Pontefract among top UK racecourses with the biggest search increase

Racing experts at OLBG have revealed the UK racecourses with the biggest attendance over the past decade, those with the highest attendance per event, the racecourses increasing and decreasing in popularity the most, the racecourses with the highest number of annual searches and whether racegoers prefer flat or jump racing.

Musselburgh is the racecourse with the biggest increase in searches over the past three years, with a total of 3424.00%, while Pontefract is seventh in the list with a substantial 1909.09% increase.

Based on 2023 figures Pontefract also fares well on actual visitor numbers as it comes 13th out of 59 racecourses for average attendance per race day.

Last year Ponte averaged 3,907 a meeting, comparing well against other smaller tracks and being the third best in Yorkshire, behind York (16,110) and not far behind Doncaster (4,522).

It was ahead of higher profile Sandown Park, Kempton and Chepstow.

Ponte, meanwhile, ranked 18th in percentage change over the last 10 years with total attendance down 5,236 over that time – a percentage loss of 7.73%.

Only 10 tracks reported increased attendances in the last decade and none in Yorkshire where Pontefract finished just behind Beverley (-5.02%) and Thirsk (-6.34%).

The Ponte course has, however, announced that it is now bucking the trend in horse racing as attendances in 2024 have gone up 3.7% on 2023.