Evening meetings are always extremely popular at Pontefract and the first of three this season is 80s Night on Friday Evening 26th May. It’s the first of two Music Nights (the other being on Friday Eve 21st July) and with legends of pop, Bananarama, playing straight after the last race, it promises to be the best 80s Night yet!
Bananarama have been big news in recent weeks after it was announced that the original line up would be reforming in November. While Siobhan Fahey will rejoin the band in November, the remaining duo will take to the stage after the last race.
Bananarama are celebrating their 35th Anniversary this year and their achievements speak for themselves. They have an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful female band world wide with the most charting singles, all of which were international hits, four hitting the US Billboard Top 10 including a No 1 with Venus. They also performed on two of the Band Aid singles.
To date, they have had 32 Top 40 UK hits. They have released 10 albums and sold 30 million records. They became internationally hot property with hits such as ‘I Heard a Rumour’, ‘Robert De Niro’s Waiting’ and ‘Love in the First Degree’ and, on Friday Eve 26th May, they’ll be hot property in Pontefract as they play the 2017 80s Night!
On the track, the highlight is the 6 furlong £20,000 EBF Youngsters Conditions Stakes. With an impressive list of previous runners (including last years winner, Yalta) it always attracts some precocious juveniles looking to stake their claim for Royal Ascot glory the following month.
Constant Security Services provide the uniformed officers on duty on racedays at Pontefract and they sponsor 2 races on the card. Alpha Delphini ran in one of their races last year (finishing a close 3rd) and went on to be just touched off in a Group 3 at Newbury at the end of the season.
The final race on the card is a Maiden race for 3 year olds, run in honour of Ken Sutton’s 70th birthday. His friends and family will be out in force to raise a glass for his special day and cheer home a winner. Get Up And Dance was the appropriately named winner of this race last year and there’ll be plenty of racegoers doing just that in 2017 when Bananarama take to the stage.
If you’re bringing the car to this meeting, don’t forget to pick up your voucher for two free bottles of Harrogate Spa Spring Water. Keep an eye out for the Ponte team handing out vouchers in the car parks. You’ll be able to redeem your vouchers at any of the ‘Designated Driver’ points around the Racecourse.
It’s going to be a fantastic night of great racing, laughter, music and 80s nostalgia and many racegoers will be taking advantage of the fact that the dress code is relaxed on this night when they pick out their best fancy dress outfit and hope to pick up one of the spot prizes provided by tiesplanet.com!
There are just a few discounted tickets still available. The Premier Enclosure badges are currently £22 while the Grandstand & Paddock Enclosure tickets are £10 – both prices include the concert after racing. Entrance tickets bought on the night will be full price (£24 and £16 respectively) so make sure you get your tickets before the night! Advance tickets can be purchased via the racecourse website at www.pontefract-races.co.uk or over the phone on 01977 781307.