Newmarket is odds-on favourite to become Britain’s richest town – because it is home to 3,000 horseracing thoroughbreds together worth more than £1billion.
At least 80 of the sport’s top trainers house their finest horses in stables in the Suffolk outpost.
And tourism chiefs are launching it as one of Britain’s top new visitor attractions.
As well as its four-legged residents, each worth anything from £10,000 to millions, the Suffolk town is home to the National Stud where five of the nation’s top stallions - including three-time Ascot Gold Cup winner Stradivarius - are paid up to £10,000-a-time to produce a new generation of thoroughbreds.
Most of Newmarket’s 19,000 human population works in the racing industry. From 5am every day teams of riders put all 3,000 horses through their paces on the town’s gallops - known as The Heath.
The 2,500-acre site is exclusively reserved for nags until 1pm when folk are finally allowed on for a stroll. Horses have right of way above cars in the town.
Bicycles give way to them on `horse paths’. Some pedestrian crossings have high buttons jockeys can push to stop the traffic when they are riding.
The town has two 20,000-capacity racecourses - The Rowley Mile which hosts the 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas and the July course which stages races during the summer.
It hosts the oldest horse race run under set rules. The Newmarket Town Plate which dates back to 1666 and still offers amateur rides the chance of winning a feast of locally-made sausages.
Charles II, who lived in Newmarket so he could keep an eye on the Royal stables, won it himself in 1671.
The town - packed with statues of its greatest horses including former world No1 Frankel - is also home to British Racing School where new young jockeys hone their skills.
And it is the site of British Horseracing Museum which charts its 400-year-old links to the sport. Tourism chiefs are confident it could lure in hundreds of thousands of visitors-a-year.
Planned tours include the Royal stables, the gallops and The National Stud. One tourism chief said: "Newmarket is one of Britain’s best-kept secrets.
"It is a unique destination in this country and must for anyone with any kind of interest in horses. It is simply Britain’s racing capital with a rich Royal heritage dating back four centuries.
"We expect visitors numbers to explode.’"
Racing expert Paul Binfield, of bookmaker Paddy Power, said few towns in world could claim to have more valuable residents than Newmarket.
"If it’s not Britain’s richest town now it’s odds-on favourite to take the title after its four-legged residents enjoy a few more wins," he said.
"It’s a unique place where the horse is king. It’s a racing cert to become one of Britain’s top tourist destinations."
