It turns out you do need a passport to go racing in Yorkshire! But there will be no border checks, in fact this one could earn you the chance to race all year round in the county.
As part of the Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival, sponsored by Sky Bet, there will be a competition for racegoers who attend five or more meetings across the week to win a Go Racing In Yorkshire season ticket for the 2024/25 season.
Charlotte Russell, General Manager said,
“The Summer Festival is a special week where racegoers have the opportunity to visit our racecourses and see for themselves how unique each one is. Visitors can collect their passport and have it stamped at each race meeting they attend. With 10 fixtures across eight days there’s plenty of chances to pick up a stamp! Once five stamps have been collected, the passport can be returned to us where they will be entered into a draw to win a season ticket for next year which gives admission to over 180 fixtures across the county.”
Starting at Pontefract’s beer festival and music night on Friday, July 21, the beer theme will continue throughout the week with four varieties of Wold Top bottled beers available across the meetings.
Goldsborough Hall will continue to sponsor the leading trainer of the week, where the winner will enjoy an overnight stay and dinner at the Stately Home.
There will be a prize for the leading jockey of the week, sponsored by Sky Bet who are also offering the popular pizza party and cash prize for the yard that wins the most best turned out awards during the week.
Although it is a week of flat racing, jump jockeys will be in attendance at York racecourse on the closing day of the festival, Saturday, July 29, where they will be taking part in the Jump Jockey’s Nunthorpe over the shortest distance of five furlongs.
Football skills will be put to the test before racing starts each day with the ever popular ‘Paddock and Chips’ competition, a penalty shoot-out style event for the jockeys, which takes place throughout the week and the jockey with the most points will win an overnight stay at Goldsborough Hall.
The festival will also be supporting the Injured Jockeys Fund who will be in attendance at the race meetings talking to racegoers about the work they do and raising funds through a raffle and selling merchandise.
As part of their involvement, Jack Berry House, the Injured Jockeys Fund’s rehabilitation centre in Malton, will be open for tours on Tuesday, July 25, between 2pm and 4pm, an unmissable opportunity to see the facilities available to the human athletes of the sport, setting them on the road to recovery.
The Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival takes place from Friday, July 21 and runs until Saturday, July 29. Tickets can be purchased via https://goracing.co.uk/summer-festival/ or from the racecourse websites directly.
The Festival Dates are as follows;
- Friday 21 July – Pontefract
- Saturday 22 July – Ripon
- Saturday 22 July – Doncaster Evening
- Sunday 23 July – Redcar
- Monday 24 July – Beverley Evening
- Tuesday 25 July – Jack Berry House visit 2pm – 4pm
- Wednesday 26 July – Catterick
- Thursday 27 July – Doncaster
- Friday 28 July – Thirsk
- Friday 28 July – York Evening
- Saturday 29 July – York
Picture shows Duran Fentiman receiving his prize for moment of the week from Go Racing In Yorkshire Chairman, Ben Warn, after riding a treble at Ripon.