HAVING had a series of race days in close succession, the racecourse has a break now until our next fixture on Saturday, March 11 – Ladies Day.

This will be the first weekend fixture since reopening last October and will be our richest raceday yet with £80,000 in prize money on offer.

There is plenty of activity planned, including a best dressed lady competition for which first prize is a weekend’s use of a MINI convertible courtesy of Cotswold MINI Hereford and a night’s dinner, bed and breakfast stay at Verzon House Hotel followed by a tour of the world famous Chase Distillery.

The current welcome break in Hereford’s fixture list enables the groundstaff to repair the course as best they can from the recent racing.

With soft ground throughout most of January, the runners have left a real mark on the track.

There is no quick fix to repairing turf and, after each race meeting, a team of staff walk around the track lifting the inprints made by horses hooves with forks.

The following day, they do the same again, adding divot mix, soil and grass seed to the track to make it level.

There has been little chance to get a roller on to it because it’s been so wet.

However, with this week’s drier weather and the current sunshine, the track will be rolled, and with spring around the corner, the seed will be germinating before we know it into a lush green carpet of grass.

Our final fixture this season is Sunday, March 26, which is Mother’s Day and a Family Fun Day.

There will be plenty of free children’s entertainment and there is a great offer for mums in our Rusty Bridge Restaurant and a raceday Prosecco package so bring mum and the whole family along for a fun filled day at the races.

There is plenty of talk about the Cheltenham and Aintree festivals fast approaching and our preview evening on Friday, March 3 will be a great insight into jump racing’s much heralded events.

The panel is headed by champion jockey Richard Johnson and champion trainer Paul Nicholls and tickets cost £25.

That includes a Hereford beef stew supper and ticket for racing on March 11.