17:41 Tuesday 23rd February 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
CHRIS MANN: Newmarket and The Jockey Club today launched a year-long party to celebrate their 350th birthday by inviting every single resident of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk with the chance to go racing for free. Charles II established organised racing in the town back in 1666, and a new statue of the monarch is one of the features of the celebrations. Jockey Club East boss Amy Starkey told me more earlier.
AMY STARKEY: A really big year, 2016, for Newmarket Racecourse and indeed the town of Newmarket, 350 years of making history. So back in 1666 King Charles II returned to Newmarket for the first time since he was a boy. He moved the Royal court here. 1666 really signified the change for Newmarket, and almost the evolution of Newmarket as being the town that we know and love today, the global headquarters of racing, and an opportunity to unite the town around a celebration of 350 years of making history.
CHRIS MANN: it’s a long time of continuing pre-eminence in one sport, isn’t it? And I think one of the nicest things is that you’re starting off by inviting everybody from the area to come and race for free.
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