Aintree Racecourse is set to stage a fixture on Boxing Day for the first time next year as part of a change to British racing’s calendar.
The new raceday on Saturday, December 26 2023 at the home of the Randox Grand National, is set to be staged on the Mildmay and Hurdle courses of the famous Liverpool venue.
Aintree has had meeting during the festive period in the past with the two-day Yuletide Meeting taking place earlier in December in some of the years between 1953 and 1964, when the racecourse was in the hands of the Topham family. However, next year's Christmas meeting will be the first staged at the course on Boxing Day itself.
The fixture will replace the Boxing Day card at another of The Jockey Club’s racecourses, Huntingdon, which will not take place in 2023.
Dickon White, the Jockey Club’s North West regional director, runs Aintree Racecourse and he said: “I’m delighted to confirm that there will now be nine days of racing scheduled at Aintree in 2023.
“The addition of a Boxing Day fixture is a major boost to The Jockey Club in the North West as we were previously without any racing on what is one of the busiest days of the year for our sport. With popular fixtures at nearby Haydock Park either side of Christmas, the Boxing Day action at Aintree is the perfect fit.
“It also revives an earlier tradition of racing at Aintree over the Festive season and demonstrates how this iconic venue continues to go from strength to strength, especially when you remember that as relatively recently as the early 1990s we staged just the three days of the Grand National Festival here.
“The whole team at Aintree are thrilled and look forward to ensuring that Aintree on Boxing Day becomes a permanent fixture in local racing fans’ calendars.”
Details concerning the races which will be staged at Aintree on Boxing Day 2023 will be published at a later date.
