In mid to late October, right as the jumps season is getting going for real, Fakenham Racecourse hosts its popular Friday Ladies Day fixture.
While weather permitting, the order of the day is elegant dresses and hats, Champagne, and best-dressed competitions, the real appeal of this day is not on the terraces, but the race track as the course hosts a competitive six-race card.
There are two good Class 3 contests on the day, a three-mile Novices’ Chase and the feature race, which is the £15,000 Handicap Chase, again over a trip of three miles.
This is a fixture that fosters a great atmosphere in and around the venue, and on course, the two Class 3 races are backed up by a Selling Handicap Hurdle for the conditional jockeys, a decent Handicap Hurdle over two-and-a-half miles, a two-mile Novices’ Hurdle and another over the 2½-mile trip.