By Hilary Mactaggart

Three father and son/daughter teams were all in winning form at Wetherby.

Selkirk trainer Stuart Coltherd saddled Pookie Pekan to win the handicap hurdle race at the Yorkshire track on February 20. The 11-1 chance was ridden by his son, Sam.

“We were lucky,” conceded Stuart, who also farms at his Clarilawmuir base.

“I've always liked him but we have been waiting for better ground.”

Hawick handler Donald Whillans and jockey son Callum teamed up to land the concluding bumper with Paper Promise.

The 3-1 winner is owned by Eileen Smith from Hawick.

Completing the family hattrick, Fife-based Nick Alexander saw Massini’s Lady head the mares novice handicap chase in the hands of his daughter, Lucy.

Hawick jockey Jamie Hamilton rode a 12-1 winner when Skywards Reward landed the opening conditional jockeys handicap hurdle race.

Henpecked followed up a course and distance success a fortnight earlier, with a convincing win in the fillies handicap at Newcastle for Hawick trainer Alistair Whillans.

“We are not sure whether to cover her - she is the only improving eight-year-old in training!” joked joint-owner Malcolm Imray.

St Boswells owners Paul and Clare Rooney scooped a major prize when the ultra-consistent Master Dee was the 8-1 winner of the feature £100,000 handicap chase at Kempton on February 24.

“He is an unbelievable horse and has never been out of the first three,” enthused winning trainer Fergal O’Brien.

“He's a model of consistency even when things are not going his way. He just sticks his head down and tries.

“I've got to speak to Paul and Clare, but Barry thought perhaps Cheltenham wouldn't be his track, which is what we've always thought.

“Possibly, Aintree could be the next target.”

At Newcastle the same afternoon, Hawick jockey Bruce Lynn rode 12-1 chance Plus Jamais to take the two-and-a-half-mile handicap chase for Carrutherstown trainer Iain Jardine.

A previous course and distance winner, he relished the testing conditions and never looked like being headed.

Alnwick-based Rose Dobbin saddled Plant Nine to a 3-1 win in the novice hurdle race.

Donald and Callum Whillans were back in the winner’s enclosure at Ayr on February 26, when Keyboard Gangster posted a 6-1 win in the novice hurdle race.

Carrutherstown trainer Iain Jardine, who also hails from Hawick, saw The Delray Munky complete a course hattrick when she clinched the three-mile handicap hurdle race.

The winner hung on by a head under stable conditional Ross Chapman, who celebrated a four-timer at the track.

Langholm trainer James Ewart won the concluding bumper with Black Pirate.

Iain Jardine went on to complete an across-the-card double when Akkadian Empire headed the one-mile handicap on the all-weather at Wolverhampton that evening, in the hands of Langholm jockey Jamie Gormley.