Author: Richard Hammill

Tickets for the new racing season at Pontefract will be on sale here from 9am on Sunday 1^st December with the track offering the best rates now for their 2025 racedays which get underway on Tuesday 8^th April.

The West Yorkshire course’s early bird offers have become renowned in recent years with around 25% off ‘on the day’ admission prices. At most meetings, entry to the Grandstand & Paddock Enclosure is just £10 for those who book early.

Pontefract will once again have 16 race meetings in 2025 with 3 Family Sundays, 2 Friday Evening Music Nights and the popular Ladies Day, supported once again by RIU Hotels and Resorts, on Wednesday 6^th August. While no announcements have been made yet for artists to perform on their music nights, the course has pledged that the fun filled events will be back next year.

The course has also committed to continue the popular ‘True Yorkshireman’ package which is amongst the best value in racing at any track in the country. The offer includes entry to the Paddock, a pint and a pie for just £17 at any of our afternoon meetings (other than Ladies Day).

Chief Operating Officer, Richard Hammill, said:

‘We’re delighted to launch the ticket sales for 2025 and I hope that our customers can see our commitment to providing a great day out for racegoers at a reasonable cost. In addition to the True Yorkshireman package, we’ll also have our OAP Free Day on Monday 14^th April when those over 60 can come racing free of charge when they apply in advance. On top of that, under 18s go free to every race meeting. We may have only just finished our 2024 racing season but we’re very much focused on getting everything back up and ready for next April and we can’t wait to see racegoers again.’

Throughout 2025, the Pontefract team will once again be working alongside Autism in Racing to provide complimentary entry, a sensory room and a quiet space for families with autistic children. This initiative is unique across Racecourses in the UK and won the ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ Award at the Racecourse Association Showcase Awards in Edinburgh.

The fixtures for 2025 are listed here

For more information, please call The Administration Offices on 01977 781307.

Blog – 11^th October

Welcome to another blog from the team at Pontefract Racecourse.

Every fortnight, someone from the team will share their thoughts for your entertainment (or otherwise!):

• Managing Director, Norman Gundill with his trusty PA, Caroline who also looks after the hospitality,
• Accounts Manager, Nicola,
• Admin manager, Carol,
• Marketing exec, Alexia, and,
• Chief Operating Officer, Richard who is writing this blog

We are preparing to close the door on another racing season, but we have one final fling to bring you on Monday 21^st October. And yes, while there’s some top notch racing on the programme – we have a Listed 2yo race (which even has it’s own Wikipedia page!) and over £130,000 worth of Prize Money on offer – we’re going to have a look at another of our Season Finale traditions at Ponte. The handover to the National Hunt team….

Racing under both codes (Flat and National Hunt) has a big following in Yorkshire and, as the Flat season is nearing its end, it’s always lovely to be able to welcome back some firm favourites from the jumping season.  The team from Go Racing in Yorkshire are always particularly excited to get their cameras and notebooks out in preparation for the start of the ‘Winter Game’. And our Admin team get involved too – Caroline drives the car that follows the gallopers round and Alexia fires up the Socials with the latest news.

Pontefract used to offer trainers the opportunity to ‘gallop’ their horses regularly after racedays. But, as weather patterns continue to become increasingly extreme, we had to restrict racecourse gallops to the last raceday so that the track had a good few months to recover before it was needed again the following April. Initially we’d have 5 or 6 horses coming to stretch their legs but the word started to spread and trainers latched on to the fact that we allowed gallopers and the event started to take off. In 2021, we had over 50 horses using the track after the last race. This is after 70-80 horses ran during the race meeting! As demand grew, we’ve had to restrict numbers to allow no more than 40 horses to gallop after racing – with each trainer restricted to 5 horses so that we can allow as many different yards as possible to take advantage.

While some tracks charge for racecourse gallops, we took a different view and don’t have a fee. Allowing a racecourse gallop was one way that we could thank trainers for running a horse during the course of the year – especially those who might not ordinarily have had a runner during the season. If the trainer wants to make a donation to the groundstaff team, then that is always gratefully received!

And we’ve had some real superstars of the Northern jumping circuit grace the Ponte turf. Nicky Richards always brings some nice horses with G2 and Listed placed, Castle Rushen a regular. Brian Ellison’s Tommy Whittle and Eider winner, Sam’s Adventure, learnt his stamina from an away day at Ponte. Perhaps the best of them was Ruth Jefferson’s Waiting Patiently who limbered up at Ponte before his second in the King George at Kempton on Boxing Day.

