With the British public still counting their winnings from last week’s Grand National, the flat season is well underway with Ripon kick-starting their season next week with an Easter Family Fun Day.
Alongside an afternoon of quality racing, the course is offering FREE entry and FREE entertainment for the children including a visit from the Easter Bunny for a special ‘Easter Bunny Hunt’, bouncy castles, face painting and balloon modelling!
The day will be the first day in service for the ‘Ripon Races Express’, a new free raceday shuttle bus service running from Ripon coach park in the City Centre to the Racecourse for each raceday. The service is in partnership with local company Sherwoods and has been one of many improvements to the racegoers experience over the past few years since the introduction on Ripon’s own betting operators RiponBET.
The start to the season comes after the Racecourse was recently listed in the top 11 Racecourses by Visit England as part of their national quality assured assessment scheme which also saw the Racecourse’s Club Dining Room reclaim their Excellence accolade.
The award was first issued in 2015 for achieving a score of 90% and over for their quality restaurant on customer service and the quality of the overall dining experience. Most impressively Ripon are the ONLY Racecourse in England and Wales to achieve this for 2016 out of the 60 Racecourses that were assessed.
James Hutchinson, Managing Director and Clerk of the Course said: “We are really excited to get the new season underway and it’s great to add an Easter theme to the fixture as it falls in the Easter school break. The introduction of the new shuttle bus service has been due to demand and we are really looking forward to giving something back to the community”
Other big news coming from the track is the return of their #FREEFRIDAY initiative, which saw over 6000 racegoers enjoy an evening of free racing to their Friday evening fixture. This year’s fixture takes place on Friday 12th May, with over 5000 people already registered to attend.
You can keep up to date with all the latest news and offers from the course on their social media pages, or by visiting their website.
Fixture details:
Thursday 20th April –
- Gates open at 12.15pm – First of Seven races starts at 14.15pm
- Adult entry on the day from £7 – £22
- All accompanied u18’s come FREE
- FREE entertainment for the children includes: Easter Bunny Hunt, Bouncy Castles, Balloon Modelling and face painting.
Feature race of the day: The Ripon Cock o’ the North Handicap – a one mile contest for horses three year old – offering £11,500 in prize money.