UB40!

It's the mystery act you've all been waiting for since we released our feature music evening details last year. Today we launched the news that performing on Friday 29 August at the racecourse, live after an evening race meeting will be UB40.

Founded in Moseley, and named after the form they used to fill out to collect their employment benefits, the Unemployment Benefit, form 40, the international reggae group have since gone on to have a few number 1's, including famous hits such as "I Got You Babe", "Can't Help Falling In Love" and "Red Red Wine". Worldwide the band have sold 70 million records, and so will be the biggest band to ever perform at Wolverhampton Racecourse.

Click on the image to visit the fixture page

After a cracking music evening in 2013 featuring Scouting For Girls, we hope this year's event will be even bigger and better, book your tickets now via the website or over the phone, hospitality packages are available for the evening including the fabulous Horizons Restaurant Package and excellent Ringside Restaurant Package, which so many of you enjoy on our tribute and live band nights, these are expected to sell out fast so book early to avoid disappointment!

It promises to be another fantastic evening of entertainment at the racecourse, keep an eye out on our Facebook and Twitter for latest news on the band and maybe even a competition or two.

Year of the Horse

As I type up this blog, Luke Morris is putting in a top class performance out on the track, victorious in our first three races on today's card, the Year of the Horse is looking like it could be a really lucky one for the Wolverhampton regular!

The Chinese New Year is approaching, and this year from January 31 it will be the 'Year of the Horse'. To celebrate the heart and soul of the sport of kings we've put on a competition to win a fabulous prize. The competition is one for all of you digital individuals with the week long competition taking place on Facebook and Twitter. With nearly 10,000 of you following us now we hope we'll get some cracking entries.

So, the competition, all you have to do is like, share and comment with your New Year's Resolutions on our original competition Facebook status (http://on.fb.me/1ayQlGY) or for all of you Tweeters out there, re-tweet and reply to one of our competition tweets (@WolvesRaces) with your New Year's Resolutions. It's as easy as that!

The best New Year's Resolution, as judged by our judging panel, will get a table for 4 in the stylish Horizons Restaurant, which offers the best seats in the racecourse, for a meeting of their choice before July 31 2014, and we're even throwing in a bottle of wine. Pick your meeting wisely and you may even get to see another globetrotting superstar, like Jakkalberry, who won our class 2 last Friday evening in comfortable fashion.

Get on over to our social media feeds now and get your entries in! Good Luck!

January!

It's been a week since New Year's and nearly two since our Boxing Day fixture, how the time flies. If like us you're back to work, feeling the cold snap and watching the pennies after splashing out over the festive period then we've got a little something just for you that'll get you over those holiday blues... FREE RACING!

Click on the image to go to our fixture list

Now in it's fifth year, this is the perfect opportunity to catch the All-Weather Championship action at absolutely no cost, or splash out just a little and go Premier for a fiver. We've still got 10 fixtures left this month so there's no shortage of opportunity to come down for a day at the races.

We're gearing up here for our only Sunday fixture of 2014 this coming Sunday, we hope you'll be joining us to catch the action, or better yet, join us in the Horizons Restaurant for a wonderful Sunday lunch and enjoy the racing from some of the best seats in the racecourse.You can't turn down these views at a discounted price!

Boxing Day Build Up

Our 20th anniversary of all-weather racing here is fast approaching, occurring on one of our most popular fixtures of the year, Boxing Day. Preparations are in full swing at the racecourse and just now we have had the declarations for what is sure to be a good day's racing, including two £19,000 class 2 handicaps - http://www.attheraces.com/allcards.aspx?meetingid=63965&date=2013-12-26&ref=atrfixtures

Click on the image for the Boxing Day fixture page

A three and a half thousand strong crowd is expected for the day, and if the forecasts go to plan, it seems as though we'll have a dry, but very chilly day, so get the thermals and big coats on and wrap up warm for a fantastic day at the races. For those of you dining in style for the day in one of our fabulous restaurants, we have a marvellous festive menu on offer (pages 17 and 19 on the link below): http://www.wolverhampton-racecourse.co.uk/downloads/Christmas-brochure.pdf

We will be closing the booking for our special saver package for the day in a few hours. The Boxing Day Saver Package is only £20 and includes admission, drink voucher, food voucher and a racecard, superb value for money!

