Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was among the crowd on the flagship day of the St Leger Festival in Doncaster.
The racecourse said 23,339 people attended, an 11% increase on 2023, including the PM and his family.
Jan Brueghel, ridden by jockey Sean Levey and trained by Aidan O’Brien, won the St Leger, the final classic of the British flat racing season.
Sir Keir said: “There aren’t many better days out than the races in the sunshine.”
