THE Press Family Raceday has been handed a significant boost this year with the addition of a Listed contest to the programme.

The Garrowby Stakes, worth £33,000 and held over the Ebor distance of a mile-and-three-quarters, will be the highlight of the day of top class racing and family fun, which will be staged on Sunday, September 9.

The only Sunday fixture on the York Racecourse calendar, the Garrowby Stakes is named after the North Yorkshire village where Lord Halifax, a former Knavesmire chairman and current member of York Race committee, has his family seat.

Obtained from the British Horseracing Authority and formerly the March Stakes at Goodwood, it brings a Black Type race for the first time.

The new contest will add to the drama of a day that will also see, by popular demand, the return of children’s TV favourite Peppa Pig alongside pony racing and an interactive racing zone.

On the Garrowby Stakes, James Brennan, York’s head of marketing and sponsorship, said: “We are always looking to improve the quality of the race programme, whether it is races we can get upgraded ourselves, which gets harder year on year to achieve, or by acquiring races. This year, Goodwood has decided it can’t find place in its programme and budgets for two Listed contests.

“They go back to the British Horseracing Authority and you submit bids for them. They fit with our race programme so that, in 15 of the 17 days of the season, you will see some top quality action, as denoted by Black Type, as well as some highly competitive action in the handicaps.”

Brennan added: “We have been delighted with the partnership with The Press going back to the Millennium year.”