A BRIGHT future faces Warwick Racecourse after latest figures revealed a massive 28 per cent increase in attendance levels at the popular venue.
The Jockey Club course welcomed 41,604 people through its doors in 2016, compared to the 32,379 figure from the year before.
Not only are crowd levels up, but also field entries with an additional 254 horses racing at Warwick last year – each race averaged 9.5 runners, above the industry levels.
New Year’s Eve welcomed the biggest crowd of last season when a huge 6,558 people watched the seven-race card – compared to 4,030 the previous year.
The now annual May Racing Carnival also saw improvements with 2,489 more punters coming through the gates across the three fixtures, despite poor weather on each of the days.
Improvements follow significant investment from The Jockey Club, who stated it would put money into the course ‘heavily’ over the next three years to bring the racing surface and amenities up to a standard that suits its lofty aspiration.
General manager Andre Klein said he’s delighted with the figures from the Racecourse Association (RCA), which confirmed Warwick produced the biggest like for like attendance increase in the country.
He said: “Warwick has a young and enthusiastic team of staff, totally motivated by the belief our racecourse can be something very special indeed.
“While we are naturally pleased with what has been achieved, we realise we still have a mountain to climb to see the venue recognised as the best small jumps track in the country.
“We believe we are on the right track, and the team won’t stop thinking about ways to improve the wonderful asset we have at our disposal until we are sure we have done all we can to achieve our aim.”
Improvements planned for the future include the construction of a turnstile building off Bread and Meat Close and the re-development of unused Tote window space into a new hospitality area.
Warwick District Council will also allocate significant funds ito improve the owners and trainers car park park, and increasing the size of Saltisford Brook car park used by annual members.
Klein said: “We really value the importance of owners and want to make Warwick a place people really look forward to racing at.
“The team at Warwick are really dedicated to seeing massive improvements in this area over the coming 12-months and want their owners to really notice the difference.
“We’re also excited to be working on a plan which we hope will lead to a further uplift in the race programme and prize money investment.”
