlie Longsdon, has already tasted success at Kelso this term, while Another Venture is the current top-weight following his impressive pre-Christmas romp at Ludlow for the Kim Bailey-David Bass combination.

Meanwhile, Thomson also hopes to run Overcourt and Fantastic Rock, adding: “Overcourt is in the William Hill Leading Racecourse Bookmaker Handicap Chase and he was bred by his owner, Willie Jeffrey. He wasn’t beaten very far when runner-up on his debut over fences in a beginners’ chase at Sedgefield in October.

“Fantastic Rock will probably run in the two-mile Boscasports Racing’s Digital Display Handicap Hurdle as he is likely to be balloted out of the novices’ hurdle over the same trip. We are still finding out about him but he had very good form in France.”

Following his success at Catterick earlier this month, Daryl Jacob only needs a winner at Cartmel to complete a full house of victories at every British racecourse. Daryl, who has ridden five winners from just 13 rides at Kelso, has been booked for the mount on ex-French recruit Raf Travel in the Live Streams On RacingTV Extra Novices’ Hurdle.

And he couldn’t be in better form as he rode the first five-timer of his career at Wincanton last Saturday.