York Racecourse

Completed poet's tribute to the Ebor Festival

York Racecourse is delighted that Ian McMillan has agreed to be the Official Poet of the Racecourse. The Barnsley based bard has penned a special tribute to the Ebor Festival of 2009, there is a verse for each day for the first four day festival:

Listen to the thrilling and the thundering sound:
Excitable runners pounding Yorkshire ground.
But it’s not the horses; they’ve not started yet.
It’s the people dashing forward to place a bet!
Today’s the richest race, best race, world top ten race.
The racing world’s attention is fixed on this place;
You can hear the excitement in the punters’ talk
Here at the Ebor in the heart of York
So let me announce with a tipster’s grin:
Runners and Riders ... let the races begin!

This was the day when the works shut early;
The flat-capped, headscarved, skinny and burly
Going to the races for a Yorkshire occasion
Thronging the streets, pouring out of the station
Starting off the day with a ten-bob note
Ending with a Summer Cruise, a winter coat
Paid for by your horses that came home first
And racing is a hunger, racing is a thirst
And the excitement builds till you think your specs’ll shatter
And today is living proof that racing matters!

On Thursday at the Ebor you’ll find the debaters
Discussing the merits of lacy fascinators
And wide brimmed fedoras versus fruity creations
And stiletto heels higher than the rate of inflation
As the women pour in on Ladies’ Day
Wearing hats can be seen from so far away
They’re a hazard to satellites and passing jets
But these lasses don’t care ‘cos they’re placing bets
That might keep ‘em in hats for a good five years
Or at least buy a sarnie and a couple of beers!

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