Overview

• Organisers are exploring shifting the four-day meeting to run from Wednesday to Saturday, ending with a Saturday card to broaden the audience.
• Lavender emphasizes that no decision has been taken, with stakeholder talks and financial modelling required before any change.
• Festival attendances have fallen sharply, dropping from 280,627 in 2022 to 218,839 at the most recent meeting.
• The Festival is the Jockey Club’s biggest annual revenue source, adding pressure to find ways to revive crowd numbers.
• Near-term steps for 2026 include reducing daily capacity, freezing ticket prices and trimming the price of a pint, while prior ideas for a Wednesday start or a five-day format were considered then dropped.