Channel 4 Racing: Showcase Festivals

1 May 2014

Channel 4’s Flat racing schedule features a race highlight virtually every weekend from The Racecourse Newbury’s JLT Lockinge Stakes (May 17), Betfred Temple Stakes (May24) to the Coral-Eclipse (July 5), the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes (July 26) and the Betfred Sprint Cup (September 6); alongside all the traditional Festivals showcasing the best of British racing. 

QIPCO Guineas Festival: Newmarket Racecourse: Saturday 3 - Sunday 4 May

The two-day QIPCO Guineas Festival launches the Flat Turf season in earnest.  The two momentous days are a chance to enjoy Flat racing at its best with the first two Classics of the British season which also start the QIPCO British Champions Series.  The QIPCO 2000 Guineas, for colts, will often bestow superstar status - past winners include Frankel, Camelot and Sea The Stars. Whereas the QIPCO 1000 Guineas, for fillies, has included past winners such as Blue Bunting, Special Duty and Russian Rhythm.

Boodles May Meeting, Chester Racecourse: Wednesday 7 – Friday 9 May

The three day May meeting puts Chester in the racing spotlight nationally.  The flagship fixture provides high level racing, supported by top sporting legends both on and off the turf, permeating throughout in a fun atmosphere which is captured in broadcast. 

Dante Festival, York Racecourse: Wednesday 14 – Friday 16 May

We travel further north for York’s thrilling mid-week May meeting for continuous high quality racing action.  The top horses from the action on Friday will often reappear in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, as the leading stayers take centre stage in the Yorkshire Cup, which forms part of the QIPCO British Champions Series.

Investec Derby Festival, Epsom Racecourse: Friday 6 – Saturday 7 June

Friday’s opening day is traditionally titled Investec Ladies’ Day and successfully combines high style stakes with some of the best flat races in the world.  The feature race, the Investec Oaks (in memory of Sir Henry Cecil) is a fillies-only Classic, run at Epsom Downs over the same mile-and-a-half (2,400 metres) distance as the Investec Derby.  Epsom certainly provides the ultimate test, with an undulating, stamina-sapping course comprising deceptive cambers and a challenging decent into Tattenham Corner. Fillies taking part usually appear in one or more trial races before the Investec Oaks.

The Investec Oaks, QIPCO 1000 Guineas and Ladbrokes St Leger, the final Classic of the season, make up the Fillies’ Triple Crown. Only seven horses have ever won all three races in a season, the Henry Cecil-trained Oh So Sharp the most recent in 1985.

Saturday sees Channel 4 broadcast the richest, most prestigious Classic of the British Flat season and often referred to as the ‘Blue Riband’ of the turf - the Investec Derby - run over one mile, four furlongs and 10 yards (2,400 metres), on Saturday 7th June.

The race is open to three-year-old colts and fillies, though fillies tend to opt for the Investec Oaks. Total prize-fund is £1,325,000.  In recent years three Irish jockeys have experienced such riches - Kieren Fallon, Johnny Murtagh and Michael Kinane, all claiming three Derbys. Add all their wins together and you get evergreen Lester Piggott’s Derby roll of honour – nine wins over 29 years.  It remains the race that every flat jockey, trainer and owner wants to win!

Royal Ascot: Tuesday 17 – Saturday 21 June

Royal Ascot is a five-day centrepiece of the British racing and social calendar.  The opening day gets off to an impressive start with no less than three Group 1 races – The Queen Anne Stakes, The King’s Stand Stakes which is the first British leg of the Global Sprint Challenge; and The St James’s Palace Stakes, the feature race of the day.  All are QIPCO British Champion Series contests.

Wednesday’s highlight is the Group One Prince of Wales’s Stakes. Established in 1862, it’s arguably the most important race of the Royal Meeting.  Run over 1 mile and 2 furlongs (2,000 metres), race is the third middle-distance race in the QIPCO British Champions Series calendar, following the Investec Coronation Cup and Investec Derby.

Thursday Gold Cup Day, colloquially known as Ladies’ Day stages Ascot’s oldest race for long-distance thoroughbreds.  The Group One race, the second long-distance event in the QIPCO British Champions Series, is run over 2 miles 4 furlongs (4,000 metres) and is open to four-year-olds and older and has a strong royal connection.  The trophy is one of three at Royal Ascot presented by The Queen though last year she won the race herself with the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Estimate so it was presented to her by her son, Prince Andrew.   

The Gold Cup, along with the Artemis Goodwood Cup and Doncaster Cup, make up Britain’s Stayers’ Triple Crown.

Friday and Saturday continue the theme of top quality racing and high fashion with The Coronation Stakes and the Diamond Jubilee Stakes – with the latter run on the last day of the Royal Meeting.  Although the fashions are as elaborate as they are during the rest of the Royal Meeting, there is a relaxed family feel on Saturday, which traditionally concludes the five day spectacular with post-race singing around the grandstand.

