Thousands of people are expected to attend Cartmel Racecourse’s August Bank Holiday celebration of racing and family fun.
The event is set to go ahead without restrictions and a crowd of up to 14,000 is expected for the Cartmel Cup on Saturday August 28 and the Season Finale on Monday August 30, with seven races per day plus food and drink concessions, trade stands and funfair.
Geraldine McKay, racecourse director, said: “Racing at Cartmel is a very different experience, like a mixture of racing, a county show and a festival.
“You are allowed to do everything at Cartmel that you can’t do at any other racecourse – bring your own food and drink, have a barbecue, bring your own furniture and set up your own base camp.”
Cartmel Racecourse was able to operate without COVID restrictions from July 19 and Geraldine says this year’s August Bank Holiday event will be almost back to normal.
She said: “We called our earlier fixtures Cartmel-lite but it will be very exciting to be able to return to a full Cartmel experience with a big funfair and trade stands and food and drink concessions.
“We are an outdoor event, so we just say to people please follow any Government guidelines at the time and other than that there are no restrictions.”
Attractions include Cartmel brewer Unsworth’s Yard, Furness Fish and Game, jump racing stalwart Harry the Hat, VW Crepes and Coffee Bug.
Another highlight for many is a special service held on the Sunday between the two fixtures, at Cartmel’s 800-year-old Priory giving thanks for the racehorse. Local trainer Jimmy Moffatt usually brings a couple of racehorses to meet the crowds.
New race sponsors this year include Fitzdares bookmaker and Molson Coors. Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding is a longstanding sponsor and by tradition every winning jockey, trainer and owner gets one of the puddings.
