Photos taken by Cheltenham’s chief medical officer will give the racegoers a peek into life behind the scenes at the racecourse.
Lee Humphreys, a surgeon at Derriford Hospital, has been caring for jockeys on racedays for more than 10 years at the course.
An exhibition of his work, showing the “small army” who make racedays happen at Cheltenham, will go on display at next week’s November meeting (15 to 17 November).
“Over the past 14 seasons at Cheltenham I have had the pleasure of working with some fascinating people who go largely unnoticed by the public,” said Mr Humphreys.
“I wanted to combine my love of photography and my ability to ‘access all areas’ to tell the story of the small army that work behind the scenes to help make the racing at Cheltenham the best in the world.”
The photos were taken across the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons and donations will be taken in aid of Racing Welfare.
“None of these images are posed and nearly all have been taken while performing my medical duties, they are snapshots in time as seen from my perspective,” he said.
“I want to thank Racing Welfare and Cheltenham racecourse for giving me the opportunity to indulge my passion, but I also want to thank the many people I have photographed as part of this project for providing me with such a wealth of material. I hope I have done you all justice. If I haven’t, you know where to find me!”
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Racing Welfare’s chief executive, Dawn Goodfellow, thanked Mr Humphreys and Cheltenham for their support.
“Lee has produced a wonderful collection of photos which depict so many of the people who are involved in delivering racing at Cheltenham over the course of a season,”she said.
“He has captured everyone involved so beautifully and we hope that the exhibition gives an insight into all of the very many people who come together to make racing happy at every meeting.
“Although focused on Cheltenham, the pictures mirror racecourse teams around the country, all of whom who work incredibly hard to bring racing to the public every year.”
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