So, to 2024…. We’ve already got 30 horses booked in with limited spaces remaining. Nicky Richards, Donald McCain and Sam England are amongst those who have already got their names down.  Which equine stars will be making an appearance? You’ll have to join us on Monday 21^st October when all will be revealed!

Welcome to another blog from the team at Pontefract Racecourse.

Every fortnight, someone from the team will share their thoughts for your entertainment (or otherwise!):

• Managing Director, Norman Gundill with his trusty PA, Caroline who also looks after the hospitality,
• Accounts Manager, Nicola,
• Admin manager, Carol,
• Marketing exec, Alexia, and,
• Chief Operating Officer, Richard, who is writing this blog.

As the busy Summer period of racing comes to a close, we start to gear up to the final four meetings of the year. While the evenings and weekend fixtures are done for 2024, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t still a lot to look forward to – in fact, there is still a 2yo Listed race to come and almost £350,000 worth of prize money on offer!

The highlight of the Autumn programme is our season finale on Monday 21^st October. Sadly, Storm Babet prevented the fixture taking place in 2023 but, all being well, we’ll have some fantastic action on the track to finish the season.

Apologies for being a bit of a racing anorak, but the EBF Silver Tankard Stakes is one of my favourite races of the year at Ponte and has a rich history with both Westover and Manuela De Vega in recent years competing before hitting the frame in the Derby and Oaks the following year. The European Breeders Fund do a huge amount for racing and we are eternally grateful for the support that they give us a Ponte. It’s been a while since we’ve had a Derby or Oaks winner – High-Rise was the last – but there’s always some talent on show. Before the abandonment last year, Aidan O’Brien had 5 entries to target the race with! Fingers crossed the weather plays its part this year and we get to witness some more potential future stars.

We’ve made a conscious decision to try and raise the calibre and profile of the racing at the season finale this year. And so, to support the Listed race, we have a Class 2 Fillies Handicap worth £30k and the £27k Class 2 Phil Bull Trophy for the Stayers. There’s now a total of over £130,000 in prize money at this race meeting alone. The two supporting races have again had some superb winners – Unequal Love won the handicap in 2023 before winning the Wokingham this year, and Wise Eagle was the last horse to take the Phil Bull. He ran in the Ascot Gold Cup the year after! For those of you who don’t know, Phil Bull was a professional gambler, racehorse owners and published who founded Timeform.

We can now also start to look forward to 2025. The fixture list has recently been published and there is no material change to the look of the Ponte racing calendar for next year with our usual pattern of fixtures including 3 evening meetings (Friday 23^rd May, Monday 9^th June and Friday 18^th July), 3 Sundays (22^nd June, 27^th July, 17^th August) and Ladies Day on 6^th August. Bookings for next year will go live on 1^st December when, as always, the best deals are available. Make sure you set a reminder on your calendar as tickets are over 25% cheaper than on the day.

Now that we have the dates for 2025, we can also start to plan! Is there anything that you’d like to see at Pontefract next year? Do you have any thoughts on the bands that might perform? (within reason – we’re a small independent racecourse with limited budgets!) Would you like to see anything different at our Family Day race meetings? If you’ve got anything that you think might make a day at Pontefract even better, then please let us know by emailing us at info@pontefract-races.co.uk.

Welcome to another blog from the team at Pontefract Racecourse.

Every fortnight, someone from the team will share their thoughts for your entertainment (or otherwise!):

• Managing Director, Norman Gundill with his trusty PA, Caroline who also looks after the hospitality,
• Accounts Manager, Nicola,
• Admin manager, Carol,
• Marketing exec, Alexia, and,
• Chief Operating Officer, Richard who is writing this blog

Next week sees a really busy week in the Racing Calendar and the Ponte season.

As we start the countdown to the first of our Sunday Family Day meetings, the UK racing scene also celebrates Racing Staff Week – a celebration of Racing Staff throughout the industry which has been organised by Racing Welfare.

This year sees the eighth running of Racing Staff Week and the week will bring the racing industry and its followers together to showcase the passion, skill and dedication of all the staff, across the breadth of the industry, whose hard work makes our great sport possible. Racing Staff Week recognises the contribution of the industry’s entire workforce, from stud and stable staff to breeders, trainers, racecourse staff and administrators and everything in between. The campaign is is generously supported by Betfair.

