The British horse racing season is well and truly underway now with the Grand National and Cheltenham behind us.
As the weather starts to improve and rules relaxed the number of fans in attendance will continue to increase as the temperatures start to soar.
The action on the racetrack is going to soar in the coming months too as some more huge attractions up and down the country take place. With that in mind, here are three horse racing festivals you won’t want to miss this summer:
Royal Ascot (15-19 June 2021)
Royal Ascot is Britain’s most valuable race meeting, and it brings many of the world’s finest racehorses as a result. They compete for millions of pounds in prize money over the five days, which was more than £7 million in 2019.
The first four-day race meeting at Ascot took place all the way back in 1768. Back then it was different than today’s festival, with the Gold Cup only being introduced in 1807 for example. It is now broadcasted to more than 200 territories across the globe.
Today, the Gold Cup takes place on day three of five of the event and is the biggest attraction, traditionally making the festival the busiest day of the week, which includes high fashion. Stradivarius is the current 6/4 clear favourite for the Gold Cup this year with Justuk.club non gamstop betting sites. In all there are about 500 horses competing over the course of the week.
Each day, the Queen and other members of the Royal Family arrive down the straight mile in the Royal Landaus and are accompanied by the playing of the National Anthem and the raising of the Royal Standard. This tradition has been taking place since 1825, which started with King George IV.
Glorious Goodwood (27-31 July 2021)
Taking place at the Goodwood Racecourse in Chichester, West Sussex at the end of July, Glorious Goodwood, or officially known as Qatar Goodwood Festival these days, attracts a number of eyeballs.
One of the biggest highlights of the British flat racing calendar, the Goodwood Cup and Nassau Stakes are the two biggest races over the five-day event.
The Goodwood Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race open to horses aged three and over, first taking place in 1808. Stradivarius has won the race for a record four consecutive years heading into the 2021 edition.
Coverage of the event has been on British terrestrial television since 1968, originally on ITV, but has occasionally appeared on Channel 4 since.
Newmarket
Racing at Newmarket has taken place since 1622 and may even date back earlier than that.
Today, the Newmarket festival is one of the biggest dates on the British racing calendar.
The King’s Plate (or Queen’s Plate) used to be the most popular attraction, but has not been run since 1765.
Today, Newmarket hosts two of the country’s five Classic Races – the 1,000 Guineas and 2,000 Guineas, as well as a number of other Group races.
Jack Timms is an independent writer with 8 years experience in writing sports articles for various magazines and newspapers. Most of his work is on horse racing or football, and he has written for magazines such as Thoroughbred Racing and Luxuria Lifestyle. Jack lives in York with his dog, Poppins.
