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Just 24 runners contested the seven races at Mosshouses, but there was no shortage of incident, plus some close finishes, to keep the large crowd entertained.

It was a day to remember for 17-year-old Rachel Robson, who opened her account in the young horse Maiden on Saujana, trained by her father Kevin for his mother-in-law Margaret Armstrong. "Mother watches what she can from the wagon, so when the commentary went off [the transmission failed for a circuit of this race] and she couldn't hear what was going on, it stopped her from worrying," laughed Rachel's mother Anne.

Saujana was bought last year, originally with a view to selling him on, from Rob Bewley, for whom he had some uninspiring hurdle form. "He reared up in the paddock at Friars Haugh and had Rachel off," Anne said, "and he gave her an awful ride." Unsurprisingly Rachel, who works in the yard at home, pronounced Saujana to be "lovely."

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Rachel's luck ran out in the following Club Members' race, when she was unseated from Emerald Destiny, in the process bruising her face. Although she passed the doctor she decided to stand herself down for the rest of the day.

Victory went to Luke Morgan on Willie Kerr's Leading Pearl, who had undergone stem cell treatment after sustaining leg trouble two years ago and missing last season. "He likes quick ground but Luke said he hated this," reported Willie, who had ridden The Odin Line to victory at the corresponding fixture in three successive years, 1997, '98 and '99. "I started riding when I was very old," he admitted, "at the age long after most jockeys had hung up their boots."

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"He isn't really my sort of horse. I like them big and tall, and not very bright, like me." Willie, a former lawyer and chartered surveyor, gives his opinion of his own qualities.

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Rachel's place on Astyanax in the Ladies' Open was taken by Kelly Bryson, and the combination failed by just a head to withstand the late run of Tiger Billy, who at halfway was 20 lengths down and going nowhere. "Then he suddenly spooked, and I thought ‘You're taking the mickey,'" said owner/trainer/rider Siobhan Doolan, who until that moment had been considering pulling up.

Siobhan, 19, has recently finished working for Howard Johnson, prior to which she had a spell with Tim Vaughan, and she also gained experience in Ireland with Liam Burke. She comes from a family steeped in racing - her grandfather Wilf Storey trains at Consett, and her father Kevin rode plenty of winners as a professional, including, in 1986, Ray Anderson Green's first winner over jumps, Brandy Hambro.

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Seafield Bogie, who finished a close third behind Tiger Billy, was reappearing after walking over in the Hunt race to give 23-year-old Laura Innes a low-key first success.

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Connections of Little Vantage had gone to declare for the Hunt race in the belief that they were doing so with a few minutes to spare, but were told that they were too late and declarations had already closed. Plan B was therefore adopted and the 12-year-old took his place in the Restricted, in which he made all the running in the hands of Craig Nichol, who is based with Lucinda Russell.

Trained by Robin Morrison for his partner Jane Fisher, Little Vantage was bred at Mosshouses by Northern area secretary Tony Hogarth and was sold as a youngster to Jane for a nominal amount. He remains unbeaten at the track, having scored all three victories at his birthplace. "He had three seasons off [with a tendon injury] and I never thought he'd come back to racing," commented a delighted Jane.

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An upset looked on the cards in the Men's Open, in which the long odds-on Gunner Jack was still fractionally behind his solitary rival Mr Twins at the last, but unfortunately for the latter's rider Dale Irving he hit the deck on the run-in when his saddle slipped, leaving Gunner Jack to finish alone.

Ed Wrigley, an Edinburgh University theology student - "It sounds better than religious studies," he laughed - who was 22 five days earlier, was confident he would have won in any case but trainer Clive Storey was far less certain, admitting "He nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Gunner Jack, who won six times from David Easterby's yard last season, is now owned by Ed's father Nicholas who, in his capacity as Senior Steward of the Jockey Club, had been at Newmarket the previous day and had driven north that morning.

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Indian Print was declared to run for the Open but was withdrawn after declarations had closed. An automatic fine should have resulted, but owner Victor Thompson was very fortunate to get away scot-free when the stewards deemed that a change in the ground had taken place since the start of the racing.

Jockeys, though, were in no doubt that the official going, which included the word "good" in its description, was way off the mark, and that the excellent grass cover failed to disguise the fact that it was extremely firm throughout the meeting, perhaps hardly surprising considering the lack of rain and the inability, due to the nature of the course, to water. "I couldn't get my stick in it at all when I walked it," reported one rider. "It was just bouncing off the surface."

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Toby Speke gained his reward for four hours spent that morning in the library at Northumbria University revising for his final exams when landing the Open Maiden on Reef Dancer, owned by trainer Sarah Fenwick with her cousin Derek Milburn. The winner, who "likes cuddles," was bought privately last year out of John Wade's yard, and was modestly described by Toby as "a steering job."

"If that's my last ride of the season it's a good way to finish," added the rider, who starts his exams in Estate Management in a few days time, and is hoping to work in Edinburgh.

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The race marked the final ride as an amateur for Grant Cockburn, who finished runner-up on Miss Toozy Betsy. Grant, 18, joint-winner of the Wilkinson Sword [with James Best] in 2010, works for Lucinda Russell and was due to turn conditional the next day.

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