Course provides welcome home for local born and bred

Richard Johnson, Nigel Twiston-Davies and the Scudamore family, some of the giants of jump racing in Britain whose roots are based in Herefordshire, are granted a wish they had long hoped for on Thursday with the reopening of the racetrack they once called a home.

When Arena Racing Company shut the gates on Hereford racecourse on December 16, 2012, after 241 years amid anger and frustration from the racing community there was little sign the sport would ever return.

Yet nearly four years later the course will emerge into a fresh new era as a fully restored member of Arc's racecourse portfolio as it hosts the first of four racecourse fixtures in 2016.