Gordon Brown – Race Reporter
Gordon has a wealth of experience of racing through his background in the written and broadcast media. His current principle role is reporting and supporting the scene in Scotland on Racing TV and relaying the latest news with Scottish angles.
Iain Jardine fancies the chances of Paddy The Squire in the historic feature race at Hamilton Park on Friday evening.
The impressive recent Thirsk winner is in the line-up for the £100,000 Ecosave Installations Lanark Silver Bell Handicap over a mile and a half.
The Dumfriesshire trainer, who won the contest in 2017 with Sepal before it became a Heritage Handicap, said: “He’s a horse we’ve always liked and he was second in the Silver Bell two years ago. He didn’t get in the Ebor at York on Saturday so this was the obvious way to go after that.
“He did the job nicely at Thirsk and it was a good performance. We’ve been very happy with him since and hopefully he will run a big race.”
Jim Goldie, the winning trainer in 2022 with Wickywickywheels, is triple-handed and his trio includes Silver Bell regular Faylaq, who was runner-up to La Yakel in last year’s renewal after coming fourth in 2022 and third in 2023.
Defiance shoulders top-weight for Newmarket-based Roger Varian, successful in 2023 with Postileo, while Sportingsilvermine carries the colours of retired Lanarkshire businessman Gordon McDowall, who has enjoyed plenty of success in the past at his local track.
Jardine will also be hoping for a good showing from Tiernan in the £40,000 Darley EBF Novice Stakes.
The three-year-old was given a lofty BHA handicap mark of 101 after his close third to Nahraan in the Listed Glasgow Stales over course and distance last month
Like Sportingsilvermine, the orange and blue McDowall silks are set to be sported by Far Above Dream in the Contraflow Traffic Management Handicap over five-furlongs. Both horses are trained in Newmarket by James Owen, who has had seven previous runners without any success yet at Hamilton Park.