Evening meetings are always extremely popular at Pontefract and the first of three this season is 80s Night on Friday Evening 27th May. With Cheryl, Mike and Jay, formerly of 80s Legends Bucks Fizz playing straight after racing, it promises to be the best 80s Night yet!
Bucks Fizz were one of the top selling British groups of the 1980s – they had 11 top 20 singles during the 1980s including ‘If You Can’t Stand The Heat’, ‘New Beginning’ and ‘Now Those Days Are Gone’. They had three massive number ones – Land of Make Believe, Making Your Mind Up and My Camera Never Lies – the first two of which made it in to the top 50 best selling singles of the decade in the UK! They sold in excess of 15 million records, spending 219 weeks in the UK charts alone!
The band will forever be associated with the Eurovision Song Contest. It is 35 years since their ‘Making Your Mind Up’ won the 1981 Contest thanks to the famous skirt ripping dance routine! The single went on to be number 1 in nine countries across the world.
On the track, the highlight is the 6 furlong £20,000 EBF Youngsters Conditions Stakes. With an impressive list of previous runners (including multiple Group winner Caspar Netscher), 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. Nakeeta, recently narrowly touched off in the Chester Cup, made his seasonal debut in the 1m 4f handicap last year but gave best to Modernism for the all conquering Richard Fahey yard.
Local computer and network specialists Alamo Business Systems sponsor the Fillies Handicap on the card for the 5th year. Always a competitive affair, the in form Godolphin team supplied the winner last year as Bittern scorched up the Ponte turf.
Solutions 4 Cleaning sponsor the opening race on the card – a 1m handicap which usually produces a big field and a notoriously tricky puzzle for punters to solve! There’ll undoubtedly be a huge roar from the crowds as the horses head in to the home straight.
The final race on the card is a Maiden race for 3 year olds, run in memory of Ron McNally who was a keen racegoer who sadly lost his battle with cancer last November. His friends and family will be out in force to raise a glass in his honour and cheer home a winner. My Call gave the Godolphin ‘Boys in Blue’ a double by powering to an easy victory in this race last year and has proven herself a very smart filly.
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 of the 4000 discounted tickets still available. The Premier Enclosure badges are currently just £15 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 (£23 and £15 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.