Diversity proving fruitful for Wetherby

The racecourse, which is preparing for the start of the National Hunt racing season next week, said in the year to September 2010 it had attracted dog and horse shows as well as large conferences and other events to the venue.

Chief executive Jonjo Sanderson, said: "We are quite a diverse location – we have a lot of good indoor facilities and large outdoor spaces. Quite a lot of these are new events as well as regular clients.

"We have pushed this side of the business a bit more. Twelve months ago we changed the website, made more of the conferences and events side and made our packages more competitive."

Over the summer improvements have been made to the course's facilities including painting the grandstands, new signs, and a new CCTV and security system, which takes the company's total investment in its facilities to more than 150,000 in the last 12 months.

The majority of the group's 2.2m comes from racing days and Mr Sanderson said positive ticket sales and an increase in annual badge holders in advance of the opening three fixtures this month were promising signs for the company.

"The initial signs for the 2010/2011 season are looking very promising across all areas of our business, which suggests that both the leisure and corporate hospitality sectors are beginning to show shoots of recovery following the challenging times experienced during the last two years, which is extremely encouraging," he said.

Mr Sanderson added: "We're also optimistic about the start of the new National Hunt racing season. Tickets for our first race meeting on Wednesday, October 13 are selling well and there's plenty of demand for the fixtures on October 29 and 30, which include the famous bet365 Charlie Hall Chase, so a sell-out crowd looks like a good bet."

The racecourse employs 11 staff and said it hasn't had to make any redundancies during the downturn. It also said it has maintained its prices.

Mr Sanderson said: "Crucially, we have also decided to hold prices for the fourth year running across all our packages and tickets, meaning basic entry on a standard race day starts at just 4, which is certainly having a positive effect on sales."

He added: "Things seem to be in a much more positive state than 12 months ago. Hospitality bookings for the forthcoming season are looking healthy and a number of race days look like they are going to be sold out.

"We don't want to be complacent and think we are through the worst of it but we are going to carry on doing what we have been doing and hopefully things will stay reasonably positive."