There are 59 current racecourses across Great Britain (51in England, 5 in Scotland, and 3 in Wales), with varying crowd capacities at each one of them.
The largest racecourses possess the capabilities to manage tens of thousands of daily racegoers, especially during their major multi-day festivals.
Before learning more about the biggest racecourse attendance figures, you can browse horse racing betting odds for upcoming meetings at 888sport.
Largest Racecourses In The UK:
Here are the racecourses ranked in order of capacity:
- Epsom Downs Racecourse (Surrey): 80,000 capacity, the site of the best Classic of them all - the Derby.
- Aintree Racecourse (Merseyside): 75,000 capacity, home of the world famous Grand National.
- Ascot Racecourse (Berkshire): 70,000 to 80,000 capacity, and venue for the Royal Ascot meeting.
- Cheltenham Racecourse (Gloucestershire): 67,500 capacity, the historic home of British National Hunt jump racing and the Cheltenham Festival.
- Hamilton Park Racecourse (South Lanarkshire): 60,000 capacity, popular Scottish flat-racing venue.
- York Racecourse (North Yorkshire): 56,000 capacity, major flat-racing track that hosts both the Dante and the Ebor Festivals.
- Doncaster Racecourse (South Yorkshire): 50,000 capacity, home of the oldest Classic - the St Leger Stakes.
- Newmarket (Suffolk): 45,000 capacity, hosts the 1000 & 2000 Guineas Stakes in May.
- Goodwood (West Sussex): 30,000 capacity, well known for the Glorious Goodwood Festival.
- Haydock Park (Merseyside): 30,000 capacity, the Sprint Cup and the Betfair Chase are held there.
- Chester (Cheshire): 25,000 capacity, Chester May Festival.
- Sandown Park (Surrey): 22,000 capacity, Eclipse Stakes.
- Newbury (Berkshire): 22,000 capacity, Lockinge Stakes.
Smaller regional tracks typically maintain capacity limits between 3,000 and 20,000 spectators.
England (Remaining Venues)
- Bath
- Beverley
- Brighton
- Carlisle
- Cartmel
- Catterick Bridge
- Chelmsford City
- Exeter
- Fakenham
- Fontwell Park
- Great Yarmouth
- Hereford
- Hexham
- Huntingdon
- Kempton Park
- Leicester
- Lingfield Park
- Ludlow
- Market Rasen
- Newcastle
- Newton Abbot
- Nottingham
- Plumpton
- Pontefract
- Redcar
- Ripon
- Salisbury
- Sedgefield
- Southwell
- Stratford-on-Avon
- Thirsk
- Uttoxeter
- Warwick
- Wetherby
- Wincanton
- Windsor
- Wolverhampton
- Worcester
Scotland
- Ayr
- Hamilton Park
- Hamilton (featured above)
- Musselburgh
- Perth
- Kelso
Wales
- Bangor-on-Dee
- Chepstow
- Ffos Las
Naturally there is a correlation between capacity and attendance at UK racecourses, and the following list identifies which tracks are getting the most visitors through their turnstiles:
Top 20 UK Racecourses by Annual Attendance (per year)
- Ascot – 544,600 visitors
- Cheltenham – 438,000 visitors
- York – 295,700 visitors
- Newmarket (Rowley Mile & July Course combined) – 289,800 visitors
- Chester – 220,300 visitors
- Goodwood – 205,800 visitors
- Doncaster – 194,400 visitors
- Aintree – 171,100 visitors
- Newbury – 154,700 visitors
- Haydock Park – 154,500 visitors
- Sandown Park – 138,000 visitors
- Epsom Downs – 131,000 visitors
- Lingfield Park – 112,000 visitors
- Ayr – 104,000 visitors
- Hamilton Park – 97,000 visitors
- Beverley – 91,000 visitors
- Chepstow – 88,000 visitors
- Kempton Park – 85,000 visitors
- Ripon – 82,000 visitors
- Stratford – 79,000 visitors
You can learn more about how to bet on horse racing at 888sport before you enjoy a visit to one of these tracks!
