A red letter day...

well, how about that, after what has frankly been a miserable winter Kelso yet again produced a moment of magic when Lucy drove the giant Seeking Power clear to win the 3m Handicap Chase. It was her first ride over fences (apart from one circuit in a Hunter Chase on Wise Man when she was 16) and only the horse's second run over fences, we were taking a chance by going into a competitive 16 runner handicap with such an inexperienced pairing and this was reflected in his odds of 40-1 but it was exactly the sort of contest I had planned to find for the horse, we had been looking since mid-December and I am just delighted that racing beat the frost and we were blessed with the required luck in running. It was wonderful for Lucy to record her first win against the professionals (all male!) in front of the usual appreciative and enthusiastic crowd that Kelso attracts.
It was down to earth with a bump in the next though when she parted company with Floreanna (for the Boswell stable in Northumberland) in an eventful Hunter Chase, then in the closing bumper Fearless Footsteps ran much better than on her debut but she needs to progress again if she is going to make the grade. Earlier in the afternoon Isla Pearl Fisher made his debut for the stable under Fearghal Davies, it was his first run over fences and he didn't jump nearly as well as he does at home which was a little disappointing but he got round to finish 4th and will be seen in much better light in handicap company, he enjoyed himself and learnt a lot which was the main point of the exercise.
The horses have generally been running well all week, Native Coll (Fearghal Davies) started the ball rolling with a 5th of 14 at Newcastle on Tuesday, an excellent effort in very testing conditions after 15 months off. Skipping Chapel (Fearghal Davies) came 4th on the same card, again tiring in the home straight on the heavy ground and then on Wednesday Forcefield (Lucy) made a most encouraging racecourse debut to finish a good fifth in the bumper at Musselburgh.
Beating the weather has been the story of the week and that looks like continuing over the weekend; we hope to run Almost Blue and Commercial Express at Alnwick on Sunday and then Papamoa at Carlisle on Monday but the forecast is very dodgy so we will have to wait and see...