Ahead of Wednesday's historic Bell and Plate day, read the latest column from Carlisle Racecourse general manager Helen Willis...

The arrival of Summer Solstice last Wednesday is a clear sign that the Flat season is well and truly underway at Carlisle Racecourse and the best is very much to come now that the nights are longer.

Since our last update, our Flat campaign is well and truly underway, having held one Flat meeting in May and three in June so far, with another nine to come between now and September. 

We’ve already seen some fantastic action on the track across those four days and any formbook experts may have noticed a familiar name in the mix at Royal Ascot if they were tuning into ITV last week. 

Carlisle has a proud history of being a starting point for some smart two year olds and that tradition has very much continued so far this spring, with Malc building on a winning debut at our Flat Season Opener by going on to finish a fantastic second in the Group Two Norfolk Stakes at Ascot.

Malc is one of several juveniles to have caught the eye at Carlisle so far this term, so make sure you bring your notebooks!

We’ve still got plenty of racing to bring you before the end of our Flat season on Wednesday, September 13, including our big day this Wednesday, the Stablemate by AGMA Bell and Plate Day.

This seven race card is always an excellent one - featuring a Listed race for the three year old fillies - but the feature is the Carlisle Bell, the contest for the oldest sporting trophy in the world.

The race was first contested all the way back in 1599, with the two bells given out as a prize dating even further back to 1559. It doesn’t get much more prestigious than that and to top it off we will have the town crier on site ready to declare the result!

Looking slightly further ahead, we have our OEE Great Community Raceday on Saturday, July 8, which always proves to be a fantastic event. The day will once again be supported by local firm OEE Container Technology Ltd and we will be aiming to raise as much money as possible for six Cumbrian charities on the night.

Last year’s raceday raised more than £3000 for good causes and special thanks must go to Bruce and Susan Jones’ fabulous support, without whom such a fantastic amount wouldn’t be possible.

The charities we’re supporting are BEE UNIQUE, Calvert Trust Lake District, Diff-Ability, Every Life Matters, Eden Animal Rescue and The Great North Air Ambulance Service and it’s not too late to get involved. We will be donating £1 from every advanced ticket sold to the selected charities as part of our Great Community Raceday.

After racing we have a DJ Set from electronic music legends Faithless, so make sure you join us for what will be a fantastic night of fun.

We strongly encourage you to book your tickets in advance and you can find out more about our fixtures at https://www.thejockeyclub.co.uk/carlisle/events-tickets/.