I’ve always known that I wasn’t a good person, but I didn’t quite realise the extent of my badness until I saw the latest Bond movie…

While almost ten million people tuned in to enjoy the return of The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4 last month, here at Kelso the competition never went away.

From Gill’s shortbread, to Trish’s cakes and Joanna’s scones, the competition has been fierce all year long…

Despite an inclination to respect the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France, my first instinct when asked by the BHA whether we could change the time of our races on Sunday to accommodate the Arc De Triomphe, was to shout “Oh Prenez un grip! It’s only a Flat race.”

Face painting wasn’t really a thing when I was a child. There were plenty of occasions when our faces ended up being covered in paint, but that was just a by-product of ordinary painting – the sort where the picture was supposed to take shape on a large sheet of paper.

But that doesn’t mean that race-meetings were devoid of children’s entertainment…

As the mares rolled up the finishing straight, bathed in the twilight rays of Kelso’s first fixture of the season, a joyous crowd of cheering faces glowed amber.

Having waited eighteen months for an opportunity to attend the races, the spectators weren’t for leaving early – which is a good job because a mid-programme hiccup meant that the Racing TV Mares National Hunt Flat Race was delayed by more than 20 minutes, by when the brightest parts of the track were those illuminated by the headlights of the ambulance.

If you’re reading this blog, the chances are that you have a favourite horse. It might not be a racehorse, it may not even be a real horse – but I feel pretty sure that you’ll have one…

I am a dunce, or so I was told numerous times at school.

Only now, having visited the newly opened Great Tapestry of Scotland exhibition in Galashiels, I don’t feel quite so bad…

We don’t usually like to use flood-based metaphors at the racecourse for fear of tempting fate, but it’s difficult to get away from the fact that Facebook was awash with comment this week after Gillian Meikle announced the retirement of husband Brian from his post as Head Groundsman…

It is with huge sadness, this week, that I have to report the death of the Kelso Poop Fairy…

While it’s too early to call the end of Summer, the days are definitely getting shorter, the temperature has dropped and the wind has increased a few knots – next week it will blow children across the Scottish Borders back to school for the beginning of the Autumn term…