TAKE
ON THE TRACKS
Welcome
to the Roy Waterhouse Steeplechasing guide to British
National Hunt racecourses.
*
Updated September 14th 2009 *
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Aintree
For purposes of this piece I wish Aintree was still known as Liverpool,
it’s
a bit awkward starting an alphabetical list of British jump racecourses with
the number two National Hunt venue in Britain, but there we are; additionally,
what could I say about it that you don’t already know? I should probably
write a line or two about the expansion of the track’s fixture portfolio,
but I’ll put that at the end. To describe the courses; there is the huge,
galloping Grand National circuit, with the most famous steeplechase obstacles
in the world (unless you’re the biggest fan of the Velka Pardubicka ever),
and the sharp, left-handed hurdles and Mildmay circuits, the latter one of the
few remaining tracks that has genuinely tricky ‘park’ fences. On
the National course, apart from the National itself, it’s often an advantage
to hold a prominent position from an early stage – the Becher Chase over
3m2f in November, which now starts with the fence after Valentines, is a steadily-run
race most years, while speed is what the other circuits are about with no running
style particularly favoured. That said, good to firm ground is unlikely to be
experienced at the National meeting for the foreseeable future, the Clerk of
the Course Andrew Tulloch having made a great job of ensuring good ground, even
in 2007 when the meeting was run on the three hottest days of the year as it
turned out. Fixtures, then; gone are the days when they raced just the three
days a year, and with the two-day meeting in October, one in November and evening
fixtures added in May (two) and June, Aintree has never had such a busy programme,
no doubt thanks to some guidance from the track’s owners Jockey
Club Racecourses, who know how to make a racecourse make a profit.
Website: www.aintree.co.uk.
TV: Racing UK
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Ascot
More buildings, more enclosures, more boxes, more security, more bars and more
escalators than a London Tube station. Ladies and Gentlemen: welcome to Ascot
in the 21st Century. The Royal racecourse returned to the jumping fold after
the rebuild in 2006, which at one stage didn’t look on the cards at
the beginning of the Millennium. The NH programme went the way of the other ‘London’ grade
ones and introduced a lot of ordinary ‘makeweight’ races, some
at the expense of better-quality events that were attracting few runners.
Indeed, before Sir Peter O’Sullevan’s Never won a three-runner
race for the Kennel Gate Novices’ Hurdle in December 2002, the former
Chief Executive Douglas Erskine-Crum went on the BBC’s programme and
made noises in his interview that Ascot might give up jumping altogether.
Instead, it brought it back with a bang. Prize money was up and new races
created, and with the arguable exception of Cheltenham itself, Ascot now
puts on the strongest NH programme pre-Cheltenham Festival. The new circuit
is a bit sharper than the old one, but is the same, basically galloping,
triangular shape, and the water jump has been replaced by a plain fence on
the chase course. The new home straight seems to ride good whatever the going
on the rest of the track, as seems to be the case on the Flat, and coming
from the back in a big field isn’t easy.
Website: www.ascot.co.uk.
TV: At The Races
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Ayr
Scotland’s number one track, but with the exception of the Scottish National
fixture, ordinary racing in the main. Not that promising horses don’t
turn up throughout the main part of the season, as many a promising Northern-trained
novice hurdler and chaser comes here at the beginning of their career. And
so they should, as it’s a wide-open, straightforward, left-handed circuit,
with well-spaced obstacles on both the hurdles and chase tracks. Those that
race prominently do well. But, for every fixture that survived the weather
in 2007/08, the ground was at best soft, and more often heavier than heavy.
The track doesn’t seem to drain that well when the wet stuff descends
on it, and tiring mudfests were the order of the day last season, even in two-mile
races. Look at the Scottish National meeting though, and it’s like a
totally different track. Just once in the last 15 years has the ground been
halfway-testing for the Scottish National – when confirmed mudder Moorcroft
Boy won the race in 1996. And in the latest running, there was Iris De Balme,
leading at the last then going on to do an impression of Kingsgate Native.
Website: www.ayr-racecourse.co.uk. TV: Racing UK
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Bangor
A right and proper jumping track, located at the Bangor that’s near Wrexham
in North Wales. Point your car in that direction, and you’ll more than
likely find the course first time, if you’ve never been before. Most
NH fans know that, when you get there, there’s no point looking for the
grandstand, because there isn’t one. The best vantage point from which
to watch the races is the mound that bisects the betting ring and the turn
out of the home straight, giving you a good view of the track but an almost
head-on view of the line, which isn’t the best in the event of a photo-finish.
