THE clerk of the course at Hereford Racecourse provides you with an update.

FIRST of all, I must say a big thank you to everyone who joined us last week for the bet365.com Reopening Raceday.

It was a tremendous event, and we were delighted to welcome 4,501 through the gates.

We were equally well supported by the local racing community who really came out in force and it was a joy for the team here to welcome Champions Paul Nicholls and Richard Johnson as well as other top horsemen such as Nicky Henderson, Nigel Twiston-Davies and jockeys like Aidan Coleman, Tom Scudamore and Sam Twiston-Davies.

The photos from the day really reflect what a tremendous event it was, and we were over the moon to see the Kidwell’s Grandstand and lawn packed out with racegoers.

The Rusty Bridge Restaurant had a real buzz to it, particularly when Richard Johnson paid a quick visit prior to racing.

On that note, I must give special thanks to Richard, once again.

His support for the racecourse over the last number of months, has been second to none.

He has been incredibly generous with his time, and Herefordshire can be rightly proud of our local Champion Jockey.

Everyone at the racecourse will be getting behind him as he looks to secure his second championship this year as the jumps season gets underway.

One of the things that many have mentioned is the fact that trainers are not afraid to bring good horses to Hereford and that many future stars were shaped by runs around our track. Only time will tell, but we will certainly be keeping tabs on a couple of winners from last Thursday as they progress through the season, especially Nicky Henderson’s Rather Be and Paul Nicholls’ Coillte Lass who both won very nicely.

Performance of the day, however, was judged to have come collectively from the Twiston-Davies family with father Nigel training two winners and son Sam riding three.

This prize will again be given presented at each of our remaining fixtures in 2016 in honour of the much missed Alan Lee, long time racing correspondent for the Times and a big supporter of Hereford.

We will continually look to support the local community, and as such we’re hosting a Business Networking Brunch prior to racing at our next meeting on October 31.

Equally, anyone with an HR postcode can enjoy two for one admission tickets for the afternoon.

For more information, visit hereford-racecourse.co.uk