More than 35,000 attend as July Festival attracts younger, newer audience

More than 35,000 racegoers enjoyed Newmarket’s three-day Debenhams July Festival, which concluded on Saturday.

A total of 14,548 were at the July Course for Ladies Day on Thursday, while Friday drew a crowd of 6,372 and 14,386 attended July Cup Day today, taking the overall total to 35,306.

Sophie Able, The Jockey Club’s Newmarket Racecourses and International Director, said: “It’s been fantastic to see so many people over the three days and those who have joined us on some of the warmest days I can remember here have been treated to some thrilling and highly competitive racing.

“We’ve seen strong paid general admission numbers this week, which is a tremendous achievement during a summer heatwave and with so many people making plans to watch England playing in the World Cup.

“It was especially pleasing that our Ladies Day was the best attended Thursday of this meeting since 2019 and we have also seen a 10% increase in new visitors over the three days, which means that two in every five people who attended the festival this week were doing so for the first time.

“In addition, we know that one in three racegoers were under 34, which bodes well for future attendance and growth here at Newmarket.”

Able also praised everyone involved in helping to stage the event in such conditions.

She went on: “The temperatures we’ve seen over the last few days have certainly presented challenges for all of us working at the event and I’d like to thank everyone involved for the effort, resilience and stamina they have shown to help us put on three brilliant days of racing and give our customers memorable days out.

“Our Clerk of the Course, Andrew Morris, Head Groundsman, Alan Hatherley, and their team deserve huge credit for the way they have prepared the track for this meeting and for the long hours that have gone in to providing such a great racing surface.

“I’d also like to thank Debenhams, Al Basti Equiworld, Dubai and all of our partners over the three days for their ongoing support.”