The Moet and Chandon July Festival, Newmarket Racecourse: Thursday 10 – Saturday 12 July

East Anglia's opens the gates to their most stylish summer event – the Moet and Chandon July Festival.  The magical July Course welcomes some of the finest thoroughbreds from around the globe competing for the ultimate glory.  Friday’s feature race is the Falmouth Stakes, run over a mile and one of the season’s top races for three-year-old fillies and their elders.  While Saturday’s card sees the excitement rise with the running of the Festival’s glittering centerpiece, the Darley July Cup.  Channel 4 also broadcasts competitive racing from Ascot and York – providing armchair viewers with a bumper weekend of top quality racing action.

Glorious Goodwood, Tuesday 29 July – Saturday 2 August

Goodwood Racecourse, the home of Panamas, Pimm's and panache. The scene is set for the world's greatest horses and jockeys to do battle as they strive for top honours at our iconic five-day Festival meeting.  Glorious Goodwood stages a feast of high-quality racing from the Bet365 Lennox Stakes to the QIPCO Sussex Stakes Day which forms part of the British Champion Series, the Artemis Goodwood Cup, to the Betfred Mile, the Blue Square Stewards Cup to the Group 1 Markel Insurance Nassau Stakes.

Thursday’s Ladies' Day has traditionally been the most glamorous occasion of the season at Goodwood supported by the third-year running of the celebrity ladies' race for the Magnolia Cup, sponsored by Audi. Previous winners have included supermodel Edie Campbell, who won the inaugural race back in 2011. .

Glorious Goodwood offers superb racing and no less than 12 Group races across the five days including the King George Stakes, Oak Tree Stakes, Glorious Stakes & Thoroughbred Stakes from the most beautiful of racecourse settings.

York Ebor Festival: Wednesday 20 – Saturday 23 August

York’s oldest, richest, fastest and most famous races feature on the four-day bonanza sweetly titled, the Ebor Festival.  The Group One, Juddmonte International opens the meeting – a contest regularly ranked in the top ten middle distance contests in the world.  Form followers will watch the Neptune Investment Management Great Voltigeur with particular interest as this York Group Two has already produced thirteen winners of the final Classic of the year, the St. Leger. There is a plethora of Groups contests across the four days with the Group One Darley Yorkshire Oaks and the Group Two Pinsent Masons LLP Lowther Stakes treasured Thursday titles.  Whereas Friday, hosts the fastest race of the season - the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes for leading sprinter.  The feature race of the Saturday is the Betfred Ebor – York’s most famous race and the richest flat handicap in Europe.

The Ladbrokes St Leger Festival, Doncaster Racecourse: Thursday 11 – Saturday 13 September

Channel 4 broadcast the last three days of this popular festival with Ladies Day attracting an abundance of the finest fillies.  Friday’s Doncaster Cup is the oldest race currently run under rules of horseracing run over two-and-quarter miles and takes place as the final leg of the 'stayers' Triple Crown, following on from the Ascot Gold Cup and the Goodwood Cup at Glorious Goodwood.

Saturday’s Ladbrokes St Leger is the world's oldest Classic and consistently attracts some of the leading stables across the country.  The British 'Classics' are five races known as the most prestigious in the horse racing calendar - the 2000 and 1000 Guineas start the season off at Newmarket, before the Derby and Oaks at Epsom in June. The Doncaster highlight forms the final leg of the Classic British 'Triple Crown' - an accolade last claimed in 1970 by Nijinsky.  A well-known racing saying states: “The fastest horse wins the Guineas; the luckiest the Derby - and the best horse wins the St Leger!"

Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Longchamp: Sunday 5 October

The Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe race is held on the first Sunday in October with a further seven Group One races to complement this top class European raceday.  The 2014 contest will be shown on Channel 4 for the second consecutive year.

Dubai Future Champions Day, Newmarket Racecourse: Friday 17 October

This rescheduled fixture gives equine juveniles have a high profile opportunity to stake an early claim to greatness on Newmarket’s hallowed sporting turf.  The day features six exceptional group races, something that no other racecourse in Britain can boast.  The day’s two Group One races, two Group Two and two Group Three contests, plus the magical long distance handicap that never fails to deliver, the Betfred Cesarewitch, provides a feast of racing action all sports fan.

QIPCO Champions Day, Ascot Racecourse: Saturday 18 October

QIPCO British Champions Day, the climax to the Series, is Britain's richest raceday with £3.75 million in prize money on offer across the final races in each of the five QIPCO British Champions Series categories. 

Supplemented by the £250,000 Balmoral Handicap (sponsored by QIPCO), this valuable mile handicap for which qualification will apply, will be run as the last race on the day with Channel 4 extending its coverage to include all six races on the card. 

The Balmoral Handicap will sit alongside the £1.3m Group 1 QIPCO Champion Stakes, the world’s highest-rated race, the £1m Group One Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (sponsored by QIPCO), the world’s fourth highest-rated race, and the £350,000 Group 2 QIPCO British Champions Sprint.

 The day represents a fantastic opportunity for the stars of the Flat racing season to compete on one of the world's greatest stages on one momentous day.