Twelve of Britain’s 60 racecourses have been named as the best in the country for owners, and awarded Gold Standard status for 2015, of which York Racecourse is one.

The accolade, given in a competitive way for the first time this year, comes from the Racehorse Owners Association, the body that has represented racehorse owners for 70 years and currently has more than 7,300 members.

ROA representatives visited every track in Britain at least once between January and early October to assess every aspect of the owners’ raceday experience. In addition, feedback was provided by hundreds of ROA members following their racecourse visits.
Racecourses were divided into two categories – large and smaller – with their classification decided by a range of factors, including the quality of racing and attendance figures. The six tracks in each category that were considered to provide owners with the best raceday experience will hold the Award for the next 12 months.

Those awarded the Gold Standard were as follows:

Large racecourses: Ascot; Ayr; Chester; Haydock Park; Newmarket (July Course); and York.

Smaller racecourses: Hamilton Park; Kempton Park; Market Rasen; Musselburgh; Newton Abbot; and Nottingham.

Alan Pickering, Chairman of the ROA’s Raceday Committee, said: “We are delighted to name the 12 racecourses that have been awarded Gold Standard status for 2015, the inaugural year that the awards have been a competitive process. Many congratulations to those that have been successful.
“Racing is a competitive sport. Racecourses are competing with one another for their share of the nation’s leisure spend. Improving the owners’ raceday experience should be at the heart of this competition, and we changed the basis of the Gold Standard Award so that tracks are now competing with each other to be one of the six best of class in their own category.

“As our team have travelled the country, we’ve seen many improvements and enhancements to the owners’ raceday experience, including additional complimentary admission badges, a significant improvement in the provision of complimentary food and drink, a greater emphasis on racecourse staff providing a business-class experience, plus entertainment for placed connections as well as winners after races.”

One racecourse from each section will be named as their respective category’s ‘racecourse of the year’ at the annual ROA Horseracing Awards to be held in London on Thursday 3rd December and staged in association with Weatherbys Bank.