Introduction
Spring at Newmarket means world class racing on the Rowley Mile, the "Course of Champions", during April and May. Ten racedays are run on the most historic stretch of turf in the entire world of sport, where equine champions have been crowned for centuries.
The glittering feature is the StanJames.com Guineas Festival on the first weekend in May, when the eyes of the international racing world are firmly focused on the Home of Racing for the first two classic races of the British flat racing season - the StanJames.com 2000 Guineas (for colts - fillies can also run, but very rarely do) and the StanJames.com 1000 Guineas (for fillies only).
Reputations are on the line as the cream of Europe's three-year-old colts and fillies stake their claim to greatness in these two great races, so called because of the original purses that the horses raced for when the races were first staged early in the 19th century.
With a host of other top races as well over the two days, the stanjames.com Guineas Festival is the most important spring flat racing fixture in Europe.
The spring season starts with the two day Craven Meeting in mid-April, the first big meeting of the flat season in Britain, featuring a host of trials for the classics that lie ahead, while in May the Rowley Mile hosts eight fixtures including racing on three of the weekends.
The modern and imposing 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 Rowley Mile and we hope that you will have the opportunity to come here to enjoy the most authenic racing experience in the world and sample the magic of the Home of Racing.
Experience Newmarket
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