The popularity of the sport of horseracing in Yorkshire was emphasised by the fact that the nine racecourses serving the county attracted just over one million racegoers last year.
The warm summer months and a relatively mild conclusion to the year meant that very few meetings were lost to the weather and once again the ‘Go Racing in Yorkshire’ Summer Festival in July proved to be a big draw for racing fans, with over 100,000 attending the week-long event. This was complimented by the first-ever Winter Festival in December.
A delighted chairman of ‘Go Racing in Yorkshire’, John Sexton said “Topping one million racegoers on our racecourses during 2013 was a fantastic achievement and I couldn’t be more thrilled.
“It was a sensational year for racing in Yorkshire, with a memorable ‘Go Racing in Yorkshire’ Summer Festival which attracted great crowds, a very competitive first ‘Future Stars’ Apprentice Series (won by Gary Mahon), nine wonderful ‘Ladies Days’ capped off by the Final at Doncaster in October and last, but not least, an extremely successful first-ever ‘Go Racing in Yorkshire’ Winter Festival which helped tip the aggregate attendance over the one million mark.
“Racing in Yorkshire is going from strength to strength and bouyed by these figures, we can look forward to 2014 and beyond with real confidence”.