Racing filling void left by football over festive period

Marcus Armytage Thu, 1 January 2026 at 7:58 pm UTC·5 min read Twelve years ago, 3,000 people attended Cheltenham on New Year’s Day in the snow, leaving the committee equally split between those who wanted to scrap the fixture and those who said to invest in it. On Thursday, capping an excellent Christmas for racecourse attendances, it was sold out with a record 44,151 crowd there to watch Dan Skelton’s Kabral Du Mathan set the trainer a dilemma when hacking up in the day’s feature race, Dornan Engineering Relkeel Hurdle. That investment has clearly proved effective.Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It follows an attendance of 17,000, up 3,000 on last year, at Kempton on Boxing Day,...