A busy Bank Holiday weekend in store at Warwick Racecourse
It's a busy weekend for Warwick racegoers as the course stages a bonus seven-race meeting on Friday evening, followed by its popular annual Family Fun Day on Bank Holiday Monday.
Due to drainage works at Cheltenham, their normal end-of-season hunter chase evening has been transferred to Warwick with the first race, the Connolly's Red Mills Open Hunters' Chase, which features multiple point-to-point winner Great Valley amongst the entries, due off at 4,30pm.
Trainer Neil Gittins has also entered Great Valley in two other races on the card, so it will be interesting to see which one he thinks will give his horse the best chance of winning.
The two most valuable races of the evening are the Pertemps Network Intermediate Point-To-Point Hunters' Chase, in which five-time point-to-point winner The Dancing Tree could make his chasing debut under Rules, and the Jonathan Neesom Memorial Open Hunters' Chase, run in memory of the popular racing presenter, both over three miles and one and a half furlongs.
Also on the card are the GB Pointing Open Hunters' Chase, the Natural Green Creative Spaces Mares' Open Hunters' Chase and the Foran Equine Open Hunters' Chase, which will be run over the marathon distance of four miles and a furlong, in which Dan Skelton has entered Jeffery's Cross.
Skelton has also entered Jeffery's Cross, along with Snipe and Unexpected Party, in the Carr & Day & Martin Open Hunters' Chase which brings the curtain down at 8.00pm. After racing, there will be 45 minutes of live music from local artist Thom Kirkpatrick to round the evening off.
Bank Holiday Monday sees six race meetings around the country and Warwick's Family Fun Day, for which under-18s are admitted free, gets underway at 2.40pm. As well as the racing, there will be plenty of entertainment for younger racegoers including Inflatables, Nerf Wars, circus skills and bubble shows.
Most valuable race is the opener, the £10,000 Moore & Tibbits Family Fun Day Mares' Maiden Hurdle, which is followed by the Moore & Tibbits Solicitors Novices' Handicap Chase. The longest race of the afternoon is the Hazelton Mountford Insurance Brokers Handicap Hurdle over three miles, one and a half furlongs and the meeting ends at 5.35pm with the Racing To School Celebrating 25 Years Mares' Handicap Hurdle.
The 2025/26 season ended at Sandown Park on Saturday with Shelfield Green trainer Dan Skelton saddling 194 winners and setting a new prize money record to become champion trainer for the first time. It was Doyen Quest, a winner over hurdles and fences at Warwick in 2025, who broke through the magical £5m barrier for Skelton when landing the Grade 2 bet365 Oaksey Chase.
It was also a good season for another Warwickshire trainer Olly Murphy who sent out a career-best 144 winners from his Wilmcote yard to finish fifth in the table. His stable jockey Sean Bowen ended on 241 winners to be crowned champion for the second time. Only multiple champion Sir AP McCoy has ridden more winners in a season and Bowen is targeting his record of 289 in the coming year.