Lingfield's Winter Million meeting hailed a success - with better still to come

The first Winter Million festival of jump and Flat racing at Lingfield has been warmly welcomed by racing professionals, and officials at the track have vowed to make the three-day meeting "bigger and better" next year.

Two days of high-class jumps action, which were covered on ITV4, flanked a competitive all-weather card on the Flat on Saturday. The Sunday card, which featured the £150,000 Fleur De Lys Chase, proved a hit with viewers, with a peak of 509,000 (3.7 per cent share) making it the ninth most watched show on a non-terrestrial channel that day.

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Trainer Gary Moore enjoyed success on the first day of the meeting in the 2m4f handicap chase with Zhiguli, one of seven runners he had on the two jumps days, which were run on what was officially described as heavy ground.

Moore said: "I thought the Winter Million was a great initiative. I think they did themselves a bit of an injustice with the ground, as I don't think it was as bad as everyone thought.

"The prize-money was great and I got £4,000 for finishing last of four in a novice chase in which the horse had a good education. It's the best chasing track in the country as far as I'm concerned.

"The crowds they had in reminded me of a big meeting they used to have back in the old days on the Saturday after the Cheltenham Festival so fair play to them. The public car park was full like it was then on the days I attended."

David Simcock (right) receives his trophy after Lower Street's victory in the Winter OaksCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

David Simcock won the feature of the second day of the meeting, the Winter Oaks Fillies' Handicap with Lower Street.

He said: "The Winter Million meeting was a great idea. You were always going to get clashes wherever you put it and obviously the middle day clashed with an important Ascot race but I still think more could have been made of a million pounds being put on over three days.

"I thought overall there was a real feelgood factor there on Saturday when it was the most competitive racing we've seen all winter on the Flat. That's got to be positive as that's what racecourses, bookmakers, trainers and owners want. By putting on that sort of prize-money suddenly you get competitive fields.

"The fact they got 14 fillies together for the Fillies' Oaks at this time of year was a great effort and we'll certainly be supporting it in 2023."

'There are a lot of things to learn'

The Surrey track provided plenty of activities for families, including a carousel, pony rides and face painting.

Clerk of the course George Hill said: "For year one we were pleased with how it went as it was quite a short lead-up time from the announcement of the meeting to actually delivering the three days.

"There are a lot of things to learn from but with a year to plan for the 2023 Winter Million rather than just three months there's every chance we can make it bigger and better for next year.

"Uncertainty over what Covid-19 restrictions would be in place in the run-up to the meeting affected bookings but certainly the crowds were up on what we usually see at midwinter weekend meetings."

The fields on all three days were respectable, with the Flat meeting hosting 68 runners and both jumps fixtures over 50.

Hill said: "It would have been nice if a few of the races, particularly over jumps, had a few more runners but from the runners that we did have we had some nice horses in competitive races and enjoyed a few nice finishes."

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