Starting at the opening meeting on Thursday 20^th April and running across all 17 fixtures until the season finale on Saturday 30^th September, each race winner will accrue three points, with two points for a second-place finish and one point for third. The horse that accumulates the most points across the season will be crowned the champion and will bag the £5,000 prize.

There will be additional points on offer in the feature race of the season at Yorkshire’s Garden Racecourse, the William Hill Great St Wilfrid, with five points to the winner, three for second and two for third.

Jonathan Mullin, Operations, Marketing & Clerk of the Course at Ripon Racecourse said: “We recognise how hugely important owners are to the sport and here at Yorkshire’s Garden Racecourse we have a lot of horses and owners who return to us regularly.

“It’s always fantastic to see the old favourites return and the nature of this competition with points for first, second and third, favours horses that run here more often. Hopefully we can reward one of those regulars by crowning them ‘William Hill Ripon Champion’ at the end of the season.

“It’s great to be able to partner with William Hill, long term sponsors here with this innovative new project and now we’re really looking forward to getting the season started and seeing the League table begin to take shape.”

Ruairi Stirling, Racing Sponsorship Manager at William Hill said: “The relationship between Ripon and William Hill goes back many years and this another sign that shows it’s as healthy as ever.

“We’re really keen to award the horses that run well at Ripon repeatedly and hopefully this new incentive will encourage owners and trainers to consider running there throughout the season.”