RACING returns to York Racecourse tomorrow – and punters and jockeys alike will benefit from extensive improvements to facilities.

Racecourse spokesman James Brennan said some of the profits from last year’s record-breaking season had been ploughed back into everything from new lawns and carpets to lounges and changing rooms.

“It’s the year of the lawn,” he said.

“We’ve laid down the equivalent of about ten lawn tennis courts at different locations across the course.

“The Veuve Cliquot champagne area has a new lawn and bar, complete with big screens, and the lawn has been re-laid in the Moet and Chandon champagne area.

“We have a new carpet in the Voltigeur suite so large that it couldn’t be taken up the stairs but had to be winched in through the windows using a crane.”

Mr Brennan said new ladies’ toilets, a new bar, Totesport shop and large screen had been provided in the South Terrace area, and in the enclosure area, 875 square metres of the undercroft and the turnstiles building had both been smartened up.

But he stressed that jockeys would benefit as much as racegoers from improvements.

A lounge and recreation area are being provided for the first time, and there is a new physiotherapy area and a new changing room and showers for female jockeys.

While there was previously just one medical room for both racegoers and jockeys, the jockeys now have their own separate room.

Mr Brennan said the racecourse’s financial structure, with no owner or shareholders taking out profits, meant it was able to use such money to ensure a programme of improvements was carried out each winter. In previous years, new stands had been built and improvements carried out to the course.

He said a detailed study a couple of years ago had shown that the racecourse generated about £44 million for the York economy, including a six-figure sum in rental payments to the local authority, and sustained 1,350 jobs.