85,000 people are either in direct, indirect or associated employment of British Racing and 2,468 people directly employed in the British racing industry were supported by Racing Welfare in 2023

Closer to home, we’ll be celebrating the Racing Staff who are helping us prepare for racing on Sunday 23^rd June. A huge amount of works goes in behind the scenes at the Racecourse, as well as a training yards up and down the country and trainers, stable staff and jockeys prepare their horses for a trip to Ponte.

Our groundsteam having been preparing the track after the first five race meetings of the season which have been run on ground softer than what might be expected. Since racing on Monday evening, the track has been put back, ‘filled in’, mown, spiked to assist with drainage and been sprayed for weed. On top of all that, they’ve also installed new running rail from the 6f start to the 2f marker. This not only means that horses running at Ponte on the 23^rd will have fresh ground, it also allows the ground on the inside running rail to have a rest and repair. This ‘false’ rail is likely to be in place until the end of July.  

The office team have also been busy making preparations for all the additional attractions that we will have on the site. Not only do we have 7 horse races, we also have 10 whippet races before the equine stars take to the track. There’s a funfair to sort out, a chance to meet some ex racehorses, bus trips to the start, a sensory room, a brass band and, of course, Yorkshire Pudding throwing. Add in putting together 500 packs for kids, it promises to be a busy week ahead.

Let’s hope that the weather starts to look a little more like Summer by the time we get to raceday and we can then enjoy a proper Ponte day out.   

January sees the launch of Pontefract Racecourse’s ‘Twelve Months of Giving’ for New Beginnings Horses – a charity who provide a safe and secure environment for former racehorses, where they can adjust and be re-trained for their second career following racing.

In 2023, Pontefract Racecourse announced that former racehorse and New Beginnings resident, Nearly Caught (affectionately known as Nico), was to become their first Racehorse Ambassador. Earning just under £350,000 in prize money, Nearly Caught was a strong stayer who competed over marathon trips all around Europe. During his career, Nearly Caught was no stranger to Pontefract either as he won the Phil Bull Trophy by an impressive 10 lengths in 2015 – his biggest winning margin throughout his esteemed career!

Ahead of the launch of the new campaign, Richard Hammill, Chief Operating Officer for Pontefract Racecourse, said:

‘We pride ourselves on providing the highest level of equine welfare at Pontefract when racehorses visit the track and were delighted to team up with New Beginnings and welcome Nico as our Racehorse Ambassador. It’s been a privilege getting to know Nico and all the team here absolutely adore him. Having visited the yard in 2023, we were all keen to be able to do as much as we possibly could to help New Beginnings and the horses in their care. Launching ‘The Twelve Months of Giving’ was a natural progression to help raise the visibility of the charity and to showcase the wonderful care that is given to thoroughbreds in the next stage of their career.’

The campaign will see a variety of fundraising activity for New Beginnings taking place in every month in 2024. There’ll be opportunities for racegoers to see Nico (and some of his friends) and the New Beginnings team on each of the Racecourse’s Family Race Days, while other events will include staff volunteering days, a visit to the yard for Pontefract Racecourse Annual Badge Holders, bucket collections, community visits to local schools and the Prince of Wales Hospice and even attending a Castleford Tigers match!

Pam and Kevin Atkinson of New Beginnings said:

‘We have been taking the horses to meet the racegoers at Pontefract for over 10 years and we really enjoy working with the whole team there. We’re thrilled to be part of their Twelve Months of Giving campaign. We see daily the powerful impact racehorses have on people lives and we are delighted to be partnering with Pontefract Racecourse on this initiative so more people can experience and learn what horses do for people, and people for horses. The campaign will hopefully help us to raise vital funds to be able to continue to care for these wonderful horses who give us so much joy.’

If you’d like to make a donation to New Beginnings Horses, please click here.

Click here for more information on Pontefract Racecourse and the Twelve Months of Giving.

For more information on New Beginnings Horses, please click here .

Welcome to another blog from the team at Pontefract Racecourse.

Every fortnight, someone from the team will share their thoughts for your entertainment (or otherwise!):

• Managing Director, Norman Gundill with his trusty PA, Caroline who also looks after the hospitality,
• Accounts Manager, Nicola,
• Admin manager, Carol,
• Marketing exec, Alexia, and,
• Chief Operating Officer, Richard who is writing this blog.

