DANTE FESTIVAL SETS TONE FOR RACING EXPERIENCE AT YORK

Action for the 2026 season at York Racecourse gets underway with the three-day Dante Festival starting on Wednesday 13 May.

Prize money over the three days of the Dante Festival alone is more than £1.6m, it will also set the tone for the raceday experience for the eighteen-day season, as a whole.

Winning connections of the twenty-one races will receive their prizes on a new presentation podium built by race sponsors, Lindum York. Designed to be sympathetic to the canopies on the nearby Champagne Terrace and the Douglas Fir timber of the saddling boxes, it has increased in size to welcome the growing number of syndicate groups of Owners. The smart digital screen will better showcase the important role of race sponsors.

The joy of that Ownership will be showcased on Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante Day with half a dozen syndicate operations engaging with racegoers through display stands, in an initiative that picks up a key theme of the Project Beacon research undertaken by the British Horseracing Authority.

The Yorkshire brass bands and local jazz bands that set the atmosphere with their presence on every raceday, will also now stay dry under a dedicated bandstand on the Veuve Clicquot Lawn, delivered by Duncombe Sawmill at Helmsley.

The entire fourth floor of the Knavesmire Stand has been refurbished by Leeds-based race sponsors, Design Tonic. New suspended ceilings, modern lighting, bespoke joinery, integrated drinks fridge, fresh carpets, supersize televisions as well as more contemporary furniture, all add to the welcome in what are sold-out luxury spaces for the Dante Festival. True to the Green Knavesmire 300 strategy of upcycling items, the white goods from this floor have been used as part of a refresh of the smaller Gimcrack Viewing Boxes. To complete the hospitality improvements, some Melrose Boxes have also been enhanced, with kitchen facilities in all areas being upgraded.

Behind the scenes investment will mean additional capacity for the free Wi-Fi network as supported by York-based Communicate Technology and rolling upgrades to safety systems such as fire and intruder alarms.

Chefs have spent the winter refining the menus, keen to use both local ingredients and to follow the trends such as hot honey. Yorkshire mature cheddar features in the new range of cheese toasties, to be served on the John Carr Terrace.

Building on the success of 2025, Michelin-star chef Tom Barnes will return for the first two days of the Sky Bet Ebor Festival, bringing his front of house team from the award-winning SKOF in Manchester, as well as his culinary talent. The well-known Yorkshire chef, Tommy Banks, is another with a Michelin star to be showcasing his talents on the racecourse. Roots at the Races will be an experiential highlight of the year, on Saturday 27^th June.

York Racecourse is proud to say it has its own Champagne House, the House of Gardet, with a rosé joining the popular Brut from last season. Widely available, starting from £48.50 this will be complemented by a Champagne of the Meeting offer from the likes of Moët or Veuve Clicquot.

A selection of Heineken beers such as Birra Moretti will join North Yorkshire brewed ales from the famous Theakston stable, being served across the site including an IPA created especially for the Knavesmire racegoer. Operating as a guest ale in this new Bustardthorpe Bar and in the Flying Frankie pub, it will retail at £6.70 for a pint. A dedicated 0.0 draught pump will be added to the Guinness Bar during the season. A self-serve bar on the Ebor Stand first floor will offer an ease of service to the lawns.

William Haggas begins the defence of the leading trainer title at York with competition again set to be fierce for the Blue Frog bedding backed Top Trainer Trophy. A generous prize of a full trailer of 670 bales of Blue Frog dust free bedding will sit alongside a complimentary Christmas Party for forty. Tom Marquand edged home in the Jockeys race courtesy of more second placed finishes than Oisin Murphy, expect the pair to again be prominent in the battle for the Living North Magazine Top Jockey Skeaping Bronze Trophy as well as £2,500.

All 125 contests on the Knavesmire will offer at least £100 to the groom responsible for the best turned out horse. On Thursday 14 May, sponsor Al Basti Equiworld Dubai is offering an additional £500 Prize Draw, open to the stable staff who lead up runners on that day.

York will be supporting Racing Welfare, throughout the season beginning with in its Mental Health Awareness Week activity, which will have a particular focus on the opening day. In wider regard, York is proud to be staging the 55^th Macmillan Charity Raceday on Saturday 13 June, it is the biggest raceday of its kind in Britain having already raised over £11m for good causes. The York Racecourse local charity partnership programme will see the track continue to work with Clifton Green Primary School. Joined for 2026 by Bereaved Children Support, with the third local charity partner being The Friends of Rowntree Park which lies under a mile from the track.

York is pleased to continue complimentary guided behind-the-scenes tours before racing and minibus trips to the start for racegoers. These will be taken by former professional jockey and winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Robert Earnshaw, as another example of initiatives to further explain the sport and get racegoers closer to the action.

On most days of the season, racegoers will get a chance to meet the equine ambassador to the Knavesmire, Remy. Now aged seventeen, the retired racehorse will be better known to fans of the sport as Goldream, the dual Group One winning sprinter for Robert Cowell. Set to visit across the season, he will showcase the work of New Beginnings, a local charity that helps horses with new careers once their racing days have drawn to a close.

The appropriate use of technology is a recurring theme at the track who collected a Triple Crown of Awards in 2025, ranked voted as Best in Britain by the Racehorse Owners Association audit, the Stable Staff survey (Nars) as well number one in the inspection by the AA on behalf of the racecourse Association. As an example, rapid cash, credit card & contactless payment is available at all the permanent food and drink outlets. There are eight giant outdoor screens including an upgraded one of the John Carr Terrace, with outdoor televisions in a number of other places bringing the action to those on the lawns and terraces.

The Tote SP Guarantee scheme will be in operation on all days, offering a strong reason for racegoers to use the pool-based betting operation that is so closely aligned with the health of UK racing. Punters will get detailed information as well as away racing on the dedicated television channel known as DAR, as it is focused on Data and Away Racing.