The Jockey Club
As an important part of enhancing the customer experience and driving commercial growth, we continue to invest in new experiences, such as Cheltenham’s Horse & Groom ‘pub’ hospitality, which proved immediately popular at The Festival. JOCKEY CLUB ESTATES Led by Nick Patton, Jockey Club Estates operates more than 5,000 acres of training grounds at Newmarket, Lambourn and Epsom Downs, and a property portfolio, which includes the historic Jockey Club Rooms in Newmarket, built in 1752. Horses prepared on the Newmarket Training Grounds enjoyed a vintage year in 2018, winning 1,850 races, a year- on-year increase of nearly 10% including a record-breaking 37 Group 1 races. This increase was achieved despite a small reduction in the number of horses trained in Newmarket, with the monthly average of horses using the gallops down by 0.9% to 2,575 horses. Last year our refurbishment programme included major
investments in upgrading the Al Bahathri gallop and the Warren Hill canters on Bury Side, and the Southfields Round canter and the Rubbing House polytrack on Racecourse Side. In recent years £3.4million has been spent on improvements to our training grounds in Newmarket. 2018 was a fruitful year for Lambourn-trained horses; in fact the most successful since Jockey Club Estates took ownership of the Lambourn Training Grounds in 2006. In 2018 the number of horses using the public gallops in Lambourn on a daily basis grew by 6% to an average of 790 horses per month. The number of winners prepared by Lambourn trainers increased by 16%, with a total of 664 winners in the UK and abroad last year. Investments continue into enhancing the facilities at the training centre. In 2018 this included upgrading the surface on the Back of the Hill, the installation of a brand new surface at Long Hedge and the completion of a new
arterial horsewalk next to the Short Gallop. In recent years, we have invested nearly £1.5 million into facilities improvements in Lambourn. 2018 was also a successful year for Epsom-trained horses, with nearly 100 UK winners sent out from yards using the training facilities. In 2018, our programme of works included topping up the surface of the Fibresand gallop with two inches of new material, as well as refurbishing the Beechwood Horsewalk that connects to the Fibresand. We also purchased and installed two new steel-framed steeplechase schooling fences with artificial birch and apron. An important hurdle has been cleared in the plans to renovate Downs House, the yard from which the legendary Eclipse was trained in Epsom and which has been unused for several years. Epsom and Ewell Borough Council approved plans for a multi- million pound redevelopment of the historic training facility brought forward by Mark Travers and Andrew Lynds of Eclipse Barn Racing.
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