WHITE TURF

Name: White Turf
Start: 2027-02-07
End: 2027-02-21
Location: Lake St. Moritz

Three Sundays in February · Lake St. Moritz, Engadin · Since 1907 · The Snow and The Turf

Arranged by the Court

Spectators lining the frozen-lake racecourse at White Turf with St. Moritz and the Engadine peaks behind — I · The Course on the Ice

Dates: 7 to 21 February 2027
WhereSt. Moritz
DressCountry attire
AdmissionOpen to the public
The weatherIn February the valley at Samedan, near St. Moritz, reaches about 1°C by day and minus 16°C at night, and rain or snow falls on about one day in seven.
The tableThe Court dines afterwards at Chesa Veglia, Via Veglia 2, St. Moritz (badruttspalace.com).
Of noteThe gates open at half past ten on each race day, and the racing ends at half past four. Children under sixteen enter free.
In companyA member who means to go says so to the Secretary, and the Court seats its members together where the engagement allows.RSVP tells the Secretary that a member means to attend. Send passes the engagement’s name, its date and the address of its page to whomever the reader chooses, or, on a computer, copies the address; the Court itself sends and keeps nothing.RSVP

White Turf is horse racing on a frozen lake, run across three Sundays in February. Flat racing, trotting, and one discipline that, in this form, is raced nowhere else.

Some thirty-five thousand people stand on the ice across the three days.

A jockey on a dapple-grey horse numbered 7 galloping side-on across the snow of the frozen lake at White Turf (2007) — II · The Grey

The Lake

The first races were run in 1906 on the village roads, horses and drivers covering six miles through St. Moritz against the clock. The following year the organisers moved onto the lake, put the horses in groups on a prepared track, and White Turf began. Flat racing was added in 1911.

The lake covers three quarters of a square kilometre and is forty-four metres deep. The ice is measured before the track is laid, and needs to be forty to eighty centimetres thick to carry what is put on it: a racecourse, a tented village of a hundred and thirty thousand square metres, and thirty-five thousand people.

Which is the thing worth understanding about White Turf. It and the Snow Polo World Cup, which shares the lake, are the only fixtures on this calendar whose ground must be certified before anyone may use it, and there have been Januaries when the ice was still too thin in the middle of the month and nobody knew whether the meeting would be held.

Riderless horses drawing skiers at speed in the skijoring race at White Turf, St. Moritz — III · Skiers in Tow

The Skijöring

The signature race has no rider.

A thoroughbred runs loose down a course of two thousand seven hundred metres, and a competitor on skis is towed behind it on long reins. The skier steers by strength and balance at fifty kilometres an hour, with no saddle, no jockey and nothing in front of him but a horse.

Between eight and twelve compete across three heats, and the winner is crowned King of the Engadin. Or Queen: women held it three winters running, from 2023 to 2025.

It came out of Scandinavia and was made into a sport here in 1906. It appeared at the Winter Olympics in St. Moritz in 1928 as a demonstration, was performed once on the twelfth of February, and was never admitted as a medal event.

In 1965, not one competitor finished the race.

Horses race across the snow-covered frozen lake past the packed stands (8 February 2026) at White Turf, St. Moritz — IV · Racing on the Lake

What to Know

Three Sundays. The middle one is generally the busiest.

Standing at the rail is good value, and the view is the one to have. The horses pass a few feet away in a blizzard of ice.

Dress for four hours on a frozen lake with no shelter and a wind coming down the valley. Country attire and proper boots.

The Snow Polo World Cup is played on the same ice in late January. The track is built, taken up, and built again.

The mistake is watching from inside the tents. The whole point is the ground you are standing on, and it cannot be felt from indoors.

Questions

When is White Turf in 2027?

White Turf 2027, the 120th, is held on the frozen lake at St. Moritz on three Sundays, 7, 14 and 21 February. Doors open at 10.30am, lunch is served from 11am, and the day ends at 4.30pm. White Turf Family Days are held on the Saturdays before, 6, 13 and 20 February.

How much are tickets to White Turf?

For 2027, standing room costs CHF 29 a race day and includes the race card, a betting voucher and entry to the tented village; children under 16 go free. Standing room in the inner oval, limited to 100 places, is CHF 55, and grandstand seats cost CHF 55 to CHF 99. Admission is arranged through the organiser.

What are the VIP options at White Turf?

Two lounges are offered for 2027. The White Turf Lounge, heated, with a VIP terrace at the track, costs CHF 440 a person until 20 December 2026 and CHF 490 after. The GAMMA Lounge, with reserved tables, a Laurent-Perrier champagne bar and a fuller buffet, costs CHF 770, then CHF 850. Both are arranged through the organiser.

Is there a dress code at White Turf?

White Turf publishes no dress code. The Court wears country attire and proper boots.

Three horses race across the snow of the frozen lake as snow falls, the jockeys in blue and yellow silks, spectators along the rail behind (22 February 2026) at White Turf, St. Moritz — V · Racing in the Snow

The Court

White Turf is not the Court’s own. Places in the stands, tables in the tented village and rooms in St. Moritz are sought on a member’s behalf, and the Court arranges the day around it: getting there, where to stay, and the table afterwards. February in St. Moritz is taken well ahead.

How one becomes a member is set out under Admission.