WHEN I get up on a race day morning, I never know who I am going to meet that day.

The passion for racing touches people across all walks of life and spans different sports.

At the Worcester meeting last week, I met John Sillett, the 82-year old owner/breeder of the bumper winner Laughing Luis.

Sillett is also a footballing legend, having started his playing career at Chelsea in 1954 before moving to Coventry City and finally Plymouth Argyle.

In 1974 Sillett became manager of Hereford United and then boss of Coventry City in 1986.

He is arguably best remembered for Coventry's success in the 1987 FA Cup when they beat Spurs 3-2 under Sillett’s stewardship.

Aside from his footballing career, Sillett also has a keen interest in racing.

He breeds one or two foals a year and when I asked him how he came to name Laughing Luis he told me the gelding is named after notorious footballer Luis Suarez because every time Sillett went into the horse’s box he bit him!

The Worcester bumpers can throw up interesting horses for the future.

Black Jack Ketchum and more recently Ballyandy spring to mind.

Laughing Luis, still just a four-year old, ran his debut at Towcester last November and followed that up at Ludlow in January when he came fourth of 12 runners.

The half-brother to winning flat stayer Graceful Lady was ridden to win at Worcester by James Bowen who boasts a current 33 per cent strike-rate for trainer Nicky Henderson.

This leads me on to more about the current success of the Bowen family.

Going into the meeting last week, if you backed all horses ridden by Sean Bowen at Worcester this season you would have had a £59 return to a £1 stake and similarly all horses trained by father Peter would have returned £57.

The opening novice handicap chase last week went the way of the Bowen-trained Hillary View ridden by Sean.

Following a 157-day break and fitted with cheek pieces, the six-year old appears to get on better with Sean than brother James.

Across five starts under rules, he has won and finished fourth under Sean but been unplaced on three starts for James.

I am quite sure there is much friendly rivalry between the siblings at home!

Hillary View’s owner Jonathan Martin must have been thankful for his decision to become a member of the Racehorse Owner’s Association because this was one of their jackpot races where winning owners, if also ROA members, receive an additional £2,000 in prize money.

We are currently on a run of three Wednesday evening August meetings with the second themed as an 80s night and featuring the band Wham Bam Duran before and between the races tomorrow night.

With 130 entries, some of whom are previous Worcester winners and sponsored by Arctic Spas, it promises to be a fun evening with something for everyone.

The gates open at 3pm with the first race due off at 5pm.