LOOKING after trainer Shaun Lycett in the winning connections room at Worcester is always a pleasure.

He has one of the warmest smiles in the business and his genuine enthusiasm for the game and for all the horses in his care is infectious.

When one of his horses is in contention heading for the line he can usually be seen running full pelt across the parade ring, waving his arms and shouting words of encouragement to his horse.

Oh and his horses always have great stable names, mostly chosen by his wife Emily.

Proud to be a former recipient of the Worcester leading trainer award, especially as this is a course where he has himself ridden a winner, Lycett has moved yards in the last couple of weeks and now shares with Mark Rimell at Witney near Burford.

The first runner from his new yard was at Worcester last Tuesday.

Hallings Comet is somewhat of a Pitchcroft specialist these days.

The horse, bred and owned by Lord Blyth from Moreton-in-Marsh, first ran at Worcester in 2013 under Aiden Coleman.

He was then trained by Adrian Wintle.

The first three races at the course produced a second place and two wins.

The eight-year old Halling gelding, known as George at home, joined Lycett in November 2016 and first ran at Pitchcroft for his new trainer in June this year.

Four Worcester runs later and his recent form figures now read 1211.

The most recent victory came in the 7bets4free.com handicap hurdle last week under regular rider and Lycett’s new stable jockey Marc Goldstein.

With £34,897 in prize money already achieved in his races to date Hallings Comet may yet have another run at his favourite course before the end of our season in October and if he does I am certain he will be very hard to pass.

A person who will also be hard to pass is Richard Johnson in the 2017 Worcester jockey table.

Johnson is currently ahead on 178 points and his nearest rivals Coleman (138) and Harry Skelton (126) will have their work cut out to peg back Johnson’s lead during the four remaining fixtures of the season.

Closer, however, is the trainer’s contest where Jonjo O’Neill and Dan Skelton are enjoying a real tussle for the top spot.

Dr Richard Newland, Neil Mulholland and Nicky Henderson are all jostling for position behind the leading pair with just seven points separating the three trainers.

The top four trainers have a good number of entries between them for our inaugural Locals Raceday today.

With good prize money on offer the day is bound to produce some competitive racing and all we need is for the weather to behave.

The first race is due off at 2pm and the gates will open from noon.