Equestrian
The final fence has been resited to give a better jumping line on the home bend Career progression
Sean Revell (above) began his career at Worcester Racecourse as a groundsman and, after being promoted to Assistant Head Groundsman, was placed on ARC’s Development Programme in 2016.
“Taking on more responsibility in my role as Acting Estate Manager at Hereford was part of that programme, providing the opportunity to look at the whole picture on the racecourse and giving me new challenges, such as being responsible for the managing the groundstaff team, looking after the stables and working with sectional rather than fully portable fences.”
Sean now moves on to Chepstow as Head Groundsman, and he comments: “I was invited to apply for the role last year, but didn’t feel that I was ready. Taking part in the Development Programme and the role at Hereford has been enormously helpful.”
Rebecca Davies has followed a more diverse career path, starting at Cheltenham as a Commercial Executive. As a farmer’s daughter from Herefordshire, she enjoyed the opportunity to become Clerk of the Course at Wincanton, working for five years with Head Groundsman and former jockey David Cartwright, who she credits as being “one of the best”.
More recently, she was Racing Operations Manager at Cheltenham and, whilst on maternity leave, was offered the role as Executive Director and Clerk of the Course at Hereford.
“It’s an exciting opportunity to start afresh with a new project and have responsibility for both sides of the operation,” she comments. “Cheltenham was a great place to work, but now the buck stops with me and I am genuinely loving the challenge!”
Building the Duralock wings for the steeplechase fences 86 I PC OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015
new racecourse, so racegoers won’t be walking in and seeing a shiny new grandstand, but they certainly will see a considerable improvement and investment in our facilities, which will be ongoing. Blackmore Building Contractors Ltd, led by Pete Boenigk, were appointed to do the works on site and have been incredibly helpful - for every problem, they have found a solution.” Hereford’s racing season extends from
October to March, with eleven fixtures planned for 2016-17. “We aim to offer good quality racing for horses of all abilities. In 2016, the meetings are all low key weekday fixtures but, next year, we race on the Saturday before Cheltenham, which will give us the opportunity to raise our profile. Going forward, we will look at headline racedays with more valuable races, or an enhanced racing experience such as a themed day,” says Rebecca. There is no plan to race year round, she
explains: “I firmly believe that tracks need time to rest and repair. Having been effectively out of use for four years, it will be even more important in 2017, especially as
we hope to get plenty of runners. But there will still be opportunities for those that supported it in the meantime, such as the point-to-points and Arab racing.” The refurbished facilities are also already
attracting attention for non-racing events. “We have already had enquiries for trade fairs, AGMs and parties, to name but a few, and we also let the car parks to a circus last month. I’ve been surprised by the level of interest but, in common with other racecourses, the one advantage we offer is unlimited car parking, plus there is a lack of larger events facilities in Hereford.”
Trees and bushes on the golf course in the centre of the track were cut down to 2m high before racing began to maintain lines of sight
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