THE two young horses that The Scottish Farmer are following from Flat racehorse trainer Keith Dalgleish's yard have been working hard but are a step further back than expected.

His two two-year-olds The Scottish Farmer is following from his Belstane yard, near Carluke in South Lanarkshire, are both showing promise and he is hopeful that one of them might get racing in May.

The bay filly Scots Law, by Lawman and out of the Swain-sired mare, Misaayef, was purchased at the Goffs sale in Ireland in October as Keith thinks a lot of her full sister Nature's Law, who will race this year.

Scots Law is ridden by Gary Whillans most days and has become slightly cheeky. "She's been getting quite highly strung, but the last two weeks has been much better," explained Keith.

The bay colt remains unamed. He is by Iffraaj and out of the Common Grounds mare, Monarchy.

"He looked like a nice early type and was progressing well in full work with a plan to run at the end of the month," said Keith. "However he's taken a growth spurt and has got taller in a short space of time, so we cut back his work for two weeks. He was small and compact but now he's got taller, athletic and rangey.

"We'll try and get him to a racecourse mid April for a gallop. He's now back in work, a lot of the basic work is done so he's just ticking over and in a month's time will step up in work – he'll hopefully get a run in May.

"Scots Law has done the opposite of the colt, she was tall but has filled out and is showing maturity. We'll keep her ticking over in the summer and look for a race for her."

With this week's wintery weather the exercising has been curtailed to the indoor exercise arena, an oval riding circuit that measures 200m. They trot a couple of laps before being 'hacked' – a steady canter –up the slope before going back to trot for six laps.

Normally after the the indoor track the horses then go across the road to the gallops, where they go up once before cantering faster the second time.

Currently they are exercised six days a week and on Sunday go onto the horse walker for an hour.

Of the 17 two-year-olds Keith has at Belstane he expects approx 70% will race this year. One that is likely to go to Musselburgh over the Easter weekend is Robynelle, who is by Royal Applause.

Purchased at the same sale at the Iffraaj colt, Keith says the horse has been good to deal with.

"It's been a real straightforward horse, has done two or three hard pieces of work upsides and going through the gap. If all goes well it'll go to Musselburgh at the end of the month," said Keith.

"If the horses are backward they'll maybe get a race in September near the end of the season, but if not then we'll hold them till next year.

"It's so hard to make a plan for two-year-olds," explains Keith, who points out that he is not in any rush to get the horses to a racecourse until they are ready.