Our final evening meeting of the season takes place at Pontefract on Friday 19th July and is the second night of our Music Night Series, accompanied by our Red Shirt Night and Beer Festival. It promises to be a fantastic evening with six great races followed by the UK’s best Abba tribute band, Fabba Girls, performing after the conclusion of the last race.
We will be raising money for the incredible Injured Jockeys Fund through Jack Berry’s historic ‘Red Shirt Night’. The Red Shirt is purely optional – just bring yourself, your friends and your party spirit. This amazing charity has helped injured jockeys get back to race riding fitter and quicker than imagined.
We welcome back a whole host of old friends for our Beer Festival. Pennie Brewery, Revolutions Brewing Co, Ossett Brewery and Bier Huis will all be joining us, where they will be offering some of the best beers, lagers and ales that Yorkshire has to offer.
The feature on track is the VW Volkswagen Van Centre (Leeds) Ltd Optional Handicap Stakes run over a mile, and was won last year by Waarif in a competitive race. Waarif has gone on to register four wins over the same distance, the most recent at Windsor at the end of June.
Our third race on the card, the Betfred Supports Jack Berry House Handicap Stakes, will catch the eye of racing fans, having produced horses that have gone on to perform at the highest level. The race is run over 5f and last year was won by Watchable, who cruised home to win by a 1½ lengths for David O’Meara. Final Venture won this race in 2016 and just five months later headed to Meydan (Dubai), and won twice there for his current trainer Paul Midgley, who boasts an impressive four wins in this race.
The meeting kicks off with the Lucy Steven’s 30th Birthday Celebrations EBF Novice Auction Stakes for 2-year olds. This will be third running of the race and Richard Fahey’s Metallic Black won this convincingly by 4 lengths last year to Forcetoreckon.
The final race on the card is the John Nixon Supports Jack Berry House Handicap Stakes, run over 6 furlongs, which was won by Etikaal last year, steered home by the season’s leading jockey at Pontefract Ben Curtis. After the conclusion of this race, the critically acclaimed Fabba Girls will be performing on the raised grass area next to the Parade Ring. If you want a night out with racing, music and a beer festival, this is the place for you. Head to www.pontefract-races.co.uk to secure your tickets now!