Category: Racing Festivals

The Northumberland Plate Festival is a three-day fixture staged annually at Newcastle Racecourse, in High Gosforth Park, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in North East England in late June or early July. The Festival takes its name from the feature race, the Northumberland Plate, which is run on the Saturday.

 

The Northumberland Plate, run over 2 miles and 56 yards and open to horses aged three years and upwards, was inaugurated in 1833, but first run at High Gosforth Park in 1881. The race was originally staged on a Wednesday and, until 1949, formed the centrepiece of a holiday period known as “Race Week”. The Northumberland Plate was switched to a Saturday in 1952, but remains one of the highlights of the horse racing and social calendar in North East England and is still popularly known as the “Pitmen’s Derby”. In fact, nowadays, the race is one of the most valuable races of its kind in Europe, worth over £92,000 to the winner.

 

Currently sponsored by Stobart Rail Limited, who took over from previous sponsor John Smith’s in 2017, the Northumberland Plate was run on turf until 2016 but, following the £12 million redevelopment of Newcastle Racecourse, which included the installation of a replacement all-weather, Tapeta™ surface, has been run on an artificial surface. So, too, of course, have the other major races that form part of the Northumberland Plate Festival, including the Gosforth Park Cup, a valuable 5-furlong handicap sprint run on the Friday evening and the Seaton Delaval Trophy, nowadays a £20,000 added handicap, run over the straight mile and the traditional highlight of the opening day.

King George VI Weekend, which takes its name from the feature race, the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, run on the Saturday, is a two-day meeting staged at Ascot Racecourse, in the Royal County of Berkshire, in July. Outside Royal Ascot, King George VI Weekend is one of the most prestigious meetings of the year at the course founded by Queen Anne in 1711.

 

The opening day, on the Friday, offers a relaxed, but nonetheless competitive, afternoon of racing. Highlights include the Valiant Stakes, run over 7 furlongs and 213 yards and open to fillies and mares aged three years and upwards. Inaugurated in 1998, the race was promoted to Listed status in 2009. The Brown Jack Stakes, a handicap run over 2 miles and 45 yards, commemorates Brown Jack, who won the Ascot Stakes at Royal Ascot in 1928 and the Queen Alexandra Stakes, also run at the Royal Meeting, six years running between 1929 and 1934.

 

The King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, on the Saturday, has long been considered the premium mid-season, middle-distance race for horses of both sexes and, unsurprisingly, since 2011 has formed the fifth leg of the British Champions Series Middle Distance Category. Run over 1 mile 3 furlongs and 22 yards and open to horses aged three years and upwards, the race was inaugurated, as the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Festival of Britain Stakes, in 1951 and currently offers prize money in excess of £1.2 million.

 

Notable winners of the “King George” over the years have included Nijinsky, Mill Reef, Brigadier Gerard, Shergar, Dancing Brave, Reference Point and Generous, all of whom were rated at least 138 by Timeform and can therefore be considered some of the greatest racehorses since World War II.

As the name suggests, the July Festival – which, in 2018, was sponsored by French fine winery Moët & Chandon – is a three-day meeting staged annually on the July Course at Newmarket Racecourse, in Suffolk, in the East of England, in July. Collectively, the prize money on offer for the three days is over £1.6 million.

 

The opening day, a.k.a. Ladies’ Day, on the Thursday starts with the Bahrain Trophy, run over 1 mile 5 furlongs and restricted to three-year-old colts, geldings and fillies. The race was promoted to Group 3 status in 2008 and, nowadays, is often used as a preparatory race for the fifth, and final, Classic of the season, the St. Leger. The feature race on Ladies’ Day, however, is the Princess of Wales’s Stakes, run over 1 mile 4 furlongs and open to horses aged three years and upwards. Named in honour of Princess Alexandra of Denmark, who held the title between 1863 and 1901, the race was promoted to Group 2 status is 1978.

 

The feature race on the second day, a.k.a. Feel Good Friday, is the Falmouth Stakes, run over a mile and open to fillies and mares aged three years and upwards. Inaugurated in 1911, the Falmouth Stakes was promoted to Group 1 status in 2004 and is now part of the British Champions Series Fillies & Mares Category.

 

The feature race on the third, and final, day, a.k.a. Darley July Cup Day, is the titular July Cup, run over 6 furlongs, open to horses aged three years and upwards and currently sponsored by Darley Stud, the global breeding operation owned by Sheikh Mohammed. Inaugurated in 1867, the race was promoted to Group 1 status in 1978 and is now one of five races over 6 furlongs in the British Champion Series Sprint Category. The roll of honour for the July Cup reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of European sprinting talent over the years, including Habibti, Mozart, Oasis Dream and, more recently, Harry Angel.

The Goodwood Festival – popularly known as ‘Glorious Goodwood’, which also avoids confusion with the motorsport event known as the ‘Goodwood Festival of Speed’ – is a five-day meeting staged annually, in late July or early August, at Goodwood Racecourse in West Sussex in the South of England. Goodwood Racecourse, set against the backdrop of the rolling hills of the South Downs, is widely considered one of the most beautiful racecourses in the world so, with five days of action on offer, Glorious Goodwood is a major horse racing and social event.

 

The feature race on day one, the Tuesday, is the Goodwood Cup, run over 2 miles and open to horses aged three years and upwards. Traditionally the second leg of the Stayers’ Triple Crown, between the Gold Cup and the Doncaster Cup, the Goodwood Cup became part of the British Champion Series Long Distance Category in 2011 and was promoted to Group 1 status in 2017, at which time its prize money was increased to £500,000.

 

The feature race on day two, the Sussex Stakes, is run over a mile and open to horses aged three years and upwards. It is, in fact, the first race of the season in which the three-year-olds and the older horses clash over a mile at the highest level and is, quite rightly, part of the British Champion Series Mile Category. The subject of several key head-to-head rivalries in recent years, such as that between Frankel and the defending champion, Canford Cliffs, in 2011, the Sussex Stakes is often billed, but doesn’t always necessarily deliver, as the “Duel on the Downs”. Nevertheless, with prize money of £1 million, the Sussex Stakes is one of the highlights of the British Flat racing calendar.

 

The Thursday, a.k.a. Ladies’ Day, also has a prestigious Group 1 contest as its feature race, in this case the Nassau Stakes, run over 1 mile 1 furlong and 197 yards and open to fillies and mares aged three years and upwards. Worth £600,000 in prize money, The Nassau Stakes is part of the British Champion Series Fillies & Mares Category. Marginally less prestigious, but no less competitive or exciting, the feature races on Friday and Saturday, respectively, are the Group 2 King George Stakes, over 5 furlongs, and the Stewards’ Cup, over 6 furlongs.