IT'S been nearly ten months since Arena Racing Company (ARC) announced that racing would return to Hereford and I can’t quite believe that the day itself is finally here.

The buzz around the site has been non-stop and I am delighted and very proud of the amount of support that the team and I have had to get everything in place for today.

We have certainly not been short of support.

Kidwells Solicitors, Cotswold Hereford MINI, Chase Vodka and The Verzon House Hotel are all new commercial partners, and equally my thanks go to bet365 who are supporting today’s card, along with racing on November 23.

ARC have invested a significant amount to get the racecourse fit for its reopening, including a thorough site refurbishment, and I hope racegoers will see a real improvement in the facilities.

It is the start of an exciting journey for the racecourse and there is more to come.

So excited is everyone within the ARC group, we have even had the chief executive down, paintbrush in hand to help out and the teams from Bath, Worcester and Uttoxeter Racecourses have been tremendous.

Today represents a new era for racing at Hereford and within the county.

My phone has not stopped ringing with local trainers wanting to come and find out more about our plans, and I’ve been delighted to speak the likes of Venetia Williams, Kerry Lee, Henry Daly, Tom Symonds and Paul Nicholls about what we want Hereford to represent and achieve.

Most of all, I would like to thank champion jockey Richard Johnson for everything that he has done in support of our reopening, and for his advice and general enthusiasm for our reopening.

We’ve been delighted to rename the Rusty Bridge Restaurant in honour of his first ever career winner and are grateful for him to sitting on today’s pre racing jockey’s panel alongside weighing room colleagues Aidan Coleman and Tom Scudamore to share their memories of racing here.

I hope that everyone that comes racing today has a fantastic day, and I look forward to welcoming even more in the months to come and to our fixtures in 2017.

They are exciting times at Hereford and we can’t wait to get going.