The Home of Summer Jumps Racing

It's another lovely sunny day in Worcester, currently 10 degrees, and the weekend looks very nice too, with highs expected of up to 17 degrees! The return of this lovely spring weather only signals one thing for the racecourse though, the imminent return of thrilling National Hunt action at the home of summer jumps racing. With the track now acting good to firm in places, even after a few weeks in January and February of heavy flooding, we can feel the 2014 season drawing close.

We're back in 5 weeks, 5 days, 5 hours and 5 minutes (at the time of typing) for an evening meeting to kick-off the season. In the meantime, National Hunt fans, and much of the country, have the most prestigious race to look forward to and enjoy. The Grand National takes place next Saturday, and for all you Worcester racegoers looking through the field for previous Worcester runners, there are 9 to keep your eye on at present in the remaining 73 entries. To save you sifting through all 73 for a spot of Worcester form, here they are (in weight order for the National):

• Balthazar King; 1 Worcester run, 1 victory, which was also his chasing debut.
• Battle Group; quirky type who finished 2nd by 5 lengths on his only Worcester start.
• Twirling Magnet; a mixed Worcester career, with a victory on his racing debut, however also a fall to his name.
• Lost Glory; 4th in our historic Land O'Plums Chase (which takes place every year on our Pershore Plum Festival Racenight card).
• Swing Bill (pictured); another mixed Worcester career, with a narrow defeat in a Class 3, but pulled up on his only other run.
• Standing Ovation; a poor showing in a Class 4 in 2013, last of 5, but turned a corner since then winning a Class 1 at Wincanton by 5 lengths.
• Any Currency; 2nd in a Class 3 nearly 5 years ago and the final finisher (17th) of last year's Grand National.
• Storm Survivor; a distance 3rd in a Class 3 last year.
• Victrix Gale; finished half a length second on her racing debut.

We'll hopefully be cheering on a finish like they had in Glenfarclas Cross Country at the Cheltenham Festival this year, when Worcester winner, Balthazar King, beat Worcester runner-up, Any Currency, by a short head, having just tackled four miles.

We're looking forward to hosting many more potential big race winners this season, to catch all of the action why not try our annual membership, or book one of our fantastic raceday packages in advance, like the brand new Pukka Package, and save yourself £££'s.

For all information on the season, check out our website www.worcester-racecourse.co.uk or call us on 01905 25364.

3 Weeks To Go

Three weeks today the gates will be open and the crowds pouring in to the magnificent Cheltenham Racecourse for the highlight of the jumps calendar. Four fantastic days of National Hunt racing then lie ahead at this historic event, littered with group 1 action.

We'll be keeping a keen eye on previous winners here to see how they fare on the biggest stage, including likely Gold Cup entrants; The Giant Bolster and Houblon Des Obeaux, trained by David Bridgwater and Venetia Williams respectively. No stranger to top class company and 4th in our class 2 feature race in 2013, Astracad has an entry in to the Queen Mother Champion Chase for the Twiston-Davies pair, Nigel & Sam.

In other big National Hunt racing news we've also seen 115 entrants put forward for the 40 runner maximum Crabbie's Grand National on Saturday 5 April. In the interests of the racecourse team here will be 15th place finisher in 2013, Balthazar King, who has since won three of his four races. The Philip Hobbs trained 10 year old won here back in September of 2010.

As the weather improves and the days get longer we draw ever closer to our season opener on the evening of Wednesday 7 May. At the home of summer jumps we're staging 22 fixtures this year, maybe unearthing another Cheltenham star in the process. Seven fantastic feature racedays are on the 2014 lineup with the first not too far away on Saturday 7 June, the immensely popular Edwards Motors Ladies Day.

Strictly Worcestershire

On Thursday 22 May, eight couples from top Worcestershire businesses will be taking to the stage at the Chateau Impney, Droitwich to dance for the coveted title of Strictly Worcestershire winners, 2014! The evening promises to be full of glitz and glamour and will be in aid of the Worcestershire Breast Unit Campaign and Ladies Fighting Breast Cancer. It is sure to be THE ‘must be seen at’ event for businesses in the Worcester area.

Worcester Racecourse Business Executive, Laura Gurney (pictured below, right) has put her best foot forward and signed up for the dancing challenge alongside best friend of 7 years, Emma –Louise Vale (pictured, left) of Vales Dance and Theatre Academy. Laura commented: ‘Everybody knows somebody affected by breast cancer and having had some performance experience before joining the Racecourse, as soon as I heard about the event, I wanted to get involved.’

Organiser and Producer of Strictly Worcester, Gerard Smith of leading Worcestershire estate agents, Andrew Grant LLP will be ensuring live event updates are regularly available on social media. This promises to be a spectacular event in May. Further details can be found on www.strictlyworcestershire.co.uk and across social media (@Strictlyworcs on Twitter & 'Strictly Worcestershire' on Facebook).

