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.
The Northumberland connections of Dare To Shout have their eye on the £20,000 feature event at Kelso on Saturday.
Trained by permit-holder Ann Hamilton at Capheaton in the colours of her husband Ian, the eight-year-old arrives in great form ahead of his tilt at the Belhaven Brewery Wishing Well Handicap Chase over nearly three miles.
“He’s not the biggest but we’ve always liked the way he jumps and he stays three miles well on nice ground,” reported the owner. “He really stuck his neck when winning at Carlisle a few weeks ago.
“We had a double that day as Hello Judge also won for us, which was great as we haven’t had many runners this season. Along with Carlisle, Kelso seems to be a lucky track for us and we’ve had some tremendous memories there over the years with the likes of Tommy’s Oscar, Nuts Well and Pay The Piper.”
Among the rivals to Dare To Shout is three-time Kelso scorer Ned Tanner, trained by Nick Alexander.
He has won two chases and one hurdle race and been second and third twice in his eleven visits to the borders venue.
Grozni is also in the line-up following his encouraging fifth on his debut for the Sandy Thomson stable in the Edinburgh Gin Chase at Kelso a fortnight ago.
Paul Robson has Ryan Mania on board Cannock Park in the £14,000 William Hill Bookmakers Handicap Hurdle.
He hasn’t been seen out since finishing fifth to dual-Morebattle Hurdle hero Cracking Rhapsody at Kelso in early December last year.
The opposition includes Dianne Sayer’s Heart Above, who is never far away when he turns up at Kelso. Trained near Appleby in Cumbria, he has a win, five seconds and a third to his name from seven previous course visits.