Things to Do
Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival 2018
York Racecourse's flagship meeting, the Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival, takes place in August each year.
It’s the week to visit York for a fabulous four-day festival of racing. Wednesday sees the running of their richest ever contest, the Juddmonte International and a total prize fund for the day of over £1 million.
Thursday, Ladies Day, plays host to the Ebor Fashion Lawn, with prizes for the best dressed ladies and gentleman and Friday sees the fastest thoroughbreds contest the Coolmore Nunthorpe.
Ebor Saturday plays host to the richest flat handicap in Europe, the SkyBet Ebor.
This year saw the announcement that Welcome to Yorkshire will continue as headline sponsors of the festival for a further three years.
Welcome to Yorkshire became the inaugural sponsor in 2010 and have headlined York Racecourse’s flagship meeting ever since.
This new deal will take that partnership through to 2021. The annual four-day festival has been staged since 1843 and this year boasted a record prize pot approaching £5 million, once again attracting some of the top-rated horses, jockeys and trainers in the world.
Welcome to Yorkshire Chief Executive Sir Gary Verity DL presented Yorkshire-based racehorse trainer Mark Johnston with a special commemorative plaque and a Bettys hamper on Wednesday to honour his achievement of beating the all-time record for British winners.
That historic milestone was achieved as Poet’s Society ridden by Frankie Dettori raced to victory at the Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival on Thursday taking Johnston’s tally of British winners above the mark of 4,193 set by the retired Richard Hannon Sr. Scottish-born Johnston is based in Middleham and trained his first winner in 1987.
ITV Racing presenter, Francesca Cumani also dazzled race-goers and viewers in a Yorkshire made and inspired outfit on Ladies Day at the Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival.
Francesca’s striking straw beret, created by Yorkshire Milliner Justine Bradley-Hill Millinery, was in ‘Welcome to Yorkshire pink’, adorned with four white leather roses, leaves and cut feathers.
Based on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, Justine Bradley-Hill has created hats for members of the royal family, including Princess Beatrice, Zara Philips and many other celebrities.