We hope you'll join us at our 20th anniversary celebrations, tweet us your all-weather memories from the racecourse using the #WolvesAW20.

£45,000 Handicaps

It hasn't been two weeks ago since we held our most valuable race ever over the winter months, a class 2, Ladbrokes sponsored, £45,000 handicap, and on Saturday evening we're doing it all again. The winner of the 6:20, a class 2 handicap, sponsored by Coral, will take home £28,012.50, with 2nd to 6th taking home the remainder of £45,000.

Again we welcome Solar Deity to the course (pictured winning last time out) for Saturday's feature race. He'll be hoping to make it a hat-trick of our top valued races in 2013, having won the previous £45,000 handicap on 30th November, and the William Hill Lincoln Trial on March 8th.

Martin Harley, Solar Deity's regular jockey, has been racking up the wins in recent weeks, marauding up the All-Weather Championship jockey's league table. As of Tuesday, the day after nabbing a four timer here, Martin sat top of the table, fending off close competition from all-weather favourites; Adam Kirby, Luke Morris and Silvestre De Sousa. The competition is fierce between the four, separated by only a couple of wins, much closer than the owners and trainers tables, in which Godolphin and Evans respectively are seemingly running away with the titles. We're not even half way through the season however and so there's plenty of racing to come before the Godolphin team and Evans' yard can feel safe at the top.

The festive months may be the period that we come into our racing element here, but it's not just on the track that we're entertaining racecourse guests. A brilliant crowd turned out last Friday and Saturday for our first Christmas party nights, and another excellent crowd is expected this weekend for another double helping of Christmas Party entertainment. We've got another few festive events to come too for you late festive party bookers, including; an Elvis Christmas Party Night on the 20th of December, our 20th anniversary Boxing Day Racing and a New Year's Eve Party to take you into 2014!

Click on the tree for our event listings

20th Anniversary

It's only 20 days till Christmas, but even more excitingly here, it's 21 days till Boxing Day, which this year will mark the 20th anniversary of all-weather racing at Wolverhampton Racecourse! We're celebrating the occasion with live music, fabulous All-Weather Championship racing and a host of packages for our visitors to choose from for this momentous occasion.

Click on the image to go to the Boxing Day fixture page

Over the past 20 years the racecourse has played host to many wonderful race meetings and some magnificent events. Hosting around 100 fixtures a year, the racecourse has been entertaining racing enthusiasts all year round for many years, special mentions go out to those Wolverhampton Racecourse stalwarts who have provided competitive races time and time again, one such figure is up for the special achievement award this evening at the ROA annual awards, good luck Almaty Express and all connections!

Not just a consistent fixture on the racing scene, the racecourse has been the location of some brilliant entertainment acts and has become renowned over the years for its Saturday evening entertainment after racing, which has featured some excellent tribute acts, local bands and live singers. By far the biggest act to perform at the racecourse however featured on last year's calender when Scouting For Girls entertained nearly 4,000 visitors on a fantastic summer evening, watch this space though for the announcement of a star band for the feature music evening in 2014!

Let us know some of your favourite moments at the racecourse from the past 20 years on our Twitter feed (@WolvesRaces) using the '#WolvesAW20' hashtag. We'll even feature a few of these on our new digital screen on the Boxing Day fixture!

We look forward to celebrating this wonderful occasion with you!

Less than a month till Christmas!

We're under a month now till Christmas and the decorations will be going up around the racecourse later this week, the festive period is sure to be an exciting one here!

