Ripon’s most valuable and iconic race of the season, The William Hill Great St. Wilfrid Stakes – a famous Handicap for sprinters offering prize money of £70,000 – takes pride of place on a top-class card this Saturday (August 17) – the richest raceday ever staged at Yorkshire’s ‘Garden Racecourse’ with total prize money of £144,000 up for grabs. For the second year, this meeting includes The William Hill Silver Trophy a £20,000 ‘consolation’ race for those horses entered for, but eliminated from the feature race.
Contested over six furlongs, The Great St. Wilfrid Stakes continues to be supported by leading bookmakers, William Hill and another very competitive renewal is expected, with plenty of runners sure to face the starter, including several locally-trained horses; indeed this famous race has been won for the last two years by Pepper Lane, trained at Nawton near Helmsley by David O’Meara and ridden by Danny Tudhope.
The successful owner in Saturday’s big race will receive a silver trophy depicting Ripon’s Patron Saint, St. Wilfrid, mounted on horseback.
Racing on Saturday begins at 2-15 p.m.
Two-year-olds are put through their paces in The Ripon Horn Blower Conditions Stakes over the sprint distance of six furlongs, offering increased prize money of £15,000. Fillies and mares take part in The British Stallion Studs European Breeders’ Fund Fillies’ Handicap Stakes (one mile and a quarter), while The VW Van Centre (West Yorkshire) Handicap Stakes – a £15,000 contest over one mile – and The SIS Live Handicap Stakes (three-year-olds – one mile and a half) are also featured.
The afternoon’s opening race, a contest for maiden two-year-olds over six furlongs, sees the first-time sponsorship at Ripon of Wooltex UK Ltd. of Huddersfield.
Musical entertainment from the bandstand is provided by The Fanfare Brass Band and Ripon’s permanent giant screen will enable racegoers to see even more of the action. There’s a selection of rides for children in the Course Enclosure.