As that area is uncovered, maybe Bangor is a prime candidate to move all of
its fixtures to the Summer. As it is at the moment, it operates all year round,
with June the only month with no meetings. The course is a sharp left-hander
with few significant undulations, fair for all horses. The quality of Bangor’s
programme has increased in recent seasons, with many fixtures including a Class
2 or 3 handicap hurdle or chase with reasonable prize money, one example the
Dee Hurdle over 2m1f in August. All in all Bangor is a course on the up, which
it’ll need to be with a competitor coming along in 2009 in the form of
the new course Ffos Las.
Website: www.bangorondeeraces.co.uk. TV: Racing UK
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Carlisle
The Monet’s Gardens, the One Mans and the Sparky Gayles go to two courses
to start their chasing careers; Ayr is one, but arguably the greater proportion
of promising Northern-trained would-be Gold Cup winners go to Carlisle, which
is part of the Jockey Club Racecourses group. The racecourse has recognised
this, and beginners, intermediate and graduation chases feature prominently
in its National Hunt programme. But why has a hitherto ordinary racecourse
become the venue in the North to send your good novice chaser to? For the same
reason why those trained in the South go to Exeter. It’s nothing to do
with the right-handed circuit being a stiff, hilly track – one of the
stiffest in the country terrain-wise – but because all the fences are
positioned on uphill or level parts of the course, and there’s nothing
to catch out the poor jumper thanks to the way they are made, with a soft broom
belly and no middle eyeline, only the orange kicking board on the ground. Accordingly,
falls and unseats are rare. Hurdle races are currently run on the Flat course
here, but Carlisle intend to introduce a purpose-built hurdles track at some
point. Where it’s going to go when it reaches the home straight is difficult
to know, as it would surely have to take the ground occupied by the ambulance
track, not to mention the beautiful floral interpretation of the racecourse’s
logo opposite the stands.
Website: www.carlisle-races.co.uk.
TV: Racing UK
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Cartmel
Get your sat-nav working, make sure the tank’s three quarters-full (there
is a credit crunch on at the time of writing after all) and set off three hours
early, because there’s a bit of pre-racing shopping, eating and drinking
to be done in the shops and pubs of Cartmel Village before the first race up
in the Lake District on the late-May and August Bank Holidays – and don’t
forget to have a stroll round the Priory. They absolutely pack ‘em in,
with five-figure crowds the norm except possibly for their mid-July meeting.
Forget the mainly-mediocre racing you get here, you should go to Cartmel at
least once in your life. ‘Mainly mediocre’ doesn’t apply
to the course’s best race, a 3m6f veterans’ handicap chase – a
Class 3 contest in terms of status – for nine-year-olds and upwards.
The powers-that-be have Cartmel to thank for the success of the new series
of veterans’ races in the 2007/08 season. But go there, and I promise
you, no written words can prepare you for what it’s like once you arrive.
In terms of where to watch the racing, wherever you go don’t expect to
be able to see the whole track, despite the left-handed circuit only measuring
a mile round. At Cartmel, what passes for a grandstand is actually in the middle
of the circuit. The reason for this is that the run-in is on separate ground
to the main circuit, the runners taking the first on the left then going diagonally
across to finish their races. For a further dose of the unusual, check out
the chase track. None of the six fences on the circuit are jumped in the last
half-mile of the steeplechases. Four of them are taken in the straight going
towards the fairground bend, then after the last of those, there’s a
run-in with a turn that’s longer than the run to the line in the Grand
National. If you come here as a serious player, then good luck, you’ll
need it. Whether you’re playing seriously or not, you must visit the
Cartmel Village Shop and buy lots of its world-famous, home-made, Sticky Toffee
Pudding, the greatest dessert in the world. And get some Kendal Mintcake while
you’re at it (several different
varieties). If you can’t make it to Cartmel in the near future, then
don’t worry – you can find the Village Shop’s delicacy at
your nearest Waitrose.
Website: www.cartmel-racecourse.co.uk. TV: Racing UK
Village Shop’s
website: www.stickytoffeepudding.co.uk
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Catterick
‘The Bridge’ is further North than you think it is. You think you’re
nearly there when you reach Wetherby? Not a bit of it. And to rub it in, during
that last 30 miles or so that you’ve still got to drive, you’ll
see every other racecourse in Yorkshire signposted before you see any signs
for Catterick Village. When you do get there (parking on the opposite side
of the road to the racecourse), it couldn’t be further removed from Ascot.
