Retired businessman Martyn Thomas will, quite literally, have an extra spring in his step when he heads off to this year’s three-day November Meeting at Cheltenham Racecourse.

That’s because the 63-year-old has recently recovered from a broken ankle, an injury that pretty much kept him housebound for six weeks.

Now happily restored to full fitness, he is counting down the days to one of the major meetings on the jumps racing calendar.

More than 70,000 spectators are expected at the three-day spectacular with the action getting under way on Friday 15th November with Countryside Day.

The Saturday, which features the BetVictor Gold Cup, is the showpiece day, but horseracing fans will still turn out in force on the Friday and Sunday.

Thomas, who lives in Cheltenham just a long gallop from Prestbury Park, will be there for all three days.

And while, first and foremost, he’s a big supporter of all things horseracing, over the past decade or so he has taken an even keener interest in the sport after being invited to become a racehorse owner as part of the well-known Yes No Wait Sorries syndicate which is run by Cheltenham-based Chris Coley.

“I was asked if I’d like to join about 10 years ago,” said Thomas.

And Thomas, who is well known in the local business world for his good humour and general bonhomie, didn’t need to think twice before saying ‘yes’.

“There’s about 12 of us in the syndicate,” said Thomas. “It gives us the benefit of being part of something with like-minded people. Chris Coley organises some great trips – we’ve had runners, just to give two examples, at Perth and Killarney in south west Ireland.”

Thomas is a big fan of Killarney Racecourse in particular.

“It’s a stunning course,” he said. “It’s got the mountains as a backdrop, it’s beautiful even though the weather can change four times a day!”

And while that sounds great fun there’s a serious side to the Yes No Wait Sorries syndicate too because they have enjoyed close on 150 winners over the years.

“I think we’ve had about 70 winners since I joined,” said Thomas, “and I was there for about 30 of them.”

By his own admission Welsh-born Thomas – “I’m a Valleys boy,” he said – knew little about racing when he moved to Cheltenham some 33 years ago.

Even now he says he’d only give himself five out of 10 when it comes to his racing knowledge, although he adds: “But I like to learn. I listen when people are talking about breeding or expectations, I think I’m a good listener.”

Anyone who knows Thomas knows that is very much the case, but initially it was the thrills and spills that got him into the sport

“I took to it straight away,” he said, “it’s a big part of Cheltenham life and I fell into it.”

He’d been to the odd race meeting before moving to glorious Gloucestershire but it was very much rugby and cricket first for Thomas when he was growing up.

“A minor claim to fame is that I played rugby at school with Eddie Butler who went on to captain Wales,” said Thomas.

“I played behind him because he was no. 8 and I was scrum-half. I also played cricket with him for seven years. When he went off to Cambridge we always knew he was cast-iron to get a Blue but we always thought it would be for cricket, not rugby!”

Butler, who these days is best known as a rugby commentator, went on to establish his own links with this part of the world back in the day because he taught at Cheltenham College for a period.

Thomas, meanwhile, chose not to go to university, instead he took himself off to London at the age of 18 where he worked for the Inland Revenue in the East End.

“After 12 years I decided I’d had enough of living in London so I took a job at Clark Whitehill – now Crowe LLP – in Cheltenham as part of their tax team,” he said. “I’d never been to Cheltenham before.”

He settled in rather well of course. So well that when he retired last year he’d worked for Crowe for 32 years.

And while he threw himself into his work life, he threw himself into Gloucestershire’s sporting life as well when he first moved here, and it wasn’t just the racing.

“I became a member of Gloucester Rugby Club in the days before professionalism,” he said. “I played cricket for Naunton Park – Alan Mourton introduced me to the club. It was friendly cricket and I went on to captain them which meant that I could stand at first slip which was something I always wanted to do!

“But that was the only sport I played, I often refer to myself as a professional spectator of sport.”

Over the years he has been a regular at Old Patesians Rugby Club, he will also watch Cheltenham Town play – his wife Jennie has worked at the football club for the past 17 years – and no Cheltenham Cricket Festival is ever quite the same without bumping into Martyn Thomas in one of the marquees!

He’s also a member of Glamorgan and Middlesex county cricket clubs.

“I love watching cricket in Cardiff, and Lord’s is the best cricket ground in the world,” he said.

He goes to both grounds as often as he can although he doesn’t have quite such happy memories of his last visit to the home of cricket because that was the day he broke his ankle.

“It was the second Test of the Ashes series, I tripped over a kerb at Paddington,” he said.

Like any sports-loving Welshman, Thomas is a big fan of rugby. Ask him which sport or sporting event he prefers most and he’ll hesitate before putting a Welsh rugby international at the top of the tree – just!

Push him and he’ll also admit if the weather is good in July he’d place the cricket festival ahead of the racing festival – again by a very small margin.

But it’s not only sport that captures the Thomas imagination because he’s also a supporter of the “magnificent” literature and jazz festivals that are such a big part of life in Cheltenham.

Such are his wide range of interests that it is sometimes a wonder how he ever managed to get any work done back in the day!

He did of course and he was very good at his job. As he says: “My business life was always very much part of my social life as well, many clients became very good friends.”

But although he is now happily retired, his social life is still alive and kicking, so with the November Meeting just around the corner, what is it that he likes so much about horseracing at Cheltenham?

“It’s the atmosphere, the social opportunities,” he said. “I’ve always liked a bet, nothing too extreme, just a bit of fun.

“I enjoy the horses, what they could do, what they could achieve. I enjoy looking at them in the parade ring, some of them are incredible beasts.”

Thomas is hopeful that one of the Yes No Wait Sorries syndicate horses – Poetic Rhythm or Jarvey's Plate – will be running at Cheltenham in November.

Both are trained by Fergal O’Brien, Chris Coley’s business partner, and it was Poetic Rhythm who provided the yard – and Thomas – with their greatest day in racing so far.

“It was at Newbury in December a couple of years ago,” recalled Thomas. “It was their first and so far only Grade One winner.

“That was a wonderful day, the best. After the race we were in the Queen’s box drinking champagne – she wasn’t there! – watching a re-run of the race, you can’t buy that, it was wonderful.”

Thomas likes his Flat racing too – “Those animals are thoroughbreds,” he said – but for now all eyes are on the jumps and Cheltenham in particular.

“Cheltenham has to be the best place to go,” said Thomas, who has also been racing in Dubai. “The improvements that have been made at the course in the last few years are outstanding.

“They’ve turned it into a wonderful, wonderful experience. I’ve been to the larger racecourses – Aintree, Ascot, Doncaster, Epsom and Leopardstown for example – but there is nothing to live with that vista at Cheltenham, that panoramic view, it’s the best viewing course of all.”

Thomas says his favourite spot to watch the racing unfold is the new members enclosure but if truth be told he’s happy anywhere as long as he’s at the home of jumps racing.

“I don’t miss any of the meetings,” he said. “I go to pretty much all 16 every season.”