Jockey Club Racecourses earns seven extra fixtures in 2018 as part of record British Racing Fixture List
July 25, 2017
Jockey Club Racecourses is scheduled to stage 348 racing fixtures in 2018 – an increase of seven on 2017 – it was confirmed today. This represents nearly a quarter of all planned meetings in Britain in 2018, a year when more fixtures will be run than ever before (1,508, 11 more than last year).
The UK’s leading racecourse group, which stages four of the five Classics, the Randox Health Grand National and the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup within its nationwide portfolio of racecourse venues and reinvests all profits into British Racing, secured 58 fixtures from British Racing’s fixture allocation process, which has rewarded The Jockey Club’s industry-leading prize money contributions and investment in excellence on the track.
This year, Jockey Club Racecourses is on course to contribute its largest-ever sum to British Racing’s prize money, £22.9 million subject to abandonments, which will be an increase of £2 million on 2016.
Paul Fisher, Chief Executive of Jockey Club Racecourses, said: “We are pleased to be the home for nearly a quarter of British Racing’s fixtures next year and to earn the right to stage more on the back of our investments in prize money, improving racing surfaces and enhancing the experience we offer to racehorse owners and trainers.
“More fixtures will allow us to generate greater returns in 2018 and that means we will be able to put more back into British Racing next year, including another boost to prize money.”
Four-week gap between The Festival at Cheltenham and the Randox Health Grand National at Aintree
2018 will see a four-week gap between The Festival and the Randox Health Grand National. In 2017 and more commonly the gap between these two marque racing festivals is three weeks. The Festival will be staged at Cheltenham from to Tuesday 13th to Friday 16th March 2018 and the Randox Health Grand National Festival will be staged at Aintree from Thursday 12th April to Saturday 14th April 2018.
The Paul Nicholls-trained Alcala gamely wins the Betfred Summer Plate Handicap Chase and completes a hat-trick of wins in the process. pic.twitter.com/E5k5j47Y6U
— Market Rasen Racecou (@MarketRasenRace) July 22, 2017