Jump racing looks set to return to Royal Windsor with a string of fixtures set for the 2024/25 season; the Berkshire track currently hosts 26 flat fixtures, including the popular Monday Night Racing, live on Sky Sports Racing
Royal Windsor Racecourse will host jump racing for the first time since 2005 after an announcement from Arena Racing Company (ARC) this afternoon.
The Berkshire venue will have jumps fixtures back on the calendar in the 2024/25 season for the first time in 20 years, having hosted fixtures on behalf of Ascot during redevelopment in 2004 and 2005.
Sunday 15 December 2024 has been pencilled in for the first National Hunt fixture back at the venue, with a further number of fixtures expected throughout the winter months with dates to be confirmed.
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ARC have also confirmed that they will not see any increase in the number of fixtures that it hosts over the year with these new jump fixtures switched from the afternoon flat meetings that were held at the beginning and end of the season in both April and October.
Included in this decision is significant investment into the racing surface with new areas of track to offer an optimal configuration for jumps racing.
One of the more famous winners at Windsor over hurdles was Monet’s Garden, who won the Ascot Hurdle in 2004 at the track during redevelopment, before going on to win multiple Grade One races including the Liverpool Hurdle, Old Roan Chase and the Melling Chase.
The track currently hosts 26 fixtures a year, including the popular Monday Night Racing series, featuring the Windsor Sprint Series and Final.
Managing Director of ARC’s Racing Division, Mark Spincer, said: “We have long held a desire to bring jump racing back to Royal Windsor Racecourse, and we are really pleased to confirm this plan well ahead of the planned first fixture in December 2024.
“Whilst the Racecourse hasn’t hosted regularly scheduled jumps fixtures since 1998, we believe that the plans that we have put together with BHA will mean that the small number of fixtures that we would like to host will sit well alongside the long established, popular summer flat programme.
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“A significant amount of work has gone into considering the optimal layout for jump racing at Royal Windsor, which will see the course configured differently to how it was previously, but we believe that it is an excellent proposal to offer jump racing fans the chance to come back to Royal Windsor, whilst not impacting on the flat programme, which is an important consideration.
“The proximity to the River Thames gives the track excellent drainage, and our records show that the Racecourse very rarely ran jumps fixtures on Heavy ground, with the majority of abandonments coming due to frost.
“Happily, turf management techniques have developed significantly since that time, so we are confident of providing excellent jumping ground for the fixtures that we would like to host in 2024 and 2025 and beyond.”
