Simon Claisse is preparing for his 20th season as one of the main men at Cheltenham Racecourse and says “the flame of anticipation burns as brightly as ever”.

“Of course it does,” said the 58-year-old as he looked ahead to the first meeting at the home of National Hunt racing in 2018/19 – The Showcase – on Friday 26th October and Saturday 27th October.

“It’s about this time of year when everything really gets going. The trainers hold Open Days – sometimes just for the owners and sometimes for the owners and members of the public combined – and there’s a real sense of anticipation of what’s to come in the season ahead.”

Claisse’s role as Regional Head of Racing, South West and Clerk of the Course at Cheltenham Racecourse gives him the opportunity to spend time with trainers and when he spoke to The Local Answer he had already been to Opens Days or was planning to attend Open Days with the likes of Paul Nicholls, Nicky Henderson and Kim Bailey.

Those three are top trainers, of course, and Claisse added: “It’s a chance to reflect on last year, find out how the championship horses have summered and what’s new in a yard.

“The sense of anticipation grows, not diminishes.”

And that’s no surprise when you consider that racing has been a huge part of Claisse’s life for five decades and more.

Born and bred in Hampshire, he has fond memories of riding ponies when he was growing up. It was something he was obviously pretty good at, too, because he went on to ride in point to points as well as an amateur rider in National Hunt racing.

“I won 30 point to points,” he said with some pride and of course he can remember that first win as though it was yesterday.

“It was at Tweseldown Racecourse in 1978,” he said. “They don’t have racing there anymore. I was riding for Hilary Trigg who ran a small yard in Upham, near Winchester.

“It was my gap year, I rode quite a few winners for the yard.”

And Claisse stayed in touch with the Triggs because post-university he worked as an estate manager for seven years at several farms owned by Hilary’s husband Harry.

From there he worked for 10 years at what is now the British Horseracing Authority before heading to this part of the world when he joined Cheltenham Racecourse.

“This is home to me,” he said. “I’m lucky enough to live just outside Naunton so I’m right in the heart of National Hunt country with Nigel Twiston-Davies, Jonjo O’Neill and Ben Pauling all close by.”

Twiston-Davies and O’Neill have trained many, many winners at Cheltenham over the years of course and while Claisse has never trained a winner, he has at least experienced the thrill of riding round the great course.

“It was in the early 1990s in the Foxhunter Chase,” he said. “It was the last time that the Foxhunter Chase took place just before the Gold Cup.

“I rode Provide who used to be trained by Stan Mellor,” said Claisse “and the horse was considered to have a good chance.

“But he never got into any rhythm and it was later discovered that he had something wrong with his feet.

“But to ride in front of 70,000 people was an amazing experience.”

So was that the best racing experience of his life?

No, no I don’t think so,” said Claisse, “the best is yet to come. I consider myself very lucky to work where I do, working with top quality sports people.

“It’s a fascinating job and every day I think how fortunate I am to work at the racecourse.”

And as with all top level jobs, that role is evolving all the time.

“We started a racing syndicate two years ago,” explained Claisse, who himself owned a horse many years ago.

“It gives people the opportunity to experience the thrill of being an owner and we had a lot of success.

“We had three horses in training and won 12 races.”

Those horses have now been sold and three new horses have been bought by the Cheltenham and South West Syndicate for this season and will be trained by Nicky Henderson, Neil Mulholland and Kim Bailey.

“The syndicate gives people the chance to be involved in racing,” added Claisse, who helps to manage it. “All three horses that have been bought are very exciting youngsters.

“This is a side of the business we have developed over the years. I often tell people that without owners we have no business.”

Quite right of course and although Claisse has plenty in his in-tray – he’d been at a Cheltenham Festival planning meeting before this interview – he will certainly take time out to watch some of the races at The Showcase at the end of October.

This has now become a top meeting in its own right and Claisse said: “We moved it back a week a few years ago to avoid Champions Day at Ascot.

“Just being that little bit later has helped us to attract some of the better horses.

“A lot of the horses that run in October we expect to see back at Cheltenham in March.

“We’ve increased the prizemoney and the irrigation at the course is much better these days.”

Once The Showcase is done and dusted, there’s the November Meeting, when 75,000 fans will swarm through the gates at Prestbury Park, followed by the two-day International in December.

The New Year’s Day meeting is the perfect way to start 2019 and after Festival Trials Day at the end of January, all roads lead to the Festival which takes place next year on 12-15th March.

As Claisse says: “There is plenty to look forward to!”