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.
NICKY RICHARDS has targeted Glinger Flame at the feature race at Kelso’s opening twilight meeting of the autumn on Wednesday.
The Greystoke raider, who carries the colours of James Westoll faces eight rivals in the £16,000 Weatherbys Hamilton Handicap Hurdle over 2m 5f, a contest won by the mighty Aye Right two years ago.
Richards, a great supporter of the Borders track, said: “He’s done all his winning at Hexham but there’s no reason why he shouldn’t go well. It’s nice for James with another of these ‘Glinger’ horses and he’s had plenty of fun with him already.”
Opposition to Glinger Flame include top-weight Tristan Davidson-trained Ask Paddington, a course and distance winner in 2019 when with Micky Hammond and Shetland Bus, who competed a hat-trick of wins during the summer for his North Yorkshire handler Justin Landy.
In a quality contest, Giovanni Change, twice a winner at Market Rasen in the spring, and Beach Break, who was just overhauled close home at Sedgefield recently, are two others to keep an eye on.
Jackie Stephen, who now has a base in the Borders, is represented by Wolfcatcher in the Racing Welfare Handicap Chase, which is a qualifier for the Go North Middle Distance Chase Series.
Formerly trained by Ian Williams, the gelding produced one of his best runs for his new connections when finishing second at Perth in June.