On July 31, Arena Racing Company (ARC) confirmed that National Hunt racing will return to Windsor Racecourse for the 2024/25 season. According to a press release, ARC has invested heavily in redeveloping the racecourse infrastructure, including widening certain areas of the track, such as the back straight, to accommodate hurdle and steeplechase races. The traditional figure-of-eight National Hunt course will also become a thing of the past, with previously ‘mothballed’ sections of turf brought up to racing standard to create a continuous, left-handed oval. The first of a small number of National Hunt fixtures anticipated for 2024/25 is scheduled for December 15, 2024, with further fixtures to follow, once the 2025 fixture list has been confirmed.
Windsor Racecourse, a.k.a. Royal Windsor Racecourse, due to the close proximity of Windsor Castle, was established on its current site, in Rays Meadow, by John Frail of Shrewsbury (who also found fame as a Conservative party agent) in 1866. National Hunt racing first took place shortly afterwards and continued on a regular basis until 1998. Thereafter, a number of fixtures were staged, temporarily, during the multimillion pound redevelopment of Ascot in 2004 and 2005. In fact, the last such fixture took place on December 16, 2005 and the final race that day was the Q Equine Ltd Handicap Hurdle, won by Acambo, trained by Martin Pipe and ridden by Timmy Murphy.
Confirmation of regularly scheduled National Hunt fixtures returning to the Berkshire track was well received by six-time champion trainer Nicky Henderson. He told the ‘Racing Post’, ‘It’s seriously good news for National Hunt racing. You’re talking to someone who is rather antiquated and can remember when jumping used to take place there. There probably aren’t many of us left!’