Music and racing at York Racecourse today

York Racecourse is in the middle of its Music Showcase Weekend, and the second half falls on today, Saturday 25 July. It is the same format as yesterday's evening meeting: horse racing paired with a live music line-up, with a sound system described as Glastonbury quality that carries right through to the Clocktower Enclosure. The course sits around a mile from the city centre, so it is an easy trip out for the day.

On the racing front, the headline is the Sky Bet York Stakes, a Group 2 flat race run over a mile, two furlongs and 56 yards on a left-handed turf track. It comes with a guaranteed prize fund of £165,000, with £93,571.50 going to the winner, £35,475.00 to second, £17,754.00 to third, £4,438.50 to fourth and £3,547.50 to fifth. Gates open at 11:15, the first race is at 13:20, and the last is at 16:58. On the music side, Tom Grennan performs live. Grennan, born Thomas Grennan in Bedford in 1995, first appeared on the charts in 2016 as a guest vocalist on Chase & Status's All Goes Wrong, and his second album, Evering Road, took the number one spot in 2021. His third, What Ifs & Maybes, also reached number one in 2023, and his fourth studio album, Everywhere I Went, Led Me to Where I Didn't Want to Be, came out on 15 August 2025.

If you are bringing children, there are a few things worth knowing before you travel. Admission to the County Stand or the Grandstand & Paddock is needed to get close to the stage. Children aged 5 to 17 must be accompanied by an adult and need a special £15 ticket, with a maximum of two children per adult; they get into the Clocktower Enclosure for free. These child tickets are limited, and once the allocation is gone, the full adult price applies. On the other fifteen racedays of the season, under-18s get in free with an accompanying adult, so this weekend is the exception rather than the rule.

Dress code depends on where you stand. The County Stand asks for a jacket, collared shirt and tie, while the Grandstand & Paddock is either the same or casual. If you booked after 3pm on Friday 17 July, your tickets are for collection on the day from the window under the white bridge on Racecourse Road, which opens at 11:15, and you will need photo ID.

It is a big weekend for a course that carries a lot of weight in the calendar. York Racecourse is the third largest in Great Britain by total prize money and second per meeting after Ascot, drawing around 360,000 spectators a year and hosting four of the UK's 38 Group 1 races. The next big date is the Sky Bet Ebor Festival from Wednesday 19 to Saturday 22 August, with the Juddmonte International Stakes, the Yorkshire Oaks, the Nunthorpe Stakes and the City of York Stakes all on the bill and a record £7.5m total fund. After that, there is a September Sunday on 6 September and an October Meeting on 9 and 10 October.