Introduction
Autumn at Newmarket brings a return to racing on the NatWest Rowley Mile, racing's hallowed turf on the "Course of Champions", during September, October and early November. After the summer season on the July Course, just a mile away across Newmarket's world famous Heath, the NatWest Rowley Mile has had three and a half months to recover from the spring season and the turf is invariably in fantastic shape for an autumn in 2008 packed full of top class races.
Newmarket's spring and summer seasons each feature two Group 1 races, the highest class contests in the world racing calendar. The autumn, however, sees a sensational five Group 1 contests run on the NatWest Rowley Mile. Newmarket's 2007 autumn season starts with a two-day fixture on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th September, the first of which is the only day in Britain to be made up exclusively of two-year-old races.
Autumn takes off from Thursday 2nd to Saturday 4th October with the Cambridgeshire Meeting, featuring the Group 1 Shadwell Middle Park Stakes and Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes on the Friday and the Group 1 Sun Chariot Stakes, plus one of the most competitive and coveted handicaps of the season, the historic totesport Cambridgeshire, on the Saturday.
New for 2008 is the introduction of the two Tattersall Millions races on totesport Cambridgeshire Day, making it Britains most valuable race day.
Two weeks later comes the two-day Champion's Meeting, starting on Friday 17th October, as the British flat racing season builds to its sensational climax on Champions' Day, Saturday 18th October. This is the highest class raceday in the entire calendar, featuring two Group 1 races (the Emirates Airline Champion Stakes and the Darley Dewhurst Stakes), two Group 2 contests and two Group 3 races, plus the ultra-competitive totesport Cesarewitch Handicap. Over £1m is on offer for Newmarket's most valuable day's racing of the year on a day to set the pulse racing.
The season closes with another two-day fixture on Friday 31st October and Saturday 1st November, the latter featuring three Listed Races, as the curtain comes down on another fantastic year at the Home of Racing.
The modern and imposing NatWest Rowley Mile boasts world class facilities as well as world class racing. Today’s course is identified by the magnificent Millennium Grandstand, opened by the Queen in 2000. It dominates the skyline as you approach the course, a far cry from the facilities that would have existed in the 17th century when Charles II used to watch the races from the famous Bushes, which still exist today about a furlong and a half from the winning post.
Everyone is welcome at the NatWest Rowley Mile and we hope that you will have the opportunity to come here this autumn to enjoy the most authenic racing experience in the world and sample the magic of the Home of Horseracing. In racing, where obsession knows no boundaries, Newmarket is a breed apart.
Click here to see the full autumn race programme.
Click here to find out more about Newmarket, the historic Home of Horseracing.