The Planet Sport Live Centre might also prove a valuable resource too as here you will find the Kelso race card, which includes trainer and jockey info, form comments for all the runners, plus much more.

Course characteristics

Left-handed and undulating. Hurdles course of 1m1f is sharp

Top trainers with runners

Lucinda Russell has trained more winners (28%) here over the past five seasons, although her strike rate of just 11% suggests she runs plenty of losers too.
Sandy Thomson is not far behind on 23 winners over the same period and he has a better strike rate of 18%. He has three runners this afternoon: Off The Beat and Goodtimes Badtimes, both of whom contest the opening handicap hurdle, and Empire Steel (15.05) - more on him below.

Top jockeys with rides

Brian Hughes, who is blazing a trail in the jockey's championship, is head and shoulders above the rest here with his 43 winners coming from 277 rides (16%).
He has a full book of rides this afternoon: Franks Fancy (13.00), Grey Skies (13.30), Word Has It (14.00), Uncle Alastair (14.30), The Mighty Arc (15.05) - our idea of the winner - and Ain't No Sunshine (16.10), which may well apply to the weather conditions!

13.00 Kelso - Travail D'Orfevre

Not a race to go overboard on by any means but Nick Alexander's six-year-old looks to have as good a chance as any now venturing into handicaps for the first time and tackling a more suitable trip.

An Ayr bumper winner on his Rules / stable debut back in November 2020 after being purchased for €70,000, he's had three relatively quiet runs over hurdles so far to qualify for a mark of 102, which could prove generous if he can build on his latest effort at this track in January.

While he proved no match for the odds-on winner Soft Risk, who was landing a four-timer and since been given a mark of 123, he was noted doing all his best work at the finish to grab second place in the final strides.
That race was over 2m so today's extra six furlongs or so should see him in an even better light and he will also benefit from the 5lb claim of his conditional rider Bruce Lynn.

14.30 Kelso - Sounds Russian

None of the five runners can be ruled out with total confidence and that will help the price of Sounds Russian, who is bidding for a hat-trick of chase wins, including one at this track last time.

That hasn't escaped the notice of the handicapper of course and Ruth Jefferson's seven-year-old is now 21lb higher in the ratings than prior to scoring at Sedgefield in December, but that might not be enough to stop him.

Having had his Sedgefield form boosted by the placed horses, he was sent off favourite to follow up here and while he was inconvenienced on a couple of occasions by the second jumping across him, the result was soon in no doubt once Callum Bewley (back on board) switched him to the inner before two out.

That he saw his race out very strongly bodes very well for his chances over today's slightly longer trip and he looks a good bet to land his connections the £13k winning prize.

Looking further ahead, he's got an entry for the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase at the Cheltenham Festival and should he land his hat-trick at Kelso, he'll be entitled to take his chance.

15.05 Kelso - The Mighty Arc

The feature race of the day over an extended 2m5f has attracted a field of six and there are some classy sorts amongst them, including Silver Hallmark and Empire Steel, both of whom arrive here on the back of pulled-up efforts.
They could bounce back here, while the consistent Pay The Piper seems sure to go well again for all he's been beaten off similar marks to today's on his last two outings. A pair of first-time cheekpieces might help him.
But this is a handicap and we're going to take a chance on bottom weight The Mighty Arc, who represents the bang-in-form Charlie Longsdon (4-16 in the last fortnight) and is 2-3 since going chasing in November.
Another 7lb rise means he's now 15lb higher than when scoring on his chase debut but his most recent success at Sedgefield, where he jumped boldly in front to make all in comfortable fashion, was a personal best and suggests there might be more to come from him.
He will again have the services of Brian Hughes, who has struck up a good partnership with the stable, with 30 winners to show from 136 rides (22%) over the past five seasons, and he could prove hard to catch under similar front-running tactics this afternoon.