The Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival, sponsored by Sky Bet, at the end of July was a great week.  Overall, attendances were up, with more than 80,000 racegoers visiting the 10 meetings. and we were blessed with sunshine throughout.  We witnessed some exciting racing, brilliant bands and a battle for the leading trainer of the week, which was edged by David O’Meara.  Oisin Orr was leading jockey for the second year in a row and there was a joint winner of the best turned out yard competition, won by both Adrian Keatley’s and Gemma Tutty’s teams.

Family fun days have come thick and fast across the flat courses over Summer, with extra activities in addition to the racing to entertain the youngsters.  A variety of themes have been in place with circus skills proving very popular and the pirate fancy dress competition at Redcar’s Caribbean Carnival day in August was hotly contested.  Pontefract’s family days seek to educate and inform in fun ways, providing different zones across the racecourse for racegoers to learn about different aspects of racing they might not be aware of.

There are two family days left before Summer really comes to an end, at York on Sunday 8^th September and Doncaster on Sunday 15^th September so don’t miss out!

Doncaster’s Saturday Summer Series has gone down a storm, particularly their ‘This Is Tennessee’ night on Saturday 3^rd August, where the current rise in popularity of Country music brought racegoers to Town Moor.  There were two Yorkshire winners on the night as well!

Our apprentice series, supported by White Rose Saddlery, continues and William Pyle leads the riders with 60 points, despite missing the last couple of races with a broken a wrist.  He has a clear lead from Sean Dylan Bowen and Brandon Wilkie who both have 28 points and with three races left will be hard to beat.

Ladies’ Days made a return in August, with Pontefract, Beverley, York and Catterick all hosting best dressed competitions with the winners progressing to the Go Racing In Yorkshire Final, which will take place in September.  There are two Ladies’ Days remaining, Thirsk on Saturday 7^th September and Doncaster on Thursday 12^th September.

Ripon’s Great St Wilfrid stayed in Yorkshire as Richard Fahey’s Dare To Hope, favourite on the day, landing the spoils.

The Sky Bet Ebor Festival at York once again proved a top class spectacle of racing with City Of Troy landing the £1,250,000 Juddmonte International and with runners from Ireland, France and Japan, it really did have an international feel.  Not only did he make the running from the start, he also broke the track record.  There was plenty of local success on the opening day as well, with the winners coming from only Ireland or Yorkshire!  John & Sean Quinn, David O’Meara and Richard Fahey were the winning the trainers.

On day two, Yorkshire success came for Karl Burke, who won the Clipper Handicap, with the sponsor’s own Thunder Run.  Craig Lidster was also on the score board as Alfa Kellenic took the last race.  This was a first Ebor festival winner for the Easingwold based trainer.

The Queen was present to open the new Southend development and in her own right as an owner and accompanied Steve Birch, Chief Commercial Officer at Sky Betting and Gaming to present the trophies for the Sky Bet Ebor, which was won by Henry De Bromhead’s Magical Zoe.

Prior to that, John & Sean Quinn were once again on the score board as Breege took the Group 2 Sky Bet City Of York Stakes at huge odds of 33/1!

Away from the county, festival victories continued as Norton based Adrian Keatley returned to his native Ireland and won a listed novice hurdle race at Galway with talented mare Gale Mahler, ridden by Henry Brooke.  Richard Fahey continued the Galway winning theme when Reidh followed up less than three hours later for Oisin Orr.

Adrian Keatley was also on the scoreboard at Ayr, at the end of July, with his 2 year-old Symbol of Strength, who broke the track record and then went on to be a close third in the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Gimcrack.

Karl Burke continues to be successful in France with Spycatcher the latest victor in the Group 3 Barriere Prix de Meautry at Deauville.

Yorkshire trainers went through the card at both Beverley on Thursday 15^th August and Redcar on 24^th August and a special mention must go to Brian Rothwell who’s Opal Storm broke a long losing run for the trainer when winning at Beverley, having been beaten a length on her previous start at the East Yorkshire course.

While we’ve had a fantastic summer of racing, there’s an awful lot to look forward to as we approach the Betfred St Leger Festival, which starts on Thursday 12^th September.  Four days of competitive racing, the oldest Classic, Ladies Day and the ever popular Leger Legends race, the only charity race for ex-professional jockeys, which takes place on Sunday 15^th September.

There’s Redcar’s Two-Year-Old-Trophy, on Saturday 5^th October, the richest listed race in Europe!  Then the Coral Sprint Trophy at York on Saturday 12^th October and Catterick’s Dash on Saturday 19^th October.

And that’s before we’ve even thought about jump racing, which kicks off at Wetherby on Wednesday 16^th October, followed by Doncaster and Catterick in November.

Malton Open day, organised by Racing Welfare returns on Sunday 8^th September, giving racegoers the opportunity to see behind the scenes of some of the trainers in Malton and the surrounding area, followed by a trip to York Racecourse for their family day.  A combined ticket is available offering a full day of racing fun.  It kicks of National Racehorse Week, where there are loads of opportunities to visit trainers yards across the country and find out more about our wonderful equine athletes.  You can book onto a yard visit here, but hurry, places fill up very quickly!