More updateson Laura’s progress as she prepares to represent Worcester Racecourse at this prestigious event will follow soon!

The Year of the Horse

Happy new year to all of you readers! As you may or may not know 2014 is the Chinese Year of the Horse and we plan on celebrating this throughout our fantastic summer jumps season. To kick off the celebrations, only a couple of weeks away from the turn of the Chinese New Year, we are offering the most amazing prize for our social media #yearofthehorse competition.

The competition can be entered on our Twitter page or via our Facebook page. We just want to know what your New Year's Resolutions are, then re-tweet our #yearofthehorse competition message or share our Facebook competition status and that's all you have to do to enter the competition.

THE PRIZE - The winner will receive 2014 annual membership to Worcester Racecourse, worth £220! This includes:

• County Enclosure admission to all 22 fixtures
• A cup of tea/coffee at all fixtures
• Half price entry to Worcestershire County Cricket matches
• Entry to Hall Green Greyhound Stadium plus a guest on all fixture except Boxing Day
• A plethora of ARC benefits, including entry to all other 14 courses on most racedays.

The competition closes on Friday 17 January at midday, for all competition information please visit our competition Facebook status, Terms and Conditions apply.

Christmas

As the jumps season hits full swing, with some brilliant National Hunt meetings across the country, the pitchcroft course, and the home of summer jumps, lies in wait for the May 7th season opener. However we are still open for business in the Grandstand, where after a wonderful Christmas Party Night on Friday we have two remaining, staged in our Croft Suite, this coming Friday and Saturday. For all event enquiries give us a call on 01905 25364.

Struggling for that perfect Christmas present for a racing enthusiast? Our annual memberships make the perfect gift, and if purchased before Christmas, our fabulous early bird discount will be applied.

On the racing front, the team here would like to send our congratulations to a few remarkable individuals in the racing industry, first and foremost to AP McCoy for his 3rd place in the Sports Personality of the Year, only finishing behind 2013 sports superstars, Andy Murray and Leigh Halfpenny. Our congratulations also go out to connections of the excellent 'As I Am' who recorded an impressive grade 1 victory on Hennessey Day at Newbury, the mare became somewhat of a course regular here in 2013, winning on 3 of her 4 starts.

St Richard's Hospice

It's been nearly a month since we last raced here, it'll be no time at all before that season opener on the evening of May 7th comes around. Since we last blogged McCoy racked up those few wins required to get him over the 4,000 line, congratulations AP! We're all very excited to see the champ in action next season here as he embarks upon his quest for the next milestone, maybe even pushing us to the top of the pile for racecourse wins in the process.

Whilst the off season marks a quieter period in the Worcester Racecourse calendar, we do have a number of exciting events, business and leisure, happening here that keeps us in action.

An event that we're really looking forward is happening on 5th December, where we will be staging St Richard's Hospice's Festive Lunch, which includes a cookery demonstration from celebrity chef, Marcus Bean, and a unique shopping experience.

There is a fantastic three course menu on offer with some superb options to choose from, followed by a shopping experience including some delicious local foods and exquisite fashion items.

Follow the link for more details on this magnificent event and how you can book your place: http://www.worcester-racecourse.co.uk/events/eventdetails/175

Our relationship with this brilliant hospice doesn't stop here, we are proud to sponsor St Richard's Hospice car raffle, check out the YouTube video now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtJj-9HGlBs

Purchase your tickets now for just £1 to be in with a chance of winning this amazing prize!

2013 Season

The 2013 season has been another memorable one at Worcester, with some superb racing across our 21 fixtures. Record crowds visited us on some of our feature race days, including another glamorous Ladies Evening, two Family Fun Day's featuring Peppa Pig and Fireman Sam, and the award winning Pershore Plum Festival, which has just picked up the award for the best Worcestershire festival for the third year running!

Jonjo O'Neill picked up both the leading stable staff award and leading trainer award, A P McCoy is pictured below collecting the leading trainer award on behalf of Jonjo at our final fixture. The special award for stable staff, open to yards with less than 30 horses in training, went to Sarah Jayne Davies' yard, Jeremy Mahot is pictured below collecting the award on behalf of Sarah.

McCoy has been stealing the headlines of late with his run up to 4,000 winners, 'Transfer' (pictured winning at our October 10th fixture) just one of the 3,998 winners to his name currently. Two winners from his three rides this afternoon at Exeter will see him cross that 4,000 mark.

McCoy's decorated career includes 263 winners here at the Pitchcroft course, putting us 2nd on his list of course winners, only 1 behind Newton Abbott.

The racecourse team would like to thank you for visiting us during another brilliant season at the home of summer jumps racing! 

The 2014 fixtures are now on the website and annual membership is available to purchase, the perfect gift for a racing enthusiast.