Uttoxeter Racecourse is in the running for not one but three coveted national awards.
The Staffordshire track has been named as a finalist in three categories for the Racecourse Association’s (RCA) Showcase and Awards – the marquee event for British racecourses that each year celebrates first class customer experience.
And because of its success in receiving three nominations, Uttoxeter has also been invited to submit an entry for the supreme accolade – the RCA’s Champion Racecourse.
David MacDonald, Executive Director at Uttoxeter Racecourse, said: “This is a fantastic achievement and we are incredibly proud.
“The three nominations cap a wonderful year for Uttoxeter which is going from strength-to-strength. These awards celebrate excellence and innovation in racecourse customer experience and to be in the final shake-up for a number of awards is just reward for all the hard work that goes on at the course to make a visit to Uttoxeter such a terrific experience.”
The finalists were decided after a day of intense voting and decision-making from a panel of six independent judges.
Winners will be announced at the annual Showcase and Awards event at Aintree Racecourse – the reigning Showcase Champions – on 8 November.
Uttoxeter caps a fine year by joining Ascot, Beverley, Goodwood, Newbury, Newmarket, Sandown Park and Royal Windsor with three or four nominations each.
It has been put forward for the Community and Corporate Social Responsibility Category for its initiative “Saving 75 lives.”
This involved working with partners to promote a prostate cancer screening programme which involved a record 510 men taking free Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) tests at Uttoxeter Racecourse earlier this year.
Nearly 40 were given letters indicating they were at risk which means in the last five years the tests have helped an estimated 75 men avoid falling victim to the UK's third-biggest killer.
Uttoxeter is also one of five courses battling it out for the Racing Post Readers’ Award.
Readers of the Post have again broken the record for entries in this award with more than 1,800 examples of first-class customer service put forward.
Louise Agran, Chief Marketing Officer at the Racing Post, said: “Once again our valued, discerning readers have made their voices heard on the subject of customer service. It is wonderful to see so many entries and to read about the fantastic experiences Racing Post customers have enjoyed at racecourses across the country this year.” And the Staffordshire course is also among the front runners for the Owners’ Experience Award.
For this award, members of the Racehorse Owners’ Association (ROA) were invited to nominate racecourses for examples of where they had met and exceeded expectations relating to the race day experience of racehorse owners.
The Showcase standards of excellence and innovation were paramount and also examples of racecourses showing the most improvement were asked for.
David MacDonald said: “To be in with a chance of winning three awards at such a prestigious event is fantastic and we certainly have our fingers crossed for 8 November.
“The fact we are in there fighting against such world-renowned names as Ascot or Goodwood is a clear indication of how our valued customers view their experiences at Uttoxeter – and that in itself is a terrific achievement for our venue.”
