Back on home turf at 11 o’clock sharp
Pontefract Racecourse is gearing up to hold the opening event of its 2023 season on Tuesday. Chris Berry meets the clerk of the course for 40 years, Norman Gundill.
AS irrepressible forces go, there is one man who is in the vanguard of the Yorkshire horse-racing world and the new 2023 season sees his 40th anniversary as clerk of the course at Pontefract Park where he is, quite simply, Mr Pontefract Races. Norman Gundill MBE has shared his walking the course duties with fellow clerk of the course Richard Hammill for some years now, but at 80 years young, Norman says he will always walk the course at 11 o’clock on race meeting day.
“You have to walk it on the morning to make sure it’s safe to race on, as well as to give the going, and Richard uses what’s called a Going stick,” he says.
Norman’s earliest memories of Pontefract Park were as a child. His grandfather and grandfather’s brother-in-law Will Bentley were both involved with the management of the course as was his father Henry James (Jim) Gundill. “They were in practice as solicitors Carter, Bentley & Gundill and the practice would decamp down here on race days. I remember first coming here with my mother.
“When racing was over, my sister and I would run around everywhere trying to find discarded winning Tote tickets. We never found any.
“My fondest memories of the racecourse in more recent times are of a Sunday meeting with 9,500 here for the Skybet Sunday Series or a Friday evening with lovely weather and all the crowds coming in.
“When it gets to the first race, we go up on to the balcony and all you can see is a sea of people, hear that hubbub, enjoy the lovely blue sky and watch the horses gather around at the start. Then they are under starters orders and they’re off.”
Always keen to share the glory, Norman tells of what he and his team put together and of the hopes he has for every meeting.
“It’s certainly not just about me. I’m a team player. Everyone here plays their part. Richard and I and all the staff are all doing what you’d expect of a theatre. We look after the theatre, we’ve written the play, the condi