Pontefract aside, one of the best Racecourses in the country, and possibly the world, is York Racecourse.

While the National Hunt purists have the Cheltenham Festival, the Ebor Festival is often regarded as one of the best festivals in the flat racing calendar with both avid racegoers and socialites mixing on the Knavesmire.

York is quite rightly put on a pedestal with some wonderful facilities and excellent service. If you have not visited the area before, it is well worth adding to the bucket list as not only does the course put on a fantastic spectacle, but the beautiful city comes alive with racegoers continuing their days out well into the evening.

With a small break in the racing schedule at Pontefract, the office team were able to take a well deserved break and have a day out on Wednesday to see some of the greatest thoroughbreds in training battle on the York turf. A day at the races is something of a ‘busman’s holiday’ but it’s hugely important for us to visit other places, see what’s happening elsewhere and pick up examples of best practice that we might be able to bring back to Pontefract. We had a brilliant day out and it was fantastic to see so many people enjoying the sport and all that it offers.

The racing itself was brilliant as always but, as the industry continues to face it’s own battles, we, like many others in the industry, were disappointed to see small fields for the Group races. With one million pounds worth of prize money on offer, it was particularly sad to see a field of just 4 horses line up for the Juddmonte International. Despite a wonderful initial entry, opposition to the new wonderhorse, Paddington, began to drop out one by one and it was left to John and Thady Gosden’s Mostahdaf to provide the sternest test. And, under the inimitable Frankie Dettori, he saw off the young pretender in scintillating fashion. It begs the question as to how good the Japanese horse, Equinox , must be as he had the subsequent Juddmonte winner 7 lengths behind him without being asked for maximum effort.

It was good to see the team from New Beginnings also out in force at the track with their wonderful team of Racehorse Ambassadors (including our own Nico – Nearly Caught) on hand to greet the racegoers.  If you’re going to York on Friday, keep an eye out for our very own Alexia, who will be helping out on the New Beginnings stand and will happily sell you some raffle tickets or Christmas cards!

Welcome to another blog from the team at Pontefract Racecourse.

Every fortnight, someone from the team will share their thoughts for your entertainment (or otherwise!):

• Managing Director, Norman Gundill with his trusty PA, Caroline who also looks after the hospitality,
• Accounts Manager, Nicola,
• Admin manager, Carol,
• Marketing exec, Alexia, and,
• Chief Operating Officer, Richard (who is writing today’s blog)

Pontefract Racecourse is not only a Racecourse, but we’re a part of a busy and thriving community. It is important for us to not only offer a fantastic venue for the racing audience, but to be able to support and benefit some of the under represented groups in our area.

We have worked with racing based charities such as Racing Welfare and The Injured Jockeys Fund for several years, but have extended our community based work to groups in the local area who had no particular connection to the Racing Industry and who, perhaps, felt that the Racecourse and what it had to offer, was outside their scope.

We started working with the Into The Sky Theatre Company in 2016. They are a group of young adults with varied special education needs and they meet at the Racecourse each week for a music and drama workshop. Many of the students are based in and around Pontefract and, by using the Racecourse space, they are able to work towards putting on theatre performances throughout Wakefield and the five towns.

The group has a number of neurodivergent students as well as those with accessibility issues and many found themselves at a loss of what to do once they have finished their college courses. Allowing these young people to use a room at the Racecourse has given them the opportunity to thrive as well as celebrate and raise awareness of the creative talents of people with learning disabilities.

The Into The Sky Theatre Group are now an integral part of the Racecourse. Not only do they have a named race and a bucket collection to enable them to raise vital funds, they have been a huge help to the Racecourse in enabling us to upgrade our accessibility facilities – from giving feedback on viewing as well as what is expected of an accessible toilet. At our recent ‘Racing For Everyone’ raceday, we welcomed guests from Autism In Racing on site. They were able to meet some of the team members from Into The Sky to enable us to continue to improve and upgrade our facilities and understand what is needed.

We also have an annual Christmas party for the group and it’s truly one of the highlights of the year for the Admin team. The anticipation of their ever changing version of the Twelve Days of Christmas is truly something to behold.   

