TAUNTON Racecourse is delighted to announce that BOYLE Sports has signed a two-year sponsorship deal for its popular New Year’s race meeting on Wednesday, December 30.

BOYLE Sports sponsored the meeting for the first time last season, when a near record crowd of over 5,600 racegoers attended. The initial deal coincided with the opening of a new BOYLE Sports betting shop in Taunton town centre, marking another step in the company’s continued expansion across the UK.

Liam McKee, head of sponsorship at BOYLE Sports, said: “BOYLE Sports is delighted to renew its sponsorship and looks forward to another brilliant day’s racing at Taunton. With an established retail presence in the area, we’re proud to already have strong links with the local community and this deal gives us another great opportunity to connect with the large crowd of racegoers on the day, as well as the wider TV audience via Racing TV.”

Taunton CEO Patrick Davis said: “We are hugely excited to welcome BOYLE Sports back as sponsor of our flagship raceday. It’s always a cracking day’s racing, enhanced further this year with three qualifying races for our newly introduced £50,000 Cheltenham Bonus series for Novice Hurdlers.

Meanwhile, Taunton Racecourse abandoned its opening meeting of the 2026-7 season on Thursday, November 12, due to the ground being too firm.

Following a course inspection with the BHA Course Inspector, Clerk of the Course and Head Groundsman, the decision was made early in the interests of allowing wider contingency plans to be actioned by the BHA.

As with several racecourses in the South West, the extremely hot and dry summer has taken its toll.

Despite receiving 75mm of rain in a week on top of the 65mm irrigation applied since mid-September, there had not been sufficient ease in the ground to make racing possible.