Newmarket Racecourses have launched a new initiative, called the Newmarket Gold Season, aimed at boosting the profile of the town’s racing, breeding and sales activities during the autumn.
With an unparalleled programme of quality racing on the Rowley Mile across four pulsating and consecutive weekends, the autumn programme has been dubbed the Gold Season for a number of years, but for the first time the world-class racing, along with the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale and popular Henry Cecil Open Weekend, will be jointly promoted and celebrated.
The Newmarket Gold Season embraces not only the racing on the Rowley Mile between Saturday, September 21, and Saturday, October 12, with its £4.2 million prize fund and 21 Pattern races, including five G1s, but the entire racing and breeding industry in Newmarket during its most vibrant time of the year.
Newmarket Gold Season – key dates
- Henry Cecil Open Weekend – Sept 21-22
- Cesarewitch Trial Day – Sept 21
- Cambridgeshire Meeting – Sept 26, 27, 28
- Sun Chariot Day – Oct 5
- Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, Book 1 – Oct 8-10
- Dubai Future Champions Festival – Oct 11-12
Discover Newmarket Tours autumn itinerary
- History And Heritage Walking Tour – Sept 14
- Dalham Hall Stud Tour – Oct 4
- Tattersalls Tour October Yearling Sale, Book 1 – Oct 9
- Feature Tour With Sir Mark Prescott – Oct 26
Amy Starkey, Regional Director of the Jockey Club’s East Region, said, “During the autumn, Newmarket becomes a hub for the international racing and bloodstock world. People are drawn here because of the quality of racing and the calibre of bloodstock at the sales. Through the Newmarket Gold Season, we want to celebrate this and increase awareness of our remarkable town and the industry that supports it.
“It is no coincidence that, during this period, our commercial partners include some of the region’s most valued and influential stud farms, the likes of Darley, Juddmonte and Shadwell, for whom this time of year is critical in terms of results on the racecourse and in the sales ring. The Newmarket Gold Season provides us with a platform on which to tell their stories better than before.”
A total of seven days of high-class racing will be staged at the Rowley Mile across the four season-defining weekends, beginning with the Cesarewitch Trial meeting on the opening Saturday. The focus then turns to the three-day Cambridgeshire Meeting on Thursday 26 to Saturday 28 September, featuring the bet365 Cambridgeshire, as well as the Juddmonte-sponsored Cheveley Park and Middle Park Stakes.
On Saturday, October 5, Europe’s most talented fillies and mares will vie for end-of-season supremacy over a mile in the G1 Kingdom of Bahrain Sun Chariot Stakes before the Newmarket Gold Season reaches its thrilling conclusion at the Dubai Future Champions Festival.
This two-day meeting, on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 October, features the G1s the bet365 Fillies’ Mile and Darley Dewhurst Stakes, as well as the Dubai Cesarewitch, one of the most eagerly-anticipated handicaps in the calendar.
The launch of The Newmarket Gold Season follows an outstanding season for horses who competed in juvenile Pattern races at the Rowley Mile last autumn. A total of nine 3-year-olds who won or were placed in such races last year have gone on to win G1s in 2019. They are:
- Too Darn Hot (2018: 1st, Darley Dewhurst Stakes) - Qatar Prix Jean Prat and Qatar Sussex Stakes;
- Advertise (2018: 2nd, Darley Dewhurst Stakes) - Commonwealth Cup and Larc Prix Maurice de Gheest;
- Anthony Van Dyck (2018: 3rd, Darley Dewhurst Stakes) – Investec Derby;
- Iridessa (2018: 1st, bet365 Fillies’ Mile) - Juddmonte Pretty Polly Stakes;
- Hermosa (2018: 2nd, bet365 Fillies’ Mile) – QIPCO 1000 Guineas and Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas;
- Ten Sovereigns (2018: 1st, Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes) – Darley July Cup;
- Persian King (2018: 1st, Masar Godolphin Autumn Stakes) - Emirates Poule d’Essai des Poulains;
- Magna Grecia (2018: 2nd, Masar Godolphin Autumn Stakes) - QIPCO 2000 Guineas;
- Circus Maximus (2018: 3rd, Masar Godolphin Autumn Stakes) – St James’s Palace Stakes, Prix du Moulin.