EVERY race day has a story or two to tell and the Pershore Plum Festival evening upheld that tradition.

Appropriately, the first winner was trained locally at Cropthorne by Tony Carroll, a distance of just 3.8 miles from Pershore and seven minutes driving time!

Heurtevent is a previous course and distance winner but his last victory came at Pitchcroft in May 2016.

His latest success broke a losing run of 19 races but having said that the nine-year old appears to relish racing at Worcester, finishing third of 12 runners in May this year.

In June he came home second of 10 and at the last meeting he beat 11 horses home to win by half-a-length.

Trained by Carroll since 2013, two-mile chases round Pitchcroft appear to be his optimum trip.

In the concluding race, Carntop proved an interesting winner.

Bred by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, the five-year old began his racing career on the flat trained by Ralph Beckett.

In May 2016 he ran in the Lingfield Derby trial and finished second.

The following month he was fifth in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot.

In June 2017 he was far from disgraced in a class two handicap over a mile and four furlongs at Epsom on Derby day where he finished third.

Transferred to trainer Jamie Snowden in February 2018, Carntop finished down the field in a grade two hurdle at Kempton in February but improved with a second at Stratford in early July before his maiden hurdle win at Worcester.

Officially now owned by the Duchess of Cornwall and Sir Chips Keswick, chairman of Arsenal, Carntop has qualified for the final of the 7bets4free.com Fixed Brush Hurdle Series at Pitchcroft on October 24.

During the year we arrange trainer stable visits for the Worcester annual members and we all enjoyed one such outing last week.

Martin and Belinda Keighley kindly invited us to their picturesque yard at Condicote in the heart of the Cotswolds.

Twenty-five annual members and three of us from the racecourse were warmly welcomed by the Keighley family before strolling across the sunny slopes to watch second lot on the gallops.

We also had the opportunity of meeting all the horses in their boxes.

Having achieved over 200 winners to date, 19 of those at Cheltenham, the Keighleys gave us a fascinating insight into each horse in their care, all of whom were happy and relaxed in their scenic surroundings.

Just before we left, we were treated to a display of Shetland pony racing training by young Freddie Keighley.

The 2019 fixture list is now official and we will be staging another 20 meets at Worcester next year.

Most race days are equivalent from year to year but there is one notable exception in 2019.

We have a new Saturday evening fixture in mid-June to look forward to.

Racing resumes tomorrow night after a fortnight’s break with the first run due off at 5pm and acoustic musical entertainment through the evening.