Betfair prize fund means Flat finale will be anything but

It has been a mixed year for the course, with the wet summer playing havoc with the fixtures and reducing crowds for their two biggest meetings at Easter and August Bank Holiday.

The racing highlight was the win of Set To Music in the Voute Sales Warwickshire Oaks in June, which started a memorable week for The Queen, who was on hand at Royal Ascot four days later to see another of her fillies, Estimate, triumph.

The course may have saved the best to last as Thursday’s meeting boasts £25,000 prize funds for the finals of two series sponsored by Betfair.

The online betting site stepped in last February to sponsor the Kingmaker Chase, one of Warwick’s biggest jumps races, and the two finals are a much-needed boost for the course.

The series, which began at Nottingham in May, has consisted of 32 qualifiers, all run on courses owned by the Jockey Club Racecourses.

All horses that have run in any of the Class 4 and 5 handicap qualifiers are eligible to enter the corresponding finals.

Warwick managing director Huw Williams is looking forward to the meeting, saying: “Betfair contribute a great deal to British horseracing and we are delighted they have chosen Warwick to stage the final of their inaugural Flat series.

“This provides us with a great showpiece with which to close our Flat season and celebrate Flat racing at its grassroots.”

The seven-race card starts at 2.10pm with the Betfair Funds The PJA Doctor Selling Stakes over an extended mile-and-a-quarter. The first of the two big races, which are both handicaps, is the Betfair 10 Furlong Flat Series Final, due off at 4.10pm and this is followed 30 minutes later by the Betfair Sprint Flat Series Final over six furlongs.