Goodwood and Fontwell tell of their awards pride

Staff at Fontwell Park and Goodwood racecourses have told of their pride at their respective prizes at the prestigious Racecourse Association Showcase and Awards.
Fontwell Park officials on stage to receive their awardFontwell Park officials on stage to receive their award
Fontwell Park officials on stage to receive their award

Fontwell won the sought-after Racing Post Readers’ Award at the RCA bash at Nebury while Goodwood took the title for digital and social media work in promoting their race meetings and other events. Goodwood’s team were also highly commended in the food and beverage category.

Jonathan Acott, executive director at Fontwell, said: “To be recognised by the people that we do this for every race day is particularly special.

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“We work tirelessly to put the customer at the heart of the raceday experience and all of the team have a crucial role in fulfilling this aim.

“Since I’ve been at Fontwell I have witnessed, countless times, the team going above and beyond to make sure that our customers needs have been exceeded.”

Goodwood racecourse was delighted to receive the digital and social media excellence award at the Racecourse Association (RCA) Showcase.

Facing strong competition from Sandown Park, Chepstow, Chelmsford City and Arena Racing, Goodwood was given the accolade by the judges for its revolutionary racecourse content, which focused on informative videos that helped provide a fitting narrative to the season and had over 2.8 million views.

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Goodwood was also given a special commendation in the food and beverage category – alongside Ascot – for the ‘Drunken Botanist’ experience in the Sussex Roof Garden, which opened at the start of the 2017 season.

With amazing views and cheese and charcuterie boards to enjoy, the Sussex Roof Garden allows guests to become a ‘mixologist’ and create their own botanical cocktails from the bar-top gin garden.

Goodwood had already been named as the special merit award winner at the RCA Racecourse Groundstaff awards, run in conjunction with the Showcase, for the team’s remarkable effort in maintaining a raceable surface during extreme weather at the Qatar Goodwood Festival.

After accepting the digital and social media excellence award, Frances Everist, head of sports marketing, said: “We wanted to put the customer at the heart of what we do and create a real community online. We have some amazing stories to tell and so we decided to put the spotlight on the jockeys, owners, trainers and the huge number of people who create a raceday.

“I have to give credit to the team who have worked so hard over the past six months to achieve this success.”