Arena Racing Company (“ARC”) racecourses enjoyed a bumper pre-Christmas weekend, with impressive increases across Doncaster, Newcastle and Royal Windsor Racecourses.
Doncaster Racecourse raced across Friday and Saturday, with racegoers getting into the Christmas spirit with two Christmas Jumper racedays. A total of 8,099 were in attendance across the two days, an increase of over 20% on 2023. Similarly, Christmas theming at Newcastle Racecourse saw a 25% increase in crowd numbers for Saturday afternoon’s jump meeting.
Perhaps the highlight of the weekend, however, was the return of jumps racing to Royal Windsor Racecourse. After nearly 20 years of being a flat racing only venue, a crowd of over 4,600 flocked to the racecourse to witness a bit of racing history as the Emma Lavelle trained Ma Shantou took the honours in the first race.
After two years of work to establish a new jump racing configuration at Royal Windsor, racing fans were delighted to see the winter code of the sport return and enjoy a pre-Christmas day out.
Sunday represented the first of three jump racing fixtures at Royal Windsor this season, with the three-day Berkshire Winter Million taking place along with Ascot Racecourse over 17-19 January.
Three-day tickets for the Berkshire Winter Million are still available for just £40 from www.windsor-racecourse.co.uk.
