Record attendances over festive period announced by RCA

A record number of people went racing over Christmas, announced the Racecourse Association.The RCA said attendances topped 200,000 between December 26 to January 1 for only the second time.The total fixture for the 2016-17 Christmas period was 204,106 across 29 fixtures, which was above the previous best of 202,222 in 2011-12.RCA communications executive Will Aitkenhead said: " We have been lucky with the weather, which always helps, and we have seen some fantastic racing that has drawn large crowds. "This late boost to the attendances will bolster the overall number for 2016 which we expect to be around the six million mark."