Ripon Racecourse has finished ahead of a strong field of entrants to become a winner at the 2022 Racecourse Association Showcase & Awards event.
Ripon, known as Yorkshire’s Garden Racecourse, beat Hamilton Park, Go Racing in Yorkshire, Scottish Racing and The Jockey Club to collect the Racing Connection Award.
Their winning entry was the Goodbye Flys Stables Championship, which saw a total of more than £14,000 going to stable staff over the course of the 2022 season.
The showcase & awards, held on Thursday at Pontefract, is the marquee event of British racecourses and celebrates excellence and innovation in racecourse operations and raceday experience.
The Racing Connection Award celebrates initiatives that enrich and extend the reach of the sport to customers, including racegoers or colleagues from the thoroughbred group (professionals connected with the horse).
Entrants were asked to demonstrate the passion, enthusiasm, knowledge and skill of those who work in the sport, enhancing both customer enjoyment and education of horseracing.
Wilf Walsh, chairman of the RCA, commented:
“Congratulations to Ripon Racecourse for their fantastic initiative to bring stable staff into the heart of the raceday experience.
“In what has been a challenging year for racecourses, I was buoyed by the quality of the initiatives on show, not least this one which I hope will act as inspiration to other racecourses in future.
“The RCA will share the best practice arising from this year’s Showcase Awards amongst all racecourses in the year ahead.”
Jonathan Mullin, operations and marketing manager at Ripon Racecourse, said:
“We’re delighted to win our second showcase award, keeping our place in the winners’ enclosure after winning the spotlight award with our green scheme in 2019.
“We felt it was important to highlight and acknowledge the great work that stable staff do in the industry. Together with our sponsor, Goodbye Flys, we found a good way of rewarding them and it is fantastic that it has been recognised.
“We’re looking forward to bringing the championship back next year along with some other initiatives and it would be fantastic if we could make the finals at the 2023 showcase and awards at Aintree.”
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