York Racecourse has galloped to succes in the 2022 Quality Assured Racecourse Scheme.

The scheme, conducted by Live Tourism (England and Wales), who are responsible for all assessments in England and Wales, confirmed York as in the top 10 racecourses for raceday experience in 2022.

However, the programme nominates no absolute winner but instead celebrates the success a broader group of industry leaders being York, Aintree, Ascot, Beverley, Cheltenham, Chester, Doncaster, Haydock Park, Newbury and  Newmarket.

The Quality Assured Racecourse Scheme, established in 2013, aims to objectively assess the raceday experience from the perspective of customers and sees each racecourse visited by a trained assessor from Live Tourism or VisitScotland.

The assessments analyse all touchpoints of the customer experience including pre-raceday information, the on-course experience and post-raceday communications.

A separate accolade came to the York team having as amongst those considered as exemplary in offering the “warmest welcome”.

William Derby, Chief Executive and Clerk of the Course at York Racecourse said: "Everyone involved in a York raceday wants to offer the best customer experience that they can, so I’m delighted that these efforts have been recognised by the experienced assessors at Live Tourism. Their detailed feedback will also help us to keep improving as we plan for the return of racing on Wednesday 17 May 2023”.

Paul Swain, the Raceday Experience & Communications Manager of the Racecourse Association, said: "We were pleased to reintroduce the Quality Assured Racecourse Scheme in 2022 after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The scheme demonstrates the RCA and its members’ ongoing commitment to reviewing and enhancing the raceday experience.

"2022 has been a challenging year for racecourses with inflation, soaring energy bills and the wider cost of living crisis. This, along with the difficulties of securing staff, has meant that racecourses have had to adapt and innovate to continue to offer the experiences our racegoers are accustomed to."

Paul added: "I’m delighted to see a number of racecourses recognised by experts at Live Tourism .The generous sharing of best practice across our members is second to none and we look forward to continue facilitating this in 2023.”