Wins for Borders jockeys Shay Farmer, Greg Fairley and Jake Dickson at Musselburgh meeting
Borders jockeys Shay Farmer, Greg Fairley and Jake Dickson won three of the seven races run at Musselburgh’s meeting last Friday.
Hawick’s Farmer and Fairley won the opening 5.45pm Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity Handicap and second-to-last 8.25pm Lens Self-Storage Handicap on Sophiesticate and Inappropriate respectively and Kelso’s Dickson signed off with a first-placed finish on Thornaby Pearl in the concluding 8.55pm Graham and Sibbald and Neilsons Handicap.
Farmer was riding Sophiesticate for East Ayrshire trainer Mike Smith, seeing off Kevin Stott on Gemini Man, trained by Iain Jardine in Dumfries and Galloway, by three lengths at 11-4 after a mile and five furlongs to land a top prize of £3,664.
“When I was third on her at Ayr recently, I thought she would relish stepping back up in trip and she’s proved me right,” said Farmer, also a winner at Doncaster in South Yorkshire a day later on Suspicious Mindz for Seb Spencer’s North Yorkshire yard, after guiding the seven-year-old bay mare to her first victory since last August.
“That was the first time I’d sat on her, and she seems to love it here.”
Fairley’s first-placed finish for Hawick handler Ewan Whillans at 10-3 at the East Lothian track was a closer-run thing, edging out David Nolan on Arrange, trained by Cumbria’s Martin Todhunter, by three-quarters of a length after a mile and almost eight furlongs to secure a £4,711 payout.
That was Fairley’s second win for Whillans in the space of four days following one at 3-1 on five-year-old bay gelding Royal Blaze at Ayr over a mile and two furlongs the preceding Monday.
It was also the five-year-old chestnut gelding’s first visit to a winners’ enclosure since making it into the same one back in March 2025.
Dickson’s win half an hour later at 11-2 over five furlongs for Adrian Nicholl’s North Yorkshire stables was by the same margin, up against Billy Garritty on Thunderstorm Katie, trained by East Renfrewshire’s Jim Goldie.
Earning £3,664, that was the eight-year-old bay gelding’s second win of the month, following one at South Lanarkshire’s Hamilton Park three weeks earlier, with Jack Nicholls riding, and Dickson’s sixth, his most recent prior having been aboard Lady Dublin over six furlongs at Thirsk in North Yorkshire at 3-1 for Ollie Pears’ nearby yard at Malton a week earlier.
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