Raising the most funds from your race night 1
Sell admission tickets

The price of these should not be too high. You will make more money by encouraging as many people as possible to attend your race night. Food is often provided and the ticket price should normally cover this.

2
Find sponsors for each race

There are normally 8 races, so 8 sponsors at £25 each is a very good start. The sponsorship can of course be any amount and it is often possible to find a sponsor for the whole evening as well as for individual races. Sponsors have a race named after them and frequent mentions on the evening.

3
Racecards

Most people like to produce their own racecards. This has many benefits. Items can be added right up to the last minute before you print them e.g. sponsors, adverts, owners. You can also have great fun making up the horse names, or people buying horses can choose their own horse name. We will supply samples to give you lots of ideas. We can supply you with our own named racecards if you wish.

4
Sell the horses in advance of the evening

If a horse wins, the person 'owning' it receives a prize. Only sell the horses in the first 7 races (56 horses in total). Selling each horse for as little as £2 will raise £112. You then need 7 prizes for the winning owners (usually wine or cash). If you sell the 56 horses very easily, sell 56 jockeys as well!

5
Betting on each race

This is the money you raise on the night. People choose a horse or horses in each race and place their bets. When paying out the winners, a portion is kept back towards your fundraising, usually 30-50%. This is why it is important to have as many there as possible. The minimum bet is normally £1.

6
The last race (the auction race)

Instead of selling the horses in advance, each horse is sold in turn to the highest bidder, who becomes the owner. The winning owner receives a portion of the total kitty (usually half) and the rest goes to your funds. this race can raise anything from £20 to hundreds of pounds (last year's record was £1250).

7
Doubles card & Tricast Sheets
I will post confirmation to you with Posters, Instructions, Tricast Sheets, Doubles Cards (sell the spaces £1 each)

8
Hire a ticket seller
The cost for us to sell the tickets is £20, or you may wish to do this yourselves

How to organise your race night event

"I would have no hesitation recommending you to others. Many, Many Thanks, Madallaine"

Hire The venue

You have your own club, bar or hall then this is ideal. Bear in mind, however, that you are hoping to attract a good size audience and that they will need a reasonable amount of room to move around in order to place bets. There also has to be space for a large screen with a relatively clear space down the centre for a projector.

If you are hiring a venue for your race night; this will obviously need to reflect your potential audience.

If the venue doesn't have its own bar, it's a good idea to either arrange a bar for the evening or, if that's not possible, remind people to bring their own drinks. Many race nights have a break for food during the evening. Fish and chips is a popular choice; a buffet also works well.

The venue needs to be available at least an hour before your guests arrive to allow time to set up.

Book the race night

We provide films, projection and sound equipment, large screen and compere. We can also supply staff to take bets, although this can easily be done by your own volunteers.

It is important to book well in advance. Saturdays during peak months (Feb/Mar, Oct/Nov) are booked up very early.

Make sure you check our availability before you book the venue.

Find an audience

In theory, the larger the audience, the more money you should make on the evening, but this is not always the case. If the room is too crowded, or you end up with long queues for the betting, you will not make as much money. Most race nights have between 50 and 100 guests. If you hope to attract more than 100 guests, you will usually need to book larger or multiple screens. An event with 200+ guests requires considerable planning.

Ask the experts

If you are organising your first race night, or perhaps even your first fundraising event, you probably have lots of questions.

We're always on the end of the phone to answer your queries, so get in touch as often as you like.