Evening meetings are always extremely popular at Pontefract and the first of three this season is 80s Night on Friday Evening 24th May. It’s the first of two Music Nights (the other being on Friday Evening 19th July) and with one of the world’s biggest international male soloists from the 80s, Billy Ocean, playing after the last race, it promises to be the best 80’s Night yet!
Billy Ocean has sold over 30 million records in his lifetime to date. With number one hits in the UK, USA, Australia, Germany and Holland, he’s achieved extraordinary success as both an artist and songwriter.
Born in Trinidad, Billy settled in London’s East End when he was just seven and was quickly inspired by the likes of Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
His first big break came when ‘Love Really Hurts Without You’ reached No. 2 in the UK charts and No. 12 in the US. Other huge hits, including ‘Red Light Spells Danger’, followed on, before the million selling, Grammy Award winning, US Number 1 ‘Caribbean Queen’, ‘Loverboy’ and ‘Suddenly’.
There were even more huge hits with ‘When The Going Gets Tough (the tough get going)’ and ‘There’ll Be Sad Songs (to make you cry)’ before the now classic ‘Get Outta My Dreams; Get Into My Car’ gave Billy his third US No. 1.
With a back catalogue like this, the 24th May promises to be one of the best music nights that Pontefract has ever seen! With tickets limited, Racegoers are encouraged to secure their place early.
On the track, the highlight is the 6 furlong £25,000 EBF VW Van Centre [Leeds] Ltd Youngsters Conditions Stakes. There is an impressive list of previous winners and last year’s victor, Ninetythreetwenty, went on to finish 6th to Calyx at Royal Ascot and has now been sold to continue his racing career in Hong Kong. The race always attracts some interesting and precocious juveniles looking to stake their claim for Royal Ascot glory the following month.
The Racecourse welcome back Alamo Business Systems, Constant Security and Napoleons Casino Bradford who are all continuing their generous sponsorship of races at the West Yorkshire track.
There’s also a special mention for Virginia Beardsley who will be celebrating a very special birthday at the Course on this day!
If you’re bringing a car to this meeting, don’t forget to pick up your voucher for two free bottles of Harrogate Spa Spring Water water. Keep an eye out for the Ponte team handing out vouchers in the car parks. You’ll be able to redeem these at any of the ‘Designated Driver’ points around the Racecourse.
It’s going to be a fantastic night of racing, laughter, music and 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 still discounted tickets available. The Premier Enclosure badges are currently £23 while Grandstand & Paddock Enclosure tickets are £15 – both prices include the concert after racing. Entrance tickets bought on the night will be full price (£25 and £17 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.