THE long hours and hard work that is currently going into maintaining the good, safe racing surface at Pitchcroft for the weekly meetings continues to be recognised by the trainers and owners, backed up by the bumper declarations for racing last Thursday.

For only the second time this season, a full complement of 89 horses were declared to run with decent field sizes, something currently scarce at most racecourses thanks to the heatwave.

Not only are we attracting local horses but trainers from further afield and as far as Ireland are sending their horses to Worcester.

One such horse caught my eye over the past two weeks.

Ruaraidh Hugh, which I am reliably informed means Rory Hugh in Gaelic, is a nine-year old with 27 runs to his name.

Trained in Middleham, North Yorkshire, by Julia Brooke since January 2018, Ruaraidh Hugh was sent to contest the two-mile four-furlong selling handicap hurdle at the course at Irish night on July 17 with recent form figures of 056/00-5 and seemingly little chance of winning.

Defying the odds, the horse bolted up in the 15-runner race to win prize money of £2,377 for his connections.

As is customary in these selling races, the horse was then auctioned in the winner’s enclosure.

Unsurprisingly, there was no bid for him with most people assuming the win was a bit of a fluke and the horse went back home to Yorkshire.

His trainer knew better and Brooke sent Ruaraidh Hugh back to Worcester last Thursday, nine days later, to contest another two-mile four-furlong handicap hurdle and another 15-runner race.

This time, he carried top weight of 12 stone with his conditional jockey taking a 7lb allowance off.

Described as a real gent and showing no ill-effects from his four-hour, 344-mile journey in searing heat and a small trailer that morning, he cruised home, idling a bit on the run-in, but winning another £2,377 for his connections by six lengths.

His success could possibly be put down to his seeming preference for running in the months of June and July when his form figures read 5111671111.

Brooke, who has sent out four winners from her last four runners, now has a 100 per cent strike-rate at Pitchcroft with two wins from two runs by Ruaraidh Hugh.

Trainer Peter Bowen and jockey son Sean’s good form continued at the course with another winner last week.

Cruising Bye first ran at Worcester back in July 2013 when he came second of 12 runners then ridden by Peter Carberry.

Tuesday is the annual chance to paint the racecourse purple.

A favourite meeting of mine, the Pershore Plum Festival race night always has a fun atmosphere as we celebrate the historic contests run at Pershore Racecourse before its closure during World War Two.

We also look forward to the Plum Festival in Pershore at the end of August.

The gates open at 3.35pm — be sure to remember to sport the colour purple!