Warwick team proud to raise £7,000 for local Air Ambulance Service

Warwick Racecourse held the ‘Proudly Warwick Raceday’ as part of their Warwick May Racing Carnival on May 23rd.

The fixture was celebrating all that is good about being in the heart of Warwickshire town and invited some key corporate clients to a day’s racing that provided great prize money for the runners on the day.

Racing to School were also present running an education day for pupils from Parkside Middle School who were enjoying an activity day at this popular venue. The soundtrack was provided by resident band, The Peas and the Dray horses from The Hook Norton Brewery looked magnificent in the sunshine.

The annual Jockey Club Challenge Charity Race in aid of the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance service was well supported, raising £7,000.

Jo Payne National Partnerships Manager for the Air Ambulance Service, who was in attendance on the day commented: “We are thrilled with the Fundraising total so far and we know it’s still coming in. It was great to watch the Race live, and soak up the wonderful atmosphere, Warwick is such a friendly Race course, I always enjoy visiting. As a Charity partner we are so grateful for all the amazing support we have from Andre and the team. We are very grateful to all the Jockeys for raising money for us yesterday, as we are entirely reliant upon donations. Each mission costs on average £1,700 and by rapid response car or state of the art helicopter we want to continue to provide definitive care to the patient wherever and whenever we are needed.”

The attendance figure for the day reached 1,700, with 200 people able to walk down to the final fence to meet top jockey Bryony Frost.

Andre Klein Racecourse Manager at Warwick said: “Proudly Warwick Day is one of my favourite race days of the year and is an integral part of the community strategy. Many of the racecourse’s neighbours were presented with complimentary tickets for the event and it was nice to see so many of them at the track, enjoying some good quality racing under a perfect blue sky.”

“The highlight for a lot of people was the charity race in aid of our local air ambulance. The Air Ambulance is our nominated annual charity at Warwick and this is just one of the many initiatives we have in place throughout the season to raise funds for them. The race attracted a lot of national press coverage because of the participation of Victoria Smith, England’s first transgender jockey, but all the riders deserve a pat on their backs for their grand efforts fundraising for such a worthy cause.”