We’ve also been able to introduce the group to horse racing as well! The majority had never been to a race meeting before but are now regulars at our family events, as well as the music nights where they’re able to take advantage of the dedicated accessible viewing areas that we have for these events. They were even filmed for the Sky Bet Sunday Series in 2022 and had their own slot on the ITV coverage of the race meeting.

The Into The Sky Group, and their sister group Cross The Sky , go from strength to strength and have performances booked later in the year at Wakefield Theatre Royal and Barnsley Civic. If you get the chance to see any of their shows, make sure to do so. You won’t be disappointed.

Welcome to another blog from the team at Pontefract Racecourse.

Every fortnight, someone from the team will share their thoughts for your entertainment (or otherwise!):

• Managing Director, Norman Gundill with his trusty PA, Caroline who also looks after the hospitality,
• Accounts Manager, Nicola,
• Admin manager, Carol,
• Marketing exec, Alexia, and,
• Chief Operating Officer, Richard (who is writing today’s blog)

Will AI change the future of horse racing?

I wear a few different hats at the Racecourse – Clerk of the Course and Chief Operating Officer as well as overseeing the Marketing, Brand and Sponsorship offering at the track. I try to keep track of new trends and developments in the racing world, while also keeping an eye on the broader aspects that the different sides of my role entails.

The marketing world is in continual development – especially when it comes to the digital offering. Once upon a time, the website was the primary digital space available to companies. Now, social media is constantly evolving. Not so long ago, MySpace seemed to be the only site that was available but this has quickly been overtaken with the likes of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, You Tube, TikTok, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Pinterest among many that are easily available to the general public. There’ll be many more derivatives of these sites to follow too in coming years and each will bring their own unique selling point.

The ‘new kid on the block’, perhaps most significant in terms of marketing, is undoubtedly ChatGPT. Artificial Intelligence (or AI) has been around for a while but the speed in which it has developed is frightening. I remember watching a film called ‘I,Robot’ which seemed to be a futuristic experiment that could never really be replicated in real life. Well the future is here! Many websites already have simplified versions of AI in the form of chatbots, who answer basic questions on behalf of the business who deployed them. With the dawning of ChatGPT, there is now huge potential for these to be able to solve most of the problems that the user has. Google and Bing have swiftly launched their own counterparts to ChatGPT and it’s wise to expect newer and more impressive versions to follow soon.

What does ChatGPT do? In the simplest terms, ChatGPT takes on the conversational skills of a person to solve a problem for the user. It uses learnings from all it’s previous conversations to improve the responses which ensures that it is always developing.

However, the data set that it uses currently only goes up to, and includes, 2021, and so there are errors on occasion. The site also does not have live access to the internet and so some of the results can be slightly outdated. The technology, while impressive, is somewhat basic and crude and it might not use the voice and tone that you would expect.

For example, this is the response that was generated when I asked how to book tickets.

However, as a prototype for a tool, the potential is enormous and will undoubtedly get bigger and better.  

Will AI take over the future of horse racing?

I decided to ask ChatGPT just that. The response is here

While the algorithms are developing rapidly, there is still no way to predict what will win the 6.30pm at Ponte next week and so, from that point of view, human input will always be required. They’re unlikely to ever be able to ride or train a horse and put tactics in to play either. However, from a Clerking perspective, the Going Stick that is currently widely in use offers the first glimpse of technology in determining the state of the ground. It’s not such a huge leap of faith to imagine that one day in the future, AI will be used in turf care.

For now, the human touch is still required. But the future is not far away.

Welcome to another blog from the team at Pontefract Racecourse.

Every fortnight, someone from the team will share their thoughts for your entertainment (or otherwise!):

• Managing Director, Norman Gundill with his trusty PA, Caroline who also looks after the hospitality,
• Accounts Manager, Nicola,
• Admin manager, Carol,
• Marketing exec, Alexia, and,
• Chief Operating Officer, Richard (who is writing today’s blog)

The Music Night Countdown

The countdown is well and truly on for the first of our music nights at Ponte (26^th May).

It’s a busy, but slightly stressful, time for the team as we make sure that everything is in place. All Racecourses approach their music events from different viewpoints. But for us, with strict budget constraints, we try and cut out as many third parties as possible and, where we can, we deal directly with the artist(e)’s management team, arrange the stage directly with Event Equipment Hire and manage the sound and lighting production with John who knows the layout of the Racecourse well and knows the type of show that the audience respond to.

