Kelso chairman and owner of Grand National runner-up Johnny Jeffreys dies

Johnny Jeffreys, the "old-fashioned gentleman" from the Scottish Borders who came within half a length of winning the Grand National alongside his father, has died at the age of 79.

He served as chairman at Kelso for a quarter of a century and was a major factor in maintaining the independence of his local course.

His nephew, Cotswolds trainer David Jeffreys, recalled the unlikely background of Sebastian V, the sound-jumping stayer who made much of the running at Aintree in 1978 only to go down narrowly to Lucius in a blanket finish.

"Uncle Johnny got involved in racing because my grandfather was a breeder, he bred horses on the farm at home," David Jeffreys said.

"They had a mare that they hunted the hounds on and they put it to a thoroughbred stallion and ended up with Sebastian V, who was the best they ever had. He wasn't a full thoroughbred but he won the Scottish National and was second in the English National. That was incredible really.

"He was trained by Harry Bell, and Tommy Robson trained Sham Fight who also won the Scottish National for them."

Jeffreys was chairman at Kelso from 1994 until 2019 and his nephew said: "My other uncle Richard Landale, his brother-in-law, was the managing director and he brought him on board because he had huge brain space! He loved the fact it was independent and he was very proud of that fact, he felt it was what made the course great.

"He was also very proud of the friendliness of Kelso. All the years when I was going there Uncle Richard and Uncle Johnny would stand at the gates and meet people. The chairman and managing director say how nice to to see you and thank you very much for coming racing."

David Jeffreys described his uncle as "well read" and said: "He is the only man I know who got every single paper and read them all. And he’d do all the crosswords before 12pm every day.

"He was a great man for doing unpaid work for the community and he was what you would call an old-fashioned gentleman and he knew everything about everyone."

Funeral details have yet to be announced.