Overview
Ayr Racecourse is a dual purpose track racing all year round with the Flat season normally running from May through to October and the Jumps from November until April.
The two highlights of the respective seasons are the Coral Scottish Grand National Festival in April and the Ladbrokes Ayr Gold Cup Festival in September.
Ayr welcomes 2026 with the now well-established Golf Inn Prestwick New Year’s Raceday on Friday January 2 and there’s more racing to follow in the opening month of the year, with racing on Tuesday January 13 and Thursday January 29. February sees two weekday meetings on Tuesday 10 and Thursday 23, with the month of March featuring a fantastic 2-day weekend fixture on Friday and Saturday, 6 and 7 March.
April is all about the Coral Scottish Grand National Festival with this year’s 2-day fixture scheduled for Friday and Saturday, 17 and 18 April. Champion trainer Willie Mullins is sure to have a strong team assembled for the trip to Scotland as he looks to win the Corral Scottish Grand National for a third successive year and as well as the Coral Scottish Champion Hurdle continuing as the main supporting race on the Saturday card, we’re also sure to have another competitive race for the Hillhouse Quarry Handicap Chase which, as usual, headlines the opening day of the meeting on Friday.
New for this year, once the two days of the biggest jumping meeting of the year are safely in the Form Book, is the first ever Sky Bet Sunday Series meeting at Ayr on Sunday April 26. The big-money series has been a huge success in its first few years of existence and the meeting will bring the ITV Racing team back to Ayr within 8 days of their usual massive operation to cover the Coral Scottish Grand National Festival.
We’ll also be delighted to welcome the Sky Sports Racing team to Ayr on the same day and the fixture looks sure to be a fantastic addition to our Flat racing programme for 2026. Trainer Jim Goldie has a terrific record in the Sky Bet Series and our reigning champion trainer for 2025 will no doubt have plenty of runners for our 2025 champion jockey Paul Mulrennan to share with stable apprentices Amie Waugh and Lauren Young.
Another 16 days of Flat racing follow our new Sunday fixture in April as we stage racedays on Tuesday 5 and Wednesday 20 May, with a 2-day fixture the feature of the month of June thanks to the evening card on Friday 19 and the afternoon meeting on Saturday 20.
The Saturday feature is the Land O’Burns Fillies’ Stakes which was won in 2025 by the Jessie Harrington trained 50/1 chance Saratoga Special which was ridden by the Irish trainer’s apprentice jockey Keithen Kennedy. The 2023 renewal was won by the following season’s Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye winner Marakova with the 2016 winner Marsha having achieved the same top level success in the same year.
If it’s a Monday in July, it has to be racing at Ayr with meetings taking place on Monday 6, 13, 20 and 27 of the month after our first Family Raceday of the summer on Sunday 5 July. The next day’s meeting on Monday 20 July will feature the latest running of the£30,000 Ayr Gold Cup Trial, a race which is growing in popularity with owners and trainers and which was won in 2025 by the William Haggas trained 5 lengths scorer Almeraq.
Two days of racing follow in August with meetings on Saturday 8 and Monday 10 of the month, but September features the highlights of the Flat racing year at Ayr Racecourse with the 3-day Ladbrokes Ayr Gold Cup Festival scheduled to be run from Thursday to Saturday, 17-19 September. The feature race, of course, will be the latest running of the £180,000 Ladbrokes Ayr Gold Cup won in 2025 by the Richard Spencer trained 12/1 chance Run Boy Run, ridden by George Wood, who’d also ridden the Spencer trained Candy to win the Ladbrokes Ayr Silver Cup earlier on the card.
Other feature races on the Saturday card are Scotland’s only Group race, the Group 3 Firth Of Clyde Stakes, as well as the historic Listed race, the Doonside Cup, both of which continue to feature prominently in trainers’ priorities for their better autumn horses. The Friday card features the Ladbrokes Ayr Bronze Cup as well as two prestigious Listed races, the Harry Rosebery Stakes and the Arran Fillies’ Stakes with Thursday’s ever popular feature, the Ladbrokes Kilkerran Handicap, a race with a history of being won by some very useful 10 furlongs handicappers.
Flat racing concludes with meetings on Tuesday 29 September and Thursday 8 October when our annual seasonal awards for champion trainer, jockey and owner are all handed out at the end of a busy campaign and we’re back jumping again with our Sensational Saturday Raceday on Saturday October 29 as we begin the 2026/27 season over hurdles and fences.
Two more jumps meetings follow on Wed 11 and Monday 30 November before we take a racing break in December ahead of a brand new year of racing here at Ayr in 2027.
