I’d prefer to take dry January with a little less ice please.
In fact, I’m not even sure why dry January has to be so wet? Having abandoned Sunday’s fixture at Kelso following a hard freeze on Thursday, when the night-time temperatures dipped more than four degrees below zero, Friday morning brought a light drizzle. The rain froze as it met the cold ground, creating an ice rink in the public enclosure, better suited to curling than horseracing.
“Walk like a penguin,” they advised on the radio – which works in the way that, as well as walking upright with out-turned feet, nature programmes frequently show penguins sliding along the ice on their bellies.
Not that the postman was having any of it, he arrived in the racecourse office wearing crampons fit for an assault on the Eiger. That’s the Royal Mail for you – if there’s an electricity bill pending, or a notification of business rates, they can be relied upon to get it to your door whatever the weather.
The loss of Sunday’s fixture, the entries for which featured several Cheltenham Festival contenders, produced the standard spectrum of responses – ranging from those that wondered why we didn’t cancel earlier and those that suggested we should have waited longer.
We always try to race if we think that we can. And in my case, I generally like to push any decisions as late as possible – until there really is no hope, rather than the balance of probability being against racing taking place. On this occasion, I even struck a £20 bet that racing would be on. Alas, the track was completely frozen on Thursday and remained bony on Friday. It’ll take temperatures warmer than 2oC to thaw fully – and that’s the highest temperature that the Met Office are offering before 3pm on Sunday.
Ironically it is forecast to warm quite quickly after that – up to than 6oC by midnight, and 9oC by Monday lunchtime when our selection is Briery Butterfly in the Green Dragon Hotel Novices Handicap Hurdle down at balmy Hereford.
Despite the disappointing loss of Sunday’s card, regular racegoers at Kelso have plenty to look forward to during the coming months, including Cheltenham Festival clues on Timeform Chase Day, Friday 13th February (lucky for some), bet365 Morebattle Hurdle Day on Saturday 28th February, and the Go North Series Finals on Saturday 21st March.
The best news is that it’s not only the track which is frozen at the moment – there’s also a price freeze on the cost of Annual Membership for the 2026 calendar year. Grab yours for just £170 by calling the racecourse office next week.