THE sun was blazing on Cartmel Racecourse this week as staff worked hard to prepare the track for what promises to be a spectacular Bank Holiday weekend.

A ‘Spanish plume’ will be bringing hot air from southern Europe across to Cumbria, just in time to light up Cartmel for the first meeting of the season.

Racegoers will no doubt be delighted to learn that temperatures are estimated to reach heights of 28 degrees.

This sort of weather in the Lake District certainly calls for a day out with the family, enjoying ice-creams, watching the horses in the parade ring and cheering on your favourite jockeys.

Managing director Jonathan Garratt is looking forward to a busy weekend. “It’s a very sociable event,” he explains. “Most of the visitors that come here will be celebrating with friends and family; there’ll be people with birthdays, wedding anniversaries or groups that just like to get together for an annual Bank Holiday excursion.

"They create a wonderful atmosphere against the backdrop of the horse racing.”

Behind the scenes, Cartmel’s head groundsman Gary Sharp and his team have been working hard to get the track in tip-top condition before racing starts today.

In the run-up to the racing, you might find Gary and his team building hurdles, mowing the grass or walking the track with clerk of the course Anthea Morshead.

Anthea and her feisty Jack Russell, Jack, are two of the best-known figures at Cartmel in the build up to race meetings, she said: "The course has to be prepared to looks its best, with good-under-foot conditions for the near 200 runners who will be racing on it over the meeting.

"We are very fortunate in having a first-rate head groundsman in Gary Sharp who, together with his team, won the overall Groundstaff Champions Award for all UK racecourses in 2016. This was such a wonderful result and a huge accolade for the track. It was so richly deserved for all the dedication and hard work that Gary, Martin and the team put into preparing the track."

Racegoers are often interested to know just what work has to be done behind the scenes to in order to put on the amazing events at Cartmel.

Anthea explains that ahead of the Bank Holiday weekend, fences are rebuilt, stables prepared and all veterinary and medical teams rehearsed and ready for anything. She said: "My days start early all week in the run up to racing, as we discuss watering plans, hurdle positions, rail moves for the week as we walk the course at least twice a day.

"I keep in daily contact via the BHA racing administration site, Twitter and text, letting trainers and owners who have horses entered to run, so that they know the ground and weather conditions."

The whole track is a hive of activity in the run up to racing, with Paul Richardson of local company PSR Marquee Hire taking over the paddock enclosure to erect more than 30 marquees.

Paul, of Field Broughton, takes care of all the marquees for Cartmel’s 'tented village', which has become one of the most popular areas since manager Jonathan introduced them four years ago.

This little village of tents, which can be found nestled in between the conservatory restaurant and the Champagne and Pimms bars are carefully planned in advance by Cartmel’s compact racing co-ordination team, who all work from the grandstand office.

At the head of the team is Pam Atkinson, who is running operations at full speed in the countdown to racing. She said: "It is absolutely great fun working on the track with Jonathan and the girls. This meeting promises to be fantastic as it looks as if we will have beautiful weather. Every year we seem to sell more tickets in advance of the race-meetings and this year is no exception.”