Renton hopes to build on success of previous Festivals

The Jockey Club's regional director for the South West, Ian Renton, is looking forward to this year's Cheltenham Festival with relish and is hoping that his team can build on the successes of previous meetings.

Renton, who was named as the new supremo of Cheltenham Racecourse in August 2012, is also responsible for Exeter, Wincanton and Warwick as part of the South West region and hopes that this year's Festival will offer improved facilities for the 235,000 racegoers that are expected to flock to Prestbury Park over the next four days.

The 55-year-old described his appointment as a 'homecoming' as he had worked at Cheltenham in the 1980s under former managing director Edward Gillespie and brings plenty of experience to the position having worked for Arena Leisure in several capacities and also having served as a director at the British Horseracing Board (now British Horseracing Authority).

Speaking on the eve of the 2014 Festival, Renton is delighted that the weather is set fair for the week ahead and feels that preparations to the racecourse itself have gone much smoother than they did 12 months ago.

"It's fantastic that we can head into this year's Festival with much better weather than we had last year and this has meant we've been in much better shape to make the final preparations than we were 12 months ago," said Renton.

"We're looking forward to a great four days racing and the weather will certainly play a part in that. We're slightly ahead on ticket sales than we were last year but tickets are still available in all enclosures on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

"We are sold out in Tattersalls and the Best Mate enclosure on Gold Cup Day (Friday) but there are still some available in the Club Enclosure.

"Although it was my first Festival in charge of Cheltenham Racecourse last year, a lot of the preparations had been made as we start so far in advance but I was able to take stock after last year's meeting and make a few adjustments so racegoers can have the best customer experience possible.

"We've added more bars this year and there are also more loos available to racegoers. We've also worked hard on a pilot wifi infrastructure which will hopefully ensure that all Festival racegoers have access to free internet access across the racecourse and there has also been a significant uplift in the quality of facilities for hospitality clients."