As far as venues go for glitzy award ceremonies, York Racecourse ticks a lot of boxes: large rooms, friendly staff and easy to access by train from North and South – the latter point being a key factor in attracting more than two hundred and fifty guests, from racecourses as far apart as Ayr and Wincanton, for the fourteenth annual Racecourse Association Showcase Awards Night on Thursday evening.

Inaugurated to celebrate best practice at Britain’s fifty-nine racecourses, Kelso’s groundstaff team were invited to attend as winners of the Jumps Track Groundstaff of the Year and, despite hot competition from Newmarket (the top Flat track) and Newbury (the top dual-purpose track), were in with a chance of being crowned Britain’s overall Groundstaff Champions.

Celebration being the aim of the occasion, the team embraced the task in the same enthusiastic manner in which they tackle all their work. It’s possible that a few beers were consumed between Berwick-upon-Tweed and York train station… a few more in the Cross Keys public house, over the road from the Holiday Inn, and a few more at the drinks reception, generously sponsored by Racetech, in York’s Knavesmire Stand.

It’s entirely possible, had the team actually won the overall award, that some of them might not have made it up the steps to the presentation podium. But no matter – the prize eventually went to Newbury in any case, and the celebrations continued unabated throughout the main course, to pudding, and on through the post-dinner dancing.

There were other awards too – for Hereford Racecourse, Beverley, Ascot, Wincanton, Aintree and Arena Leisure. Hamilton Park were voted the most popular course by racehorse owners, and Musselburgh was recognised for exceptional delivery of their themed 90s music night – making them ideal candidates to get proceedings underway on the dance floor.

Unlike a horse race, such as the Paddy Power Gold Cup on Saturday (in which our confident prediction is a repeat win for Il Rodoto) where the victors are demonstrably a lot happier than the losers, there was little on Thursday evening to distinguish the winners among the crowd from the also-rans; the general feeling being one of bonhomie and a sense that if racecourse staff can’t get together to celebrate each others’ achievements, who can?

And so they should: day in, day out, racecourse staff work together throughout the year to please thousands of participants and millions of racegoers. Some fixtures are bathed in sunshine, others doused in rain. Racecourse teams are inevitably obliged to share the good, the moderate and the damned difficult.

Being part of a racecourse team requires tact, humour, a can-do attitude, and occasionally the willingness to look out for a colleague who’s gone missing on the Knavesmire late at night following a party. Celebrating racecourse teams is about pride in each others’ achievements and friendship between racecourses – which is why, on Thursday evening, everyone was a winner.