Unusual start for Goodwood - but fixture list contains racegoers' favourites

Action from 2019's Goodwood season opener - this year's first fixture will be on a Friday / Picture: Malcolm Wells

After racecourse bosses expressed confidence last week they would be able to welcome back crowds to watch their 2021 meetings, they have revealed their programme of 19 fixtures remains largely unchanged.

As we exclusively revealed last week, they hope even their season-opening meetings on Friday, April 30, and Saturday, May 1, will have a crowd – though only limited numbers are likely. And they expect numbers to rise as the season progresses, with ‘significant’ crowds in for Glorious week from July 27 to 31.

Regarding the 2021 fixture list, the biggest tweak comes in the first month, when they have two pairings of back-to-back fixtures instead of a season-opening Saturday and three-day May Festival.

Goodwood boss issues message of hope on crowds returning.

That opening Friday-Saturday will feature the Daisy Warwick Stakes and the Conqueror Stakes, attracting exciting fillies and mares.

The May Festival will be in two-day form on Friday 21 and Saturday 22 and will, as usual, include the Cocked Hat Stakes and Height of Fashion Stakes, regarded as trials for the Derby and the Oaks at Epsom.

June brings three Friday fixtures – on June 4, 11 and 18 – which – if decent crowd numbers are allowed by then – be the Three Friday Nights, when evening racing is followed by DJ sets.

Carl Cox is among the names lined up to entertain the crowds. Also in June comes racing on Sunday 6 – which is designed to be the annual family race day.

Glorious Goodwood is staged from July 27 and includes three Group 1 highlights – the Goodwood Cup, Sussex Stakes and Nassau Stakes, one on each of the first three days.

There’s three fixtures back to back at the end of August, from Friday 27 to Sunday 29, with hopes high that by then, sport will be back to something like normal and families will be able to enjoy all the usual August Festival fare that Goodwood offers.

The season ends with midweek meetings on September 7 and 29 and the season finale is on Sunday, October 10.

Adam Waterworth, MD of sport at Goodwood, said: “We’re confident of delivering a special season and welcoming crowds back into the racecourse.”