'You could hear a pin drop and then see pints of beer in the air - it was like fireworks' - Sandown's euphoria after England win

Sandown described the atmosphere as 'electric' as more than 4,000 racegoers stayed behind after racing to watch England’s Euro 2024 quarter-final victory over Switzerland.

On Monday, clerk of the course Andrew Cooper posted a video on X of the celebrations in front of the big screen at the Esher track as Trent Alexander-Arnold scored England's winning penalty to set up Wednesday night's semi-final with the Netherlands. 

A crowd of between 4,000 and 5,000 were estimated to have remained at the Esher track following the conclusion of Saturday's Coral-Eclipse card, which ended ten minutes before the last-eight clash in Germany that started at 5pm.

Racegoers experienced the highs and lows as Bukayo Saka’s equaliser cancelled out Breel Embolo’s opener to send the game into extra-time. After a goalless 30 minutes, the game was sent to penalties and it was the Three Lions who prevailed 5-3 on spot kicks.

"The atmosphere was electric for the penalty shootout," said Sandown general manager Sarah Drabwell. "I’ve never heard Sandown so quiet and then so loud in the same minute. You could hear a pin drop and you could then see pints of beer go in the air — it was like fireworks.

"We had utter silence as the penalties were being taken, before euphoria when the crowd realised we’d won the game. It was amazing, and it was a real honour to host two separate sports on the same day. We were very grateful we were in a position to show the game."

Jubilant scenes followed Alexander-Arnold’s winning penalty as a number of supporters made their way onto the track after getting past the running rail.

However, Drabwell said the final result helped ensure the behaviour of those in attendance was up to standards.

She said: "We knew early on we’d have a clash on Friday or Saturday, and sometimes these things can be seen as a problem, but we turned it to our advantage. 

"If you’ve had a day where the betting hasn’t gone your way or the weather hasn’t been great, you can leave with a bad feeling. But the result helped us because we felt the crowd was very well behaved."

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