EXCITEMENT BUILDS AHEAD OF 2016 OPENING AT HAMILTON PARK

Course invests £200,000 to enhance customer experience – making 2016 bigger, bolder and better than ever before

 Hamilton Park Racecourse is delighted to announce they have invested £200k in course improvements ahead of the highly anticipated 2016 season opening, The announcement comes hot on the heels of the recent launch of the ground-breaking Super Saturdays series.

Kicking on from a record breaking 2015, staff at Hamilton Park have been busy working hard over the close season to ensure 2016 is bigger, bolder and better than ever before.

And as excitement builds ahead of the opening day – Sodexo Family Raceday on May 1^st -Racecourse Chief Executive Vivien Kyles said she and her team can’t wait to welcome race goers back to the premier Lanarkshire venue.  She said: “Innovation is at the very heart of everything we do at Hamilton Park Racecourse and following the end of last season the team has been extremely focused and busy behind the scenes, planning and implementing changes to make 2016 our best season yet.  The £200k investment has been used to make extensive improvements around the course to ensure Hamilton Park remains a premier destination for runners, riders and visitors.  We enjoyed record breaking crowds last year, but haven’t rested on our laurels. We want 2016 to be our best yet and this investment reflects our commitment to that goal.”

Ahead of the new season, Hamilton Park’s substantial investment has included major works to the public lawns to improve drainage and enhance the customer experience should the elements turn, the completely revamped champagne bar, which has been refurbished and renamed “Red’s Wine Bar” in honour of the legendary Red Cadeaux, as well as significant upgrades to bathrooms and flooring across the site.

Hamilton Park has also strived to stay ahead of the competition with the launch of their ground breaking Super Saturday series.

The bold concept – a UK first – takes the traditional Saturday evening fixtures and turns them into all day events. Gates open at 12 noon treating race-goers to racing action from across the country before their own live action gets underway, first class hospitality and top notch entertainment.

The series, which is sponsored by Jordan Electrics, is at the heart of a glittering and glamorous line up of events this season.

Vivien added: “We’re proud to launch our pioneering Super Saturday series alongside significant investment on and off the track – we believe this demonstrates our commitment to delivering a first class experience for anyone visiting the racecourse this season.”

As well as the investment in the venue, 2016 will see Hamilton Park increase its prize money by £75,000, taking the total for the season to £978,000, increasing by over 8% on 2015. Individual race prize money this season will range from £4,500 to £42,000 with more than three quarters of the prize money increase invested in Class 4, 5 & 6 races to support racing at grass roots level, whilst feature races such as the EBF Glasgow Stakes see increased prize money to continue to attract some of the biggest names in the sport.  We hope that our increased prize fund will attract more runners to enhance our own race programme. Couple that with a host of glittering entertainment across the season – from Les McKeown’s Bay City Rollers, X Factor’s Ben Haenow and Mark Wright to a trio of family focused fixtures, all with free admission for under 18’s – our 2016 fixture calendar is one of our strongest ever.  We cannot wait to open the gates for the first day of the season on Sunday 1^st May and show our customers what we’ve been working on throughout the winter.”