Best Horse Racing Events to Attend in the UK

Best Horse Racing Events to Attend in the UK

Each and every horse racing event offers up something unique and entertaining to fans of the sport, but the following list features some of the best regarded and most popular in the UK. Whether you’re betting on a flat race or national hunt races, the excitement of horse racing makes for a great day out and you can get better at your placing bets by looking for racing tips at sites like Time Form. Most people have heard of the likes of the Grand National, but there’s a huge array of horse racing events taking place in the UK throughout the year.

Royal Ascot 


Held annually in June, the Royal Ascot is one of the best-known horse racing events in the UK. No other horse racing event captures the excitement and pageantry better than Ascot – even the Queen has attended every year during her reign. Ascot spans five days with a total of 15 Group races, including at least one Group 1 event per day, and winners can pocket over £3.5 million in prize money.

Cheltenham Festival

Fans from all over the world head to the Cheltenham Festival each year, which takes place in March and is one of the most important events in the world for horse racing. The varied agenda offers up a great range of fun and thoroughly enjoyable events but the most important hurdling event in the racing calendar actually takes place on the first day’s racing, featuring the Champion Hurdle.

Aintree Grand National Festival

Lasting just three days in April each year, the Aintree Grand National is regarded as one of the most difficult racecourses to navigate. It features sixteen steeplechase fences that jockeys have to overcome that are so intimidating their names have become infamous, including Foinavon and Becher’s Brook. The race is run over four and a half miles and can be a really taxing challenge for the forty-strong field involved. Around 600 million people tune in to watch this early season event.

Epsom Derby

Epsom Derby is one of the most entertaining summer celebrations in Britain, with a host of different prizes and dedicated days for visitors in addition to the races themselves. The Derby takes place over just two days in June, but the pace of the races is ruthless and is a huge test of stamina as well as speed for the horses. The event has a £1.5 million purse and is one of the richest horse races in Britain.

Goodwood

Held at Goodwood Racecourse in Chichester, West Sussex, Goodwood festival is one of the highlights of summer. The magnificent racecourse itself is steeped in tradition and has long been associated with excellent horse racing of the highest quality. Goodwood takes place over five thrilling days and is one of the key events of the season, competing with Ascot in terms of glamour and the calibre of its crowd, set to the backdrop of the picturesque Sussex countryside. The total prize money on offer for winners of this event is £5.5 million and the event takes place in August.