THE racecourse was a hive of activity last week even though there was no racing.

We welcomed a company called Bespoke Wales DMC here on Wednesday. They organise tourist trips and leisure activities for conference-goers visiting Wales.

The next day we staged the Toolbank trade show, which exhibited all kinds of tools and equipment for the building trade.

The course was transformed on Saturday as we hosted The Inflatable 5k Obstacle Run round a series of giant bouncy castles, only they didn’t look like castles and there was a lot of climbing, sliding and jumping involved. It didn’t have a Becher’s Brook but there were Mega Mountains and The Plummet to overcome, among many others. Some people enjoyed it so much they went round twice.

Conventional jumping action returns to the racecourse on Friday for our first evening meeting of the season. By then Sarah Bell, who is in charge of the track’s dealings with owners, trainers and annual members, will hopefully have recovered from her exertions in the London Marathon. On an unhelpfully warm day she finished in a highly creditable 3 hours 35 minutes.

Friday’s highlight is the Dunraven Bowl, a hunter chase that attracts the best point-to-pointers in south Wales. David Brace, who owns the Dunraven double glazing company and is sponsoring the entire card, has tried for years to win his own race. He’s hoping that either Pink Eyed Pedro or Colorado Doc can break his hoodoo. The latter is only a seven-year-old but has already won six of his ten points.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed that our ambassador Richard Johnson will be riding here that evening, but at the moment it’s too soon to say if he’ll be able to make it. What we do know is that he will be at Sandown on Saturday to receive a trophy for winning the jockeys’ championship for the third time.

Although Friday is our last jumps meeting of the season it’s only another week until we’re back on the flat. There are more details in the What’s On part of our website, where you can also read about the variety of non-racing events coming up at the racecourse.