A host of Christmas parties are on the festive agenda, amongst many brilliant All-Weather Championship fixtures and the final live music evening is coming up this Saturday, a party night with Ultimate Steps. An Elvis tribute act, Soul'd Out and a number of live singer's will be here to entertain the crowds over the upcoming holiday season, music to suit all tastes with delicious menus and carefully selected wine lists to ensure you enjoy a luxurious event at the racecourse.

The racing has been thick and fast recently too, with a number of class 2 and class 3 action courtesy of the All-Weather Championships to really bolster the winter season's racing. We're enjoying a fine display of racing, that's pitting yards of only a couple of horses in training against the powerhouses of British flat racing. Just yesterday trainer Christine Dunnett made her mark on the All-Weather Championships notching up a quick fire double, which comes 4 years (57 runners) since her last winner here, a magnificent occasion for all involved at Christine's yard, a big congratulations from the racecourse team!

It maybe cold outside but you'll get a warm reception at the racecourse over these exciting few weeks ahead!

The Competition Grows

The nights may be drawing in and the temperatures dropping but the All-Weather Championships are really hotting up across the All-Weather tracks!

All 4 courses have now hosted their first few meetings and we're just 20 minutes away from hosting our 6th. Horses are beginning to rack up a couple of wins each and jockeys are getting into double figure wins, all in an attempt to stake their claim for the £2 million ARC funded prize fund.

Godolphin leads the way in the owners league table, 6 ahead of all other owners, storming away with leading jockey Silvestre De Sousa mounting most of their 10 winners so far, including the only 'Win and You're In!' winner, Forgive.

We'll be back to coupling these thrilling fixtures with fabulous Saturday evening entertainment this Saturday; with a Madness tribute act on the 16th, a Michael Jackson tribute act on the 23rd, and an Ultimate Steps Party Night on the 30th.

And now you won't miss any of the action on track with our brand new permanent digital screen which started going up today, we'll be on screen watch for the next few days, eagerly anticipating those first videos and pictures that will be beamed across the racecourse!

The All-Weather Championships - Week 1 at Wolverhampton Racecourse

The All-Weather Championships got off to an enthralling start on Saturday 26th October at Wolverhampton Racecourse. The seven card fixture was closely watched by over 2,500 visitors at the racecourse.

Godolphin and Silvestre De Sousa made a brilliant start to the Championships by winning the first race of the inaugural meeting with My Freedom, and De Sousa followed up later notching up a double with a win on Alakhan. Silvestre De Sousa wasn't the only jockey though to rack up a double on the evening, Luke Morris won in impressive style on Mystery Drama and then gained another winner in the last on Fresa.

Luke Morris has continued his good start to the Championships, obtaining another double at Wolverhampton Racecourse in our second All-Weather Championships meeting. Luke has made an excellent start, however there are many months of competitive racing and high stakes races ahead for the jockeys, trainers and horses to assert their dominance on these Championships.

As I write this blog, competitive action is taking place on the track, where Adam Kirby has started the evening fabulously with a win and a second in the first two races in our third All-Weather Champs fixture. Will the PJA All-Weather Jockeys Champion of 2012/2013 go on to be a dominant force over the winter months, collecting his fair share of the £2 million prize fund along the way?


The video below was taken from the first response vehicle inside the track, following the action of race 3, on the All-Weather Championships launch evening, over the final 4 furlongs.

Acts playing Autumn/Winter at Wolverhampton Racecourse (playlist)

Featured in the 14 song playlist below are the acts playing Saturday evening's in the Ringside Suite at Wolverhampton Racecourse, they include; Hipster (5th Oct), Re-Take That (12th Oct), Swede Dreamz (ABBA tribute, 19th Oct), One Stop Boogie (70's vs 80's night, 26th Oct), Badness (Madness tribute, 16th Nov), James Aston (Michael Jackson tribute, 23rd Nov), Ultimate Steps (30th Nov).