As an appetiser to the main event this side of Christmas, last month’s Showcase Meeting at Cheltenham Racecourse pretty much ticked all the boxes.

More than 30,000 punters over the two days, good weather, even better racing and a fistful of winners for Gloucestershire trainers.

Now all eyes are on the November Meeting – three days of top quality racing which gets under way on Friday when thrills, spills and ringing tills are guaranteed.

For many it signals the start of the jump season and Ian Renton, who has been the main man at Cheltenham Racecourse for more than five years now, is not about to disagree.

“Yes, I think that’s right, absolutely” he said. “The November Meeting is the highlight of the first part of the season.

“A lot of the Irish runners come over – that’s happening more and more – and you see a lot of the star horses come out as well as the future stars appearing.

“There are always plenty of runners and it’s a great meeting.”

And while Renton is excited by the racing that will be on offer on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, he is still jumping for joy after the success of the Showcase meeting less than three weeks ago.

“It was lovely to start the season off with two days like that,” he enthused. “Everything that could go right did go right. The groundstaff did a great job and the wins for Gloucestershire trainers Nigel Twiston-Davies, Martin Keighley and Fergal O’Brien just topped it off.

“And then there was that win for Tim Vaughan, his first at Cheltenham after more than 150 races. Amazing!”

A great two days, but the next three at the home of jump racing promise to be even better. More than 70,000 are expected to flock to Prestbury Park with more than 30,000 watching every twist and turn on Saturday, the standout day.

Renton will hope to watch most, if not all, the races but his duties as regional director, South West, Jockey Club Racecourses, means he may not be able to ‘go through the card’.

“I’ll usually miss only one or two races a day at most,” he said. “Although I’m responsible for the business side I like to see as much of the racing as possible. The racing is still the most important part of the day.

“It’s a bit like a football manager not knowing the score at the end of the game.”

Renton will be out and about for much of the time over the three days and there’s certainly plenty to admire away from the racing itself.

He’s overseen some major improvements at the racecourse and the results are as clear as a runaway winner.

“I’ve felt very honoured to be part of the transformation,” he said, “and being involved in carrying out the development work.

“I feel comfortable saying that we are able to compete on the world stage. We’re now able to compete with the likes of Wimbledon, Lord’s, Ascot and Melbourne.”

And they’re always looking at ways to get bigger and better.

“We talk about how we can improve things all the time,” said Renton. “We have a lot of temporary facilities – at the Cheltenham Festival the temporary facilities cover the same square area as the permanent facilities.

“So there’s always a debate about whether to make some of the temporary facilities permanent.”

That debate is one that set is set to run and run, as is Renton’s love of all things horses which began at an early age.

My grandfather Bobby Renton was a trainer in Ripon,” he said. “He won the Grand National with Freebooter in 1950.

“He also had Red Rum in his stable before he retired in the early 70s at the age of 84.”

Renton wasn’t born when Freebooter was the talk of the racing world at Aintree back in the day, but he has many memories from his days spent with horses... and there are plenty more to come.

The first race at 12.40pm on Friday – Countryside Day – can’t come soon enough.