Boost to Ebor festival ticket sales but York chief executive says quieter days 'sort of struggling'

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As York's biggest meeting of the year got under way, chief executive William Derby revealed that its quieter days are “sort of struggling”.

Following on from a rise in attendances at the Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot, advance ticket sales were up for the Sky Bet Ebor festival, although the opening day attendance only matched last year's total, with midday rain deterring some walk-ups in the open Clocktower enclosure.

 But Derby pointed out that whereas marquee events are doing well, it is a different picture on “more ordinary days”.

Asked about confidence levels on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Wake Up To Money, he said: “We’re really confident going into this week. We’re 12 per cent ahead on our general admissions sales, we’ve got the best horses in the world chasing record prize-money.

“The big meetings, we’ve found this year, are getting bigger. We’ve sold out twice already in the last month, in July.”

However, he added: “Some of the shoulder days, the more ordinary days, they’re sort of struggling. I think that’s what you’ve been hearing on the high street, in restaurants and hospitality.

“Those big marquee events, which the Sky Bet Ebor festival certainly is, are powering ahead. Whereas some of the more nondescript, quieter days are getting a bit quieter as people are saving their money for the big days.”

Overall, attendance at York this year before racing on Wednesday has been up 0.2 per cent on 2025. However, whereas the crowd on John Smith's Cup day was 12.2 per cent higher than last year, the other six meetings taken together showed a 4.4 per cent fall. 

Derby also revealed that the outlay of racegoers who do attend quieter days is tending to be less.

“On the big days the spend is holding up very well, with lots of innovations at the racecourse, lots of new areas for people to enjoy food and drink and everything going on around the racecourse,” he said. “Those big days, the spend is very good.

“On the quieter days people are just having a nice day, maybe bringing a picnic in the centre of the course and doing it a different way.”

But Derby defended the existence of those quieter days.

“Every day at York we have really good horses running and they all have a different theme and identity, whether that’s a family day or a music day, they all have their different place in our calendar,” he said.

“We race 18 days between May and October but these four days are when we take our sport on to a global stage.”

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