ALL roads lead to Kelso a week today when the Persimmon Homes Scottish Borders National is the feature race on a cracking card worth £96,000.

It promises to be an emotional occasion for trainer Sandy Thomson and owner Jim Beaumont, who lost the gallant Neptune Equester in February just two months after he scooped the Roxburgh track’s marathon for the second year in a row.

The pair bid for more glory with Harry The Viking, a chaser formerly owned by Sir Alex Ferguson before changing hands for 14,000gns in the spring of 2014.

Edinburgh-based Beaumont is no stranger to “National” success as, along with Douglas Pryde, he co-owned 2013 Aintree hero Auroras Encore.

Harry The Viking will be partnered by Rachel McDonald and Berwickshire-based Thomson said: “Rachel rode him when he was a very respectable second at Carlisle last month and if Jim hadn’t had Neptune Equester, he would have run in a couple of Borders Nationals before now.”

Among the rivals expected to be facing Harry The Viking is Royale Knight who landed the Borders National three years ago for Dr Richard Newland. He’s certainly a “National” horse in every sense as he’s also been placed in the Scottish and Highland versions at Ayr and Perth, as well as being twice a winner of the Durham National at Sedgefield.

Another to watch if he turns up is Scotswell. He is trained at Jedburgh by Harriet Graham, who also doubles up as clerk of the course at Musselburgh and Perth. The 10-year-old front-runner is holding his form well and was runner-up in the Borders National in 2013 and 2014.

One of Kelso’s big fixtures also includes a £30,000 qualifier for the 2016 Veterans’ Chase Series over 2m 6f and a £16,000 novices’ chase named after Scottish National winner Paris Pike.

The afternoon is scheduled to get underway at 12.20pm and the atmosphere is usually brilliant. It’s a day I can thoroughly recommend.

LAST week I referred to horses with “back form” in Scotland and one of the most famous dates back to the 1995 Ayr Gold Cup meeting. That was the year when Istabraq, then trained by John Gosden, was ridden to victory in the Bogside Cup by the late Pat Eddery while carrying the colours of Hamdan Al Maktoum.

It was to be his final victory on the level as he was subsequently purchased by JP McManus, who sent him to Aidan O’Brien. After that he went on to become one of the greatest national hunt horses of all time and only tasted defeat six times in 29 starts over hurdles. Along the way to amassing career earnings of more than £1 million, he scooped an impressive 14 Grade Ones that included a hat-trick of wins in the Champion Hurdle. And that victory at Ayr was to be the only time he set a hoof on Scottish soil.

I HOPE you have been enjoying watching The River on BBC 1 Scotland over the past three weeks. It’s all about life along the River Tweed and there has been terrific footage from Floors Stud, Kelso racecourse and the stables of Galashiels trainer Katie Scott.

I can’t wait for an episode when a yearling – out of the Duke Of Roxburghe’s 1,000 Guineas winner Attraction and sired by the mighty Frankel – sells for a cool £1.68 million at Newmarket Sales.

If you have missed it, check it out on the BBC iPlayer.

KEEN Celtic fan Sam Coltherd had an exciting, if up and down, day on Wednesday. In the afternoon, the teenage jump jockey, son of Selkirk trainer Stuart Coltherd, got to within two winners of losing his 7lb claim when scoring on Ayr Well at Wetherby. Later on, he saw his Parkhead idols lose 2-0 to Barcelona. I gather Sam was knocked out by the atmosphere, as he was on the night he was in the stands to see the same result inflicted on his team by Borussia Monchengladbach.

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