Totesport Summer Festival Weekend Returns to Newton Abbot

Aug. 17, 2011 - PRLog -- The annual Totesport Summer Festival returns to Newton Abbot Racecourse on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st August.

A pinnacle fixture in the jumps season, the Festival weekend brings some of the top jump horses and jockeys to the course to compete in the Class 2 Totepool A Better Way To Bet Handicap Hurdle on Saturday and the Class 1 listed race, Lord Mildmay Memorial Handicap Chase on Sunday.

Patrick Masterson, Managing Director at the racecourse says: “The Totesport Summer Festival weekend at Newton Abbot is a key fixture in our racing calendar.”

“The quality associated with the Class 1 and 2 races is a clear pull for horseracing enthusiasts who want to enjoy some of the top-flight jumps racing in the country. The coinciding of the festival weekend with the school holidays makes the weekend meeting a draw for holiday makers too and so again we will be expecting bumper crowds over the course of the Festival.”

The Class 1 race offers a prize fund of £40,000 and has long been named in memory of the amateur jockey Lord Mildmay. A popular South Devon steeplechaser, Lord Mildmay of Flete was responsible for introducing the Queen Mother to jumps racing.

Sitting next to the Queen Mother at a dinner in Windsor Castle in 1949, Lord Mildmay suggested that she and her daughter, the then Princess Elizabeth, would get enjoyment from owning a ‘jumper’. Monaveen was chosen and went on to win the Queen Elizabeth Chase at Hurst Park.

Her ongoing passion and commitment to jumps racing saw the Queen Mother invited to Newton Abbot Racecourse in 1969 to open the Main Grandstand.

Mr Masterson explains the decision to honour Lord Mildmay at the annual Summer Festival weekend: “With the Mildmay name being so well-known in the racing industry and synonymous with Newton Abbot Racecourse, we are very proud – for the seventh year running - to name the principal race of the season in honour of Lord Mildmay.”

Tickets are on sale now for the Totesport Summer Festival at Newton Abbot Racecourse. The racecourse has issued advice to those attending to arrive early to avoid weekend traffic congestion in the lead up to the first race. Racing commences at 1:50pm on Saturday 20th and 2:00pm on Sunday 21st.
For more information visit www.newtonabbotracing.com or call 01626 353 235.

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