Get ready to enjoy the anti-Goodwood - one of racing's best little secrets

The Brighton festival, which starts on Wednesday, always feels like one of the season's best little secrets. I'm a bit loath to give this away, but should a few more converts become as cheered as I am by that first blast of saline air when walking through the racecourse gates then it can't be a bad thing.

Don't expect a great deal of glamour for the second part of what used to be known as the 'Sussex Fortnight', but the peculiar charm of Brighton is because it is essentially the anti-Goodwood. Informal, a little rough-and-ready but with the nostalgic atmosphere of a seaside summer holiday you actually had and adored, as opposed to the aspirational, Boden catalogue version.

It's three days when the quality of racing is secondary to conviviality at a racecourse as unconventional as the city it perches above. Should the sun continue to shine and offer a view all the way to the Channel, there really aren't many lovelier places to be.