Tom Jones helps Newbury achieve its biggest crowd post-Covid

Newbury racecourse, which has been troubled by falling crowds, was able to report better news after revealing it had attracted its biggest attendance since the Covid-19 pandemic for Saturday's Super Sprint card.

Just short of 19,000 people turned up at the Berkshire track, despite the twin deterrents of a rail strike and poor weather. 

The eight-race card, which featured 90 runners, was followed by a performance from Tom Jones. The crowd was up from 15,484 last year when Craig David took to the stage after racing.

It represents a welcome upturn for Newbury after the attendance for the Coral Gold Cup – its showcase jumps race – was the lowest since the 1980s, with 12,928 watching Britain's second-richest handicap chase last November. 

The crowd on Lockinge day in May dipped below five figures for the first time since 2010, with 8,412 going through the turnstiles to see the track's only Group 1.

RMT strike action meant there were no services to either Newbury or Newbury Racecourse stations. The weather also presented challenges, with light rain persisting throughout the afternoon.

Newbury chief executive Julian Thick said: “It's by far our biggest crowd since we returned from Covid but it's a pity we couldn't deliver any better weather. It was a great crowd and helped by the mixture of an incredibly good, strong competitive racing day's racing. The music from Tom Jones was an attraction as well.

"Across the whole of the first part of the season we've had some more challenging days but the summer has gone well and we were particularly pleased with this weekend."

Thick pointed to increased prize-money being a factor in the major rise in runners compared to last year, when purse levels caused trainers to boycott the 1m2f fillies' novice stakes. The pot for that race was raised from £6,500 to £50,000 and also upgraded to Class 2 level, attracting 13 runners on Saturday.

The winning prize for the 6f novice stakes was almost double that of last year and was rewarded with 24 runners being declared and the race being divided. Twelve months ago it attracted ten runners.

Thick added: "We've made an increase across most of our cards. We announced a substantial prize-money increase earlier this year and we think we've been rewarded by it this year. We're also not in a drought this year so it's been easier to produce the ground that people want their horses to run on."

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