David Hucker
2 December, 2024
Sport

Festive feel to upcoming Warwick race meeting

After its successful two-day Winter Festival in November, Warwick has two fixtures to look forward to this month, starting on Thursday 12th with the Eventmasters Christmas at the Races meeting.

More Warwick jumps action to come in December (photo by David Pratt)

Highlight of the afternoon is the Listed eventmasters.co.uk Lady Godiva Mares' Novices' Chase, worth £30,000, which will be run over two and a half miles. With last year's meeting being abandoned, the race was switched to Wincanton where Arclight and Marsh Wren, who had put up an impressive weight-carrying performance at Warwick's previous meeting, fought out an exciting finish,

The meeting had also been abandoned in 2022, so it will be fingers-crossed that the weather doesn't intervene again. The Got2Sing Choir will be singing festive favourites and there will also be a Christmas market. Gates will open at 10.55 am, one and a half hours before the first race.

Warwick, which shares the afternoon jumps stage with Taunton, kicks off its seven-race card at 12.25pm with the Larkshill Engineering Juvenile Maiden Hurdle over two miles and ends at 3.35pm with the Wrights Of Campden Open National Hunt Flat Race.

Longest race of the afternoon is the Francesca Garrad Handicap Chase over three miles and there is another races over the larger obstacles with the £10,000 M-TEC Engineering Solutions Novices' Handicap Chase over the minimum trip of two miles.

Completing the card are two races over over two miles and five furlongs with the Heat Your Home With Alpha Maiden Hurdle and the Out The Daw Handicap Hurdle.

Warwickshire trainer Dan Skelton, who, surprisingly, didn't have a winner at the Festival, still leads the champion trainer table as he closes in on a century of winners for the 10th season in a row.

However, Paul Nicholls is narrowing the gap after winning the valuable Coral Gold Cup at Newbury over the weekend and, although he has trained half the number of winners of Skelton, it's prize money that determines the championship and he is now only £300,000 behind with more valuable meetings coming up this month.