Racecourse ready to welcome crowds to busiest festival

The first day of this year’s Ebor Festival marks a watershed in the history of Knavesmire as more than £1m in prize money will be offered, while the overall winnings will reach almost £3m over the four days of racing.

Coupled with the fact the world’s best racecourse, Frankel, will be competing in the £725,000 Juddmonte International at 3.40pm today, race managers are confident of attracting record crowds throughout the meet, which was first held in 1843.

The racecourse’s head of marketing and sponsorship, James Brennan, claimed this year’s festival has attracted the greatest amount of interest since York hosted Royal Ascot back in 2005 while its traditional Berkshire home underwent a multi-million pound revamp.

Mr Brennan said: “The Ebor defines our year, and it is the meeting that we will be remembered for year on year. We have the best horses for it, and the biggest crowds come. That sets an expectation on us, as people expect a top experience.

“But this year is a little bit special, and it has had by far the greatest reach since Royal Ascot came. People who are not necessarily into racing have been coming up to me to ask how things are going, which has not really happened since 2005.”

He hopes as many as 90,000 punters will head through the gates between today and Saturday after the decision was taken in 2008 to extend the Festival from three to four days.

While the first year of the four-day event had to be abandoned after wet weather left the course waterlogged and unfit for racing, extra day has proved a major success.

Tomorrow is expected to see the biggest crowds of the week for the annual fashion extravaganza of Ladies Day, when the latest trends and designs will be shown off by racegoers.

However, Mr Brennan accepted the weather will be a factor, with fine periods forecast today and tomorrow before showers on Friday. The forecast for Saturday is more gloomy, with the final day may see heavy rain.

The Ebor Festival attracts interest from around the globe. The live TV feed is due to be streamed to 79 countries while journalists from as far afield as Australia, India and Dubai are expected.

Last year marked another overhaul as the fourth day was pushed back to Saturday, instead of ending on Friday as in 2009 and 2010.