Cheltenham chief Ian Renton on Red Rum, helping Ukraine and the Festival experience

As a top executive, he’s presided over every scenario from the 1997 ‘bomb scare’ Grand National to Doncaster’s redevelopment and a Cheltenham Festival staged behind-closed-doors last year due to the Covid pandemic.

Yet the emotions will be very different on Tuesday as Cheltenham welcomes backs the crowds and also pays tribute to the victims of the Ukraine war.

Gary Rutherford’s humble role in Aye Right’s Cheltenham Gold Cup bid

Renton expects the poignancy to be palpable when the The Ukraine Appeal National Hunt Chase is staged – jockeys will wear blue and yellow armbands and collections will be held for the British Red Cross appeal.

Davy Russell in line for Cheltenham Festival reunion with Tiger Roll

Meanwhile Cheltenham has made available 24 pairs of ‘money can’t buy’ hospitality tickets for Gold Cup day through a raffle with proceeds going to the Ukraine appeal. It costs £10 to enter and the draw closes at 3pm on Monday.

Renton hopes a six-figure sum will be raised. “We all know the Festival is a fantastic celebration of our sport but we are also very well aware of a very sad backdrop to this particular year,” he told The Yorkshire Post.

Tom Scudamore confident in Adagio’s chances in Cheltenham Festival’s Champion Hurdle

“When we considered how to maximise our fundraising for the Red Cross appeal, we wanted to do something which capture everyone’s imagination and reward those who donate with the chance to experience something truly unique.”

Finn Lambert and the phone call to Nigel Twiston-Davies that took him to Cheltenham Festival on Ballyandy

This is Renton’s 10th Festival as managing director of Cheltenham and the Jockey Club’s West Region – he says it is an honour that his hobby is his job – and the current bloodshed in Europe takes him back to his childhood. His father Alec served in the Army – he was also an amateur jockey – and this included postings to Germany, Hong Kong, Aden and Singapore.

But the young Renton fondly remembers trips back to Ripon to visit his grandfather Bobby, who trained Freebooter to win the 1950 National, and be mesmerised by the horses at Oxclose Farm.

And these horses a young Red Rum shortly before Renton’s grandfather retired and long before the horse, a five furlong sprinter, would become a household name by winning a record three Grand Nationals. It was a formative experience. “Those were the days when we were first back in the country – we went to visit the stables and to think that the first time I patted a horse and that horse was Red Rum,” recalls Renton with pride.

He was 14 when he visited Cheltenham for the first time – he watched Comedy Of Errors win the 1973 Champion Hurdle thanks to some subterfuge on his part: “I used to escape from school (Shrewsbury) on the pretext of doing community work in Shrewsbury and slipping down the road to Cheltenham. I do recall being given careers advice at school and being encouraged to go into accounting, law or stockbroking. When I said I wanted to go into racecourse management, everyone looked at me as if I had got two heads and should consider some more sensible alternatives.”

Even Cambridge University did not dilute the racing ‘bug’. “Only recently was I reminded by a colleague that I spent more time studying my future career while at Cambridge than anyone else,” he reminisced. “Four days a week were on a racecourse.”

Yet his strategy paid off. He became a trainee manager at Cheltenham under the renowned Edward Gillespie – Renton’s three-year stint included Dawn Run’s iconic Gold Cup in 1986 – before progressing through racing’s managerial ranks with a calmness that has become his hallmark.

It was exemplified at Aintree in 1997 when the Martell Hurdle – the race before the National – was being run. A pensive-looking Renton was asked by a colleague “Everything okay?” He replied: “Everything is fine, we have a small hiccup.” Within minutes, the entire course was being evacuated and it remains, to this day, a source of achievement that the National went ahead 48 hours later on a tide of goodwill.

Renton would subsequently oversee the merger of Arena Leisure and Northern Racing – a venture that saw the redevelopment of Doncaster from a “tired course” to a 21st century facility.

His experience overhauling Town Moor meant he was ideally qualified to succeed the aforementioned Gillespie at Cheltenham and begin the task of transforming the home of jump racing so facilities matched the prestige of the National Hunt Festival. The result saw better use made of space at the iconic venue in Cleeve Hill’s for Cheltenham’s flagship fixture that will attract around 250,000 spectators over the four days.

Renton and his trusted team face long days – the first management meeting is at 7am each day before the gates open at 10.30am – and he spends as much time as possible talking to people from racing participants to sponsors, spectators and staff so “the customer experience is as good as it can be”.

The smallest details matter, he says, from the quality of the three-tiered temporary stands for corporate guests – Renton believes they’re now the best in sport – to ensuring that there are sufficient toilets. He’s acutely aware of the debate currently polarising racing about extending the Festival to a fifth day and is committed to carrying out “some proper market research...to consider the upsides and downsides”.

But his abiding hope for the next week is a Festival that uplifts racing while, at the same time, shows solidarity with the people of Ukraine for whom sport, at present, is an irrelevance.

And asked what will define success at a flagship fixture where Ireland is expected to continue its recent dominance of the most prestigious races, Renton’s long list is indicative of his lifelong passion for the sport. “I would love Rachael (Blackmore) and Honeysuckle to come back and repeat that brilliant win of last year in the Champion Hurdle – to that in front of packed crowds would be a wonderful way of welcoming spectators back after the pandemic,” he says.

“I want to see all of our horses and jockeys come back safe following some fantastic racing over the four days. I want to see all those attending in whatever capacity to have a brilliant experience. And I would like to see some nice British-trained novices come through to challenge the Irish so the United Kingdom can come out on top in 2023. I believe it’s only a matter of time before the playing field is a bit more level.”

It also sumps up Ian Renton, a leader looking to the future, and aware of his sport’s wider responsibilities, after proving his careers’ teacher so very wrong.

To donate to the British Red Cross’s appeal and enter the Gold Cup competition, please go to https://www.thejockeyclub.co.uk/cheltenham/events-tickets/the-festival/hospitality-raffle/