Major horseracing events

 

With all this comes the celebrated and unique atmosphere, pageantry, style and excitement that the racing crowd brings to its blue riband events. Expect glamour, good cheer, fashion, ostentation and more than anything friendly and high spirited company on these special days.

Information about racing’s forthcoming major events can be found on Gototheraces.com, but here is a small selection of the ultimate and unmissable racing events.

The Cheltenham Festival

4 day festival Tuesday-Friday in Mid March
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

Undoubtedly the pinnacle of jump racing in the world, Cheltenham Festival (or just “Cheltenham”) is the season highlight for lovers of the timber and fences.

Attracting huge crowds for the championship deciding races of the season across every category of jumps racing, Cheltenham has an almost mecca-like quality for racing fans.

The atmosphere is second to none and the famous Cheltenham Roar which greets the start of the first race is a spine tingling moment like no other, after all, everyone has been waiting for this moment...well...since the last Cheltenham Festival ended!

More about Cheltenham Festival.

The Aintree Grand National Festival

3 day festival Thurs-Saturday first weekend in April
Aintree Racecourse, Liverpool

Featuring the world’s most famous race, the Grand National, the Aintree Festival is an experience like no other.

Three days of top quality racing and the incomparable Grand National would be reason enough in itself to pay a visit to this famous occasion, but the Aintree Festival is about so much more than this.

There is nothing quite like the sight of 80,000 fans dressed up in their finest, (or most garish!) styles, tucking into the champagne and having a whale of a time. This is people watching at its best!

Expect to rub shoulders with celebrities, hardened racegoers, groups of lads having fun and groups of girls out to impress...Liverpool ladies (especially on the famous ladies day) have their own inimitable style and definitely know how to party!

More about the Aintree Grand National Festival.

The Epsom Derby Festival

2 day festival Friday-Saturday first weekend in June
Epsom Downs Racecourse, Surrey

Much copied but never bettered, the Derby at Epsom is famed throughout the world as one of racing’s greatest spectacles. First run in 1780, the race is known as the Blue Riband of the Turf and is probably the most coveted prize in the sport.

Derby Day provides an unforgettable experience every year. Set high on the Downs, Epsom racecourse is regarded as the ultimate test of the three-year-old Thoroughbred. This is the place where legends are made.

The occasion attracts a diverse crowd of more than 100,000 people, from royalty and famous celebrities bedecked in traditional morning suits and stunning dresses, to gypsies handing out good-luck charms, to partygoers on the famous Hill in the centre of the course.

As well as the Derby, of course, there is the Oaks – the fillies’ equivalent on the opening day of the meeting, which is also Ladies Day, a remarkable occasion itself for the range of styles and glamour on display.

More about the Epsom Derby Festival.

Royal Ascot

5 day festival Tuesday-Saturday in mid June
Ascot, Berkshire

The five-day Royal Ascot meeting is the jewel in the crown of the English summer season, mixing top-class racing and high fashion in a glittering social occasion.

With over £3.5 million in prize-money on offer, the standard of the horseracing is simply outstanding. For sheer quality over five days, it is unmatched anywhere in the world.

However, Royal Ascot is famous for much more than horseracing, of course. It is one of the highlights of the British social ‘season’, which includes other sporting traditions such as Henley and Wimbledon.

The meeting is attended daily by Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the British Royal family, continuing a tradition stretching back to the early 1700s, when the racecourse was conceived by Queen Anne in 1711. The royal coach procession down the course before racing begins is one of the daily highlights.

The ultimate in racing and the ultimate social event, a must for anyone and everyone to experience.

More about Royal Ascot.