There is a huge amount of planning and preparation that goes on behind the scenes – with additional toilet facilities, bar marquees, extra furniture, new catering outlets, security planning meetings, back up generators, medical and veterinary requirements etc – no stone is left unturned.

Purist racegoers are often critical of racecourses who stage music events but, for us, we think that they provide a great way to introduce a new crowd to Pontefract. We’re very lucky to be so well supported by racegoers throughout Yorkshire and we want to be able to showcase the racecourse as both a corporate and a social venue so that these racegoers have us in mind when they are looking for options for days out with their family, or for somewhere to go with work colleagues or a destination that they might consider entertaining clients.  By seeing the Racecourse host a music act, we hope that they might return to us at a later date with their friends. But the racing should always be the focus of the event. At Pontefract, it is not by accident that the music forms an arena around the Parade Ring where the equine stars take centre stage. When marketing the racecourse, I have always believed that no matter what the theme of the day, we should arrange attractions for the customer but must always keep the horse at the very heart of everything we do. You cannot get away from the main event stars, the horses, when you attend a music night with us.

As a child of the 80s, it will come as no surprise that I have quite a big part to play when it comes to choosing the musical choices each year! We’ve been lucky to welcome some really incredible acts over the years – Cheryl, Mike & Jay (formerly of Bucks Fizz), Bananarama, Belinda Carlisle, Billy Ocean and, last year, Sister Sledge. And this year it’s the turn of Kim Wilde. The youngest member of our team, Alexia, nods her head politely when we talk about the performers, most of whom were topping the charts well before she was born. It’ll be Alexia’s first experience of a music night at Pontefract – as a child of the 00s, perhaps we’ll let her choose the artists for 2024!

Welcome to another blog from the team at Pontefract Racecourse.

Every fortnight, someone from the team will share their thoughts for your entertainment (or otherwise!):

• Managing Director, Norman Gundill with his trusty PA, Caroline who also looks after the hospitality,
• Accounts Manager, Nicola,
• Admin manager, Carol,
• Marketing exec, Alexia, and,
• Chief Operating Officer, Richard (who is writing today’s blog)

NATIONAL HORSERACING COLLEGE CHARITY DAY AT PONTEFRACT

Wednesday 3^rd May marked the 34^th running of the National Horseracing College Charity Day at Pontefract.

The National Horseracing College , based just outside Doncaster, was set up in 1984 and provides a range of courses at all levels for people who are looking at the horseracing industry as a future career. It also offers those currently in the business the chance to develop their qualifications and skills and provides the ideal opportunity to nurture the grass roots and future of the sport. On the 3^rd May, we welcome several of the learners and instructors to the course to gain some hands on experience of a day at the races. Under the brilliant leadership of the Chief Executive, Colonel Padgett, there is no better place to learn for those who are wanting to get involved in the racing industry.

Fittingly, the Apprentices kicked proceedings off with the 3^rd round of the Go Racing In Yorkshire Future Stars series. It was a special race in more ways than one with Reigning Profit making a little bit of Ponte history by becoming the first horse to win consecutive races at the track! He had won the final race at the previous race meeting and followed up in some style under Christian Howarth for trainer Ruth Carr . Once again, he was bounced out of the stalls and made all the running to win, going away, by 2 lengths. Have we got another Ponte specialist on our hands?

On the same card, there was finally something for Leeds United fans to cheer about when The Cookstown Cafu, who is named after Leeds United fan favourite Stuart Dallas, followed up his recent win at Redcar. Kevin Ryan’s winner looks as though he’s definitely one who’ll be stepping up to the premier league.

It was also fantastic to welcome local artist, James Owen Thomas back to Pontefract. James had been commissioned by the Racecourse to create 4 pieces of artwork for a recycling campaign in 2019, using materials that were destined for the bin. Using old racecourse badges, brochures and tickets etc, he created some wonderful artwork that can be seen at the Racecourse on a raceday.

As part of the celebrations for the Coronation of King Charles III, Great British Racing had commissioned a piece by James to highlight the Royal Family’s long standing engagement with the sport. One of the King’s big passions is sustainability, meaning that there was a fantastic opportunity for James to be involved in such a momentous occasion. We were honoured that James chose to unveil his new artwork at Pontefract and it was wonderful to welcome him and his family back to the course. His incredible art can be seen in Pateley Bridge, with this particular piece touring round a number of racecourses in the coming months.