On the hunt for a national track at Overton

Willie Young, who is excited that his idyllic riverside setting will host point to point meetings on both Sunday February 13 and Saturday March 26, harbours ambitions to stage regular national hunt horse racing fixtures there every year between October and April.

He said: "Having a permanent track here has been a dream of mine for a long time.

"I was very upbeat about this happening until the building trade went pear shaped.

"But for all the financial problems the country has experienced, I think work on building the new course would have started by now.

"I hope the building trade will lift its head in the next three years, and completing the facility at Overton Farm could be done within a year after that."

Scotland does not currently have an all-weather race track, and Willie would be open to discussions about such a facility being introduced at Overton Farm.

But he would need to find support from wealthy backers, as the cost of laying an all-weather, floodlit surface at Overton Farm could bring the whole project cost to a whopping 15 million.

For more information on this story, pick up a copy of this week's Carluke and Lanark Gazette which is in the shops now.