While we are not quite there yet, things feel as though they’re slowly but surely getting back to normal.

It’s been so nice to see so many familiar faces return to Carlisle Racecourse over the past few weeks.

It’s been a difficult time for all of us, so it’s been beyond heartening to see people supporting the racecourse in such brilliant numbers.

Since our last update, we hosted one of our biggest race meetings of the year, VL Aesthetics Ladies Night, on Monday, August 2, which was a fantastic evening of racing.

The female-only card gives women in the saddle a great opportunity to show their talents and they didn’t disappoint, with a healthy crowd of 4,500 providing an electric atmosphere.

On the racing front we saw one of the stories of the season, as 16-year-old Fern O’Brien rode a winner on her first ever ride with 25-1 outsider Lord P for her dad Fergal – just two days after her birthday!

Fern was a natural when interviewed by Racing TV afterwards and considering she’s already ridden another winner since, her future certainly seems bright.

Meanwhile, the racing was followed by a live set from Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills, who put on an absolutely fantastic show. He is such a pleasure to deal with and was keen to get a picture with Carlisle’s resident celebrity – Wiggle the cockerpoo!

We also hosted the Summer Family Fun Day yesterday, which was supported by a healthy crowd as always.

It was fantastic to see so many young faces enjoying a day at the races and hopefully they will be back for many years to come.

The summer seems to have flown by and we have just two Flat meetings left at Carlisle this year.

We’re certainly not ones for bias up here, but it’s fantastic to see Hackthorpe trainer Dianne Sayer having another fine season at her local track.

She’s always been a fantastic supporter of the track and you wouldn’t bet against her superstar Detective striking here again before the year ends.

He is such a handsome boy and he’s been untouchable so far this year, winning three times. Win or lose, keep an eye for him coming back into the paddock post-race, as he always sticks his tongue out for the cameras!

With the Flat season winding down, it won’t be long now until the return of Jump racing to Carlisle with our season opener – the Rock Youth Project Raceday on Thursday, October 14 – brought to you by Rachael Bell Wealth Management.

This is always a fantastic day of racing which has a truly autumnal feel to things and I’m delighted that Rachael Bell are sponsoring the card in support of a fantastic cause.

The Rock Youth Project is a brilliant project supporting children and young people in the area and hopefully they can raise some vital funds on the day.

We encourage all racegoers to purchase their tickets in advance from our website – and in order to to find out all the information about the evening, please head to our website www.thejockeyclub.co.uk/carlisle.

Here’s hoping we see you at Carlisle Racecourse very soon!