Carluke horse trainer Keith Dalgleish says an all weather Scottish racetrack is on the cards

Carluke horse trainer Keith Dalgleish was deeply frustrated by postponements to the three-day Ayr Gold Cup festival and Monday's meeting at Hamilton Park.
Keith Dalgleish was one of the many trainers frustrated by waterlogging at Ayr and Hamilton this weekKeith Dalgleish was one of the many trainers frustrated by waterlogging at Ayr and Hamilton this week
Keith Dalgleish was one of the many trainers frustrated by waterlogging at Ayr and Hamilton this week

Waterlogging at the two venues meant that a total of 56 runners from Keith’s Belstane Racing Stables missed out on competing this week.

“It is really frustrating and disappointing that these meetings were called off but it’s nobody’s fault,” said Keith, who trained a record annual total of 16 winners at Hamilton Park during the 2017 season. “It’s just the wet weather we get up here.

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“We had looked forward to the Ayr Gold Cup meeting all year as it is the Mecca of Scottish racing. To lose it was a real blow. And we always love racing at Hamilton.”

Dalgleish will send Belstane-trained Clem Fandango and Glenrowan Rose to the rearranged Ayr Gold Cup at Haydock Park this Saturday.

Although this rescheduling to Merseyside has been welcomed, there have been calls for Scotland’s first all weather racetrack to be established as a potential fallback.

Keith added: “I suppose it is something that eventually will probably happen and not just up here.

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“I think there will be more all weather tracks in the UK as a whole.

“I don’t think it’s happened in Scotland yet because we are still a little bit old fashioned in the fact that turf racing is seen as the pinnacle.

“We are not in the same mindset as in America where the mindset is that synthetic surfaces are fine.”

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