Last Friday evening (24th June) we went on a family trip to our local race course (Newmarket) for some racing followed by an on-course concert. Newmarket Nights are a lot of fun, and we thought it was an ideal opportunity to introduce the children to live music. They offer free parking too on site. After you arrive there are around seven horse races. We had Grandstand & Paddock tickets, so could go down to the parade ring to see the horses and jockeys close up (including Frankie Dettori!) We were lucky with the weather – a mini-rainstorm did hit us, but it only lasted 20-30 minutes at the most; and once that had gone it was a really pleasant, no-coats-needed weather.
Gambling and Children
Now I know it’s (rightly) frowned upon to encourage children to gamble. But we DID let the children pick horses, and we then placed a bet for them … in fact, I turned the experience into a maths lesson with them working out the prize money if their horse wins!
My granddad was a huge horse racing fan, and I remember going to his house every night after primary school until my mum picked me up after work. He had two glass jars on a side table, one of which was filled with pennies and he taught me about betting. Every day we watched horse racing, and every day I placed a 1p bet on a horse. If I won he’d ‘pay’ my winnings into the other jar … it was never empty, so I must have been quite good! He made me work out my winnings too. If I got it wrong, he didn’t pay out! I digress – but I mention this because I’m not a gambler, so it did me no long-term harm. I’m pretty quick at working out odds though!
So we watched the seven races. My son picked two winners, I picked two, my husband won on one. My daughter nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders not bothered that her picks didn’t do very well at all. Between the races we visited the paddock and display ring, watched the horses going down to the start, got some food from the many fine eateries on site (more of that in a minute) and met up with some friends who had also gone along.
Food Options
The food choices are plentiful. the cheapest tickets are for the family enclosure, where you can take a picnic in with you – this always looks fun. We had Grandstand & Paddock tickets, which was the ‘middle tier’ ticket. Above this was Premier Enclosure tickets. This area has the grandstand directly in front of the finishing post and a range of restaurants that can be pre-booked. We didn’t have access to this, so cannot comment on it. So let’s talk about the food available to Grandstand & Paddock ticket holders…
My brother bought himself TWO roast pork, stuffing and crackling rolls, with apple sauce of course. The children opted for a hand-stretched made-to-order pizza. We chose the fish and chips. Everyone agreed that the food was lovely – and not overly expensive (as you’d imagine it could be). There are of course more options. A noodle bar was very popular; the local sausage company (Powter’s) offered HUGE hotdogs; and I remember seeing venison as well as a range of handmade burger options. Of course, being a racecourse, alcohol of all varieties is available. The Pimms looked especially popular, along with cider. However, I don’t drink, so I found a lovely coffee wagon that made me a really nice flat white (very moreish – would have loved a second, but the queue was too long).
Between the races and the concert we visited a converted vintage caravan that was serving up the most amazing homemade (all gluten free) ice cream. We tried lemon curd ice cream, raspberry, and banana flavours – they were SO lemony, raspberry-ey and banana-ey! Lovely – definitely recommend.
Newmarket Nights Concert: Mr Will Young
OK – the concert … I voted for Will Young you know, when he was up against Gareth Gates all those years ago in Pop Idol. But I quite understand that my children (9 and 7) didn’t know who he was. So the night before we went I played some of his most popular tracks to them. My daughter liked a few songs, but my son wasn’t overly impressed (bear in mind his favourite song is The Proclaimer’s 500 miles and the soundtrack to Pirates of the Caribbean!)
It was starting to get dark when Will came onto stage – about 9:30ish. I was aware that this was rather late for the children, so wasn’t sure how they’d cope with 90 mins of loud music (and all that standing up). I was really pleasantly surprised though, and all children really ‘got into it’. They had some huge balloons that the children chased after and my son lost himself in his dancing! Wow he had some moves … here’s a clip (if only to embarrass him!)
I wasn’t clock watching, but I think the concert finished around 11pm and then we walked back to the car. The walk to the parking field always seems further away on the return leg, but the kids were upbeat and happy so it was fine. There was a bit of a queue to get out of the car park, but it wasn’t so bad and we reached home before midnight. The children were asleep in the car within 10 mins of getting strapped in.
Would I go again – ABSOLUTELY! Would I take the children – DEFINITELY! It was a huge amount of fun. And most of the Newmarket Nights are on Friday nights, so after a good lie-in on Saturday morning it’s all ok again.
Get Your Tickets!
There’s still time to get tickets for the 2016 Newmarket Nights season. On 15th July you can see the Kaiser Chiefs, Busted on 22nd July (the children want to go to this one!), Tears for Fears on 29th July, Mark Ronson on 5th August, and Jess Glynne on 12th August. These are all on Friday nights, but there’s also a Summer Saturday Live, on 27th August, which takes place during the day, and this year has Little Mix performing – another favourite of the children.
If you want tickets, here’s the link you need: http://newmarket.thejockeyclub.co.uk/newmarket-nights
If you do go, please let us know how you get on – we hope you have as much fun as we did x
