“DADDY, what do you think will be the next step in evolution?”

This question asked as we pelt at 60 mph, on the school run, up the A68 three months ago.

Fortunately, the answer was directly in front of me, written across the windscreen in 10,000 tiny, yellowy-red smudges

“The next noticeable step in the evolutionary path of insects,” I said confidently. “Is that they will develop a sense of perspective which helps them to calculate the speed of oncoming vehicles, thereby enabling mutant insects to swerve and avoid the car.

“Most of the standard insects will be wiped out on the M6 and the A1, leaving those with the mutant gene to take over the world.”

It’s something that I’ve thought plenty about since. Not just the mutant insects, but the next evolutionary steps for everything – horses, hamsters, humans and, of course, racecourses too. It’s not just survival of the fittest, it’s about appeal too.

Take horses for example. Once York Racecourse has established the £1 Million Ebor Handicap, racehorse breeders and trainers will concentrate on producing horses with the potential to stay longer distances – as opposed to the more recent trend of breeding fast horses which collapse in a heap when they pass the mile-marker. Oh joy! To see stoutly bred horses strutting their stuff in Flat races that last longer than one minute.

I don’t know much about hamsters, but I think they might appeal more to small girls if they had curly pink hair – so that’s something for the mad scientist marketeers to work upon.

And humans? Well, unless large segments of the population are wiped out by the rising sea levels associated with global warming (in which case webbed feet might be an asset), I suspect it all comes down to sex appeal.

And if the latest series of Love Island is anything to go by, that means that the human species is about to develop skin with a naturally bright orange hue.

But what about racecourses?

In order to survive, racecourses have to have appeal too. And that means that they need to evolve – steadily, carefully and attractively; in such a way that they retain their historic catalogue of charms, while at the same time developing fresh ways to ensure that they remain relevant to a discerning public.

That’s what we’re doing at Kelso Racecourse as we approach the start of the new season on Wednesday, September 19.

“Join the parade!” we’ll be saying. “Come and enjoy the races and gain a fresh view of the horses, both before and after they have raced. Enjoy the extra space that we’ve created around the new parade ring and the improvements to the facilities.”

There’ll be more improvements to come too – we’ll continue to evolve and develop over the next few years, to accentuate our appeal.

We might not go orange, or even pink and curly – but much like the horse we’re tipping this week (an ante-post punt on Sir Chauvelin in Ebor August 25), I hope we’ll demonstrate plenty of staying power.