The seventh annual Go Racing in Yorkshire Summer Festival celebrates the popularity of the sport of racing in the White Rose County. The Festival begins at Ripon on Saturday, 19th and concludes eight days later at Pontefract the following Sunday (27th). It showcases quality racing, live music, entertainment, competitions and stable visits, highlighting a sport which attracts a million racegoers to the Yorkshire tracks every year.
The Festival continues to be supported in particular by Yorkshire-based interactive sports bookmaker Sky Bet and Great British Racing. Funds will be once again be raised during the Festival for ‘New Beginnings’, the Yorkshire-based enterprise which provides a safe, secure and supportive environment for former racehorses. The charity to benefit from racing at Redcar during the Festival is Help For Heroes.
The Go Racing in Yorkshire information unit will be present during the Festival, and will include details of how racegoers can be involved in the sport via syndicate ownership in conjunction with own1.co.uk
The Festival involves all nine Yorkshire racecourses, and once again racegoers attending the Festival will hear a familiar voice from the commentary box – that of Mark Johnson – who has ended his five-year stint as the first non-American to be the trackside announcer at the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs racetrack, Louisville.
The Go Racing in Yorkshire website (www.goracing.co.uk) has details of the Festival.
The list of The Go Racing in Yorkshire Summer Festival fixtures are:
Saturday, 19th – Ripon
Sunday, 20th – Redcar
Monday (evening), 21st – Beverley
Wednesday, 23rd – Catterick
Thursday (evening), 24th – Doncaster
Friday, 25th – Thirsk
Friday (evening), 25th – York
Saturday, 26th – York
Sunday, 27th – Pontefract
York’s fixture during the Festival, the ‘Music Showcase Weekend’ on Friday evening (25th) and Saturday afternoon (26th) features ‘live’ performances after racing on the Friday by the world-famous American band, ‘The Beach Boys’ followed on Saturday by chart-topping band, ‘Wet Wet Wet’. As for the racing, The Sky Bet York Stakes and The Sky Bet Dash are Saturday’s feature contests on the Knavesmire. Last year’s Group 3 Sky Bet York Stakes was won by Mukhadram, trained at Newmarket by Yorkshireman, William Haggas. The colt was runner-up in the world’s richest race, The Dubai World Cup in March.
Prior to the Festival, York stages the 55th John Smith’s Cup, which is the principal race on Saturday, 12th. This famous £150,000 middle-distance Heritage Handicap – the richest of its kind in Europe – was won last year by Danchai – also trained by William Haggas. It’s the second day of the meeting at York, with Friday’s programme (11th) featuring The Summer Stakes. Last year’s winner of this Group 3 contest for fillies and mares was to Ladies Are Forever, representing Yorkshire-based owner/breeder, Reg Bond.
The ‘Red Shirt Night’ meeting incorporating a Beer Festival at Pontefract on Friday evening, 18th – which benefits The Injured Jockeys’ Fund – is the perfect aperitif for the Go Racing in Yorkshire Summer Festival. There’s an earlier fixture this month at Pontefract on Tuesday, 8th (Midsummer Tea Party Meeting)
The beautiful Westwood is the setting for Beverley’s fixture on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon (4th & 5th), followed by Monday evening (7th) action at Yorkshire’s ‘Garden Racecourse’, Ripon.
Catterick is in action on four consecutive Wednesday afternoons this month – 2nd, 9th, 16th & 23rd. There are other meetings at Doncaster on Friday, 4th, Thursday, 10th and Thursday (evening) 17th and further Beverley fixtures on Tuesday 15th and the ‘Newcomer’s Day’ fixture on Tuesday, 29th. There’s evening racing at Thirsk on Tuesday, 15th, while the county’s ‘seaside racecourse’, Redcar stages a meeting on Wednesday, 30th.