Co-owner Thomson will have Bolly and Krug to hand

LET’S hope it is fourth time lucky for Lucinda Russell in Saturday’s £1 million Randox Health Grand National.

One For Arthur’s Aintree preparation has been going like clockwork since an impressive success at Warwick in January as he illustrated with his ground-devouring stride on the Arlary House gallops last week.

The gelding, bidding to better the efforts of Silver By Nature – 12th in 2011, Strong Resolve – 17th in 2005 and Greenhill Raffles – 14th in 1996, is co-owned by Belinda McClung and Deborah Thomson, a partnership officially registered as Two Golf Widows. Thomson also runs horses

under the guise of Two Black Labs and she was successful with Big River at Kelso last Saturday.

Debs, as she is known, has two black labs named Bolly and Krug and the canine punters were at the Borders track for moral support. She told me she is interested in a new set of racing colours recently released by the BHA featuring a dog motif on the front and paw prints on the sleeves and cap.

The other main Scottish interest in the National surrounds The Last Samuri who was second last year for St Boswells couple Paul and Clare Rooney. Good luck to all and a safe return for everyone taking part.

IT was great to hear that Ayr and

Musselburgh were among the winners in the latest Racecourse Association Excellence Accolades. Both retained their five-star rating, the highest grading awarded by VisitScotland, while Musselburgh was also ranked within the top 10 per cent of all attractions in Scotland.

The Quality Assured Racecourse Scheme allows VisitScotland (and VisitEngland) to benchmark racecourses against other attractions ensuring that standards of customer experience remain high in the face of competition from other sporting and leisure venues.

The national tourism boards provide a rating on the racecourse as a quality day out, taking into account efficiency

and friendliness of customer service, cleanliness of facilities as well as speed, quality and efficiency of the racecourse operation.

BEST wishes go to Grangemouth-born former Flat ace Allan Mackay after the 57-year-old suffered a serious fall on the gallops at Newmarket last Saturday. It hasn’t been a good time for the family as Allan’s youngest son Nicky suffered serious injuries when a horse crashed through the rails at Chelmsford a fortnight ago.

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