THOUSANDS of racegoers have helped Macmillan Cancer Support raise more than £300,000.

The two-day race meeting, which ended on Saturday, attracted 35,000 people in total, 26,000 on the Saturday alone.

The final race on Saturday was specially for the charity and the 12 riders were asked to raise £2,500 each to take part, but together raised more than £57,000.

Fundraising also included a silent auction, raffle and a contribution from the racecourse.

James Brennan, head of marketing for the racecourse, said: “Twent-six thousand turned up on site, which is a little down on previous years, but there’s absolutely no surprise there, if you saw the weather, it wasn’t a day for bringing picnics. So it’s a fabulous show of support from people still coming to enjoy the day.

“They say the sun shines on the righteous, and we ran the race at the end of the day to protect the ground for the official races, but by the time we got to 5.45pm, it was the best weather of the day. It was a fabulous atmosphere as the clouds parted, and it was a thrilling race.”

The charity race was won by Jawaab, ridden by Rebecca Jones, 29, who had lost her father to cancer when she was 16.

Race organisers used the wet weather to their advantage and sold umbrellas from lost property in return for a donation to the charity.