From the Saturday gallops

Four lots on Saturday, and pulling out first just after 7am were

• Princess Apollo (Callum)
• See My Baby Jive (Pinky)

This duo are a couple of our Flat Sprinters and did a fast piece of work upsides. Princess Apollo is engaged at Ayr on Thursday over 5f in her first handicap. Let's hope she makes the cut.

Plus a couple of our National Hunt horses who are improving their fitness and did 1½ steady canters 'Up-the-Middle'

• Danced Every Dance (Rebecca)
• 'Jean' our Getaway filly (Kingy)

'Mouse' Young of The Buyers' Club made it down for the first time this season to see his Keyboard Gangster in Lot 2 along with 4 stable companions. The quintet are progressing nicely and 2 or 3 of them will be ready to do some more serious work next weekend.

• Keyboard Gangster (Pinkie)
• Paper Promise (Kingy)
• Baby Ticker (Laura)
• Paper Roses (Leah)
• Dali Mail (Callum)

These horses did a couple of medium paced canters each.

Keyboard Gangster (Pinky) leads Dali Mail (Callum), Baby Ticker (Lorna) and Paper Roses (Leah)

Lot 3 comprised of 4 horses who are fairly well forward in term of fitness (relatively speaking of course) and a couple of them did a faster piece of work second time up.

• Eternally Yours (Pinky)
• Big Bad Dream (Callum)

These were the two who 'worked' upsides, and both riders provided positive reports to The Trainer afterwards.

Eternally Yours (left, Pinky) and Big Bad Dream (Callum)

Meanwhile, their fellow Lot 3 companions did a couple of medium-fast canters and are both in good heart.

• Stainsby Girl (Kingy)
• Side of the Road (Rebecca)

Stainsby Girl (left, Kingy) and Side of the Road (Rebecca)

All of which left 4 horses to do a mixture of road work and gentle canters in the final lot of the morning.

• 'Henry' our Malinas gelding (Callum)
• Lucarno Dancer (Pinky)
• 'Adam' our Arakan gelding (Kingy)
• The Boo Box (Rebecca)

Introducing our new weekend part time staff for 2018-19

Lorna, Rebecca and Leah are local Hawick teenagers who've been popping down to the yard each weekend since the beginning of September. They're all comfortable around horses and a couple of the girls have been riding ponies for the most of their lives.

So, along with general stable work like grooming, washing and mucking out, all three are gaining experience of riding thoroughbred racehorses on the gallops.

Read more about the trio in our Stable Staff page.