For the first time ever, the Sagitta Guineas Festival has seen crowds of over 40,000.

There was an attendance of 18,037 at Newmarket on the Saturday, an increase of 8.5% on last year's figure of 16,615. And a crowd of 17,089 adults, plus many children, saw another record for a Sunday at Newmarket, and a huge increase on last year's 14,594.

Lisa Hancock, Newmarket's Managing Director, said: ‘It's been the best Guineas crowd for three years and the racecourse improvements have worked extremely well with such a good crowd. We saw a great winner in RefuseTo Bend on Saturday, who is going on to Epsom, which is just what a Guineas winner should do. It has been a fantastic weekend at the Home of Racing with the attendance up 17% on last year. To have passed 40,000 for the meeting is tremendous.’

There were 5,290 people at Newmarket on the Friday, 18,037 on the Saturday and 17,089 on the Sunday, giving a total of 40,416 for the three days – the best Guineas crowd for three years and. (2002 - 38,024 and 2001 - 36,967)

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