You can walk from one end of the enclosures to the other in the space of, say,
200 yards; and small is the operative word when it comes to the grandstand,
as befits a gaff track. I was there on a wet New Year’s Day 2008 – how
it deals with a Summer crowd for its Flat meetings, I don’t know. It
isn’t the most scenic either, but that’s hardly the racecourse’s
fault. It’s ironic all the same that Sandown, a train ride from London,
is a scenic natural ampitheatre for the built-up area it’s located in,
whereas Catterick has a pretty, quiet-looking village nearby, yet the view
from the racecourse is dominated not by trees, but by a colliery and accompanying
slag heaps, a stone’s throw – if you’ll pardon the pun – from
the back straight. The track itself is a sharp, slightly-undulating, left-hander
where the ground is seldom testing. When it does rain significantly the track
usually takes it well, as it’s based on gravel. Horses tend to get home
here on soft ground, which they don’t at poor draining tracks (it rained
all day on New Year’s Day '08 and those up front finished with plenty
of zip throughout). Front-runners often dominate, and if your bet isn’t
up with the leaders starting the final circuit you might as well forget it.
Website: www.catterickbridge.co.uk. TV: Racing UK
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Cheltenham
No introduction necessary here, surely, to the number one National Hunt venue
in Britain, but Cheltenham’s success – not just with, as it is
now, the four-day Cheltenham Festival, but with the rest of its programme
from October to April – means that a day’s racing here can be
an uncomfortable experience, and if you come by car, expect to spend at least
an hour trying to leave after racing. The probable reason why Cheltenham
is doing so well is that, of all the grade one tracks, it now puts on the
strongest pre-Festival jump racing programme in Britain, but, as with Ascot,
there was a time when it was heading for the opposite. The rot set in when
Channel 4 took over (terrestrial) television coverage from the BBC. Several
two-runner races, moderate contests with ordinary horses and, when Challenger
Du Luc won the Murphy’s (now the Paddy Power) Gold Cup in 1996, poor-quality
turf which saw a few horses slip up – notably Dublin Flyer in the Murphy’s – arguably
lowered Cheltenham’s reputation. To add insult to injury, the then-new
cross-country course was only drawing a few runners for what was the only
race on it all year, but we were impressed with how good McGregor The Third
looked, and worried not about the poor spectacle presented. Serious work
had to be done – and they did it. Every race from October to April
now carries at least five-figure prize money. Better-quality races are put
on throughout all Cheltenham’s pre-Festival cards, rather than one
or two on each raceday. Meetings are well-publicised and competitive fields
are the norm. There’s a place for valuable novice handicaps too, all
with a higher ratings ceiling than you’d normally get in them, and
such races – like the novices’ handicap hurdle at the Open meeting – work
extremely well. So does – and I think we can all admit this after universal
reservations in the beginning – the four-day National Hunt Festival.
There’s good stuff also at the Showcase meeting (Friday and Saturday
in mid-October), the April meeting – another with an extra day added,
now a three-day meet (although that third day coincides with the first of
the Scottish National meeting, and if Ayr are miffed at that then justifiably
so), and the hunter chase night in May.
There
are, of course, three tracks at Cheltenham: the New Course, a galloping
mile-and-a-half circuit used in
December, January, the last two days of the Festival, April and May; the
Old Course, the sharpness of which – not just relative to the New -
is much underestimated, for it is a real test of speed on fast ground, used
in October, November and the first two days of the Festival; and the cross-country
course, which now has three higher-profile, competitive chases run over its
twisting, turning 3m7f course, these at the Open Meeting, in December and
at the Festival. The cross-country chases attract a pool of regulars who
also contest races over the Punchestown equivalent, providing an angle for
punters, and after a stuttering start they are very much a success story.
The one at the Festival in 2007 was the last port of call before the Grand
National for that year’s Aintree hero Silver Birch, and if future Aintree
runners also take in a cross-country chase along the way, the profile of
these races will be raised even more. A fourth track, the Park Course which
linked up the 2m4f chute with part of the New Course and was used in September
and October in the early 90s, hasn’t been used since 1995.
Website:
www.cheltenham.co.uk. TV: Racing UK
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Chepstow
Yarmouth, one of Northern Racing’s portfolio of racecourses, came under
fire a while ago for pathetic prize money at the majority of its meetings.
As ever with racing’s media, jump racing is the poor relation, therefore
there’s been no publicity whatsoever about the gradual degradation of
the National Hunt programme at another of Northern’s tracks, Chepstow.
Having, I guess, experienced the same problems as the grade ones – Chepstow
has never been a grade one – in attracting good horses for an above-average
number of better races, Chepstow went the other way and reduced first the quality
of its fixtures, then the number of meetings. Back in 1997 at its February
meeting which hosted a Grand National trial, there was a novices’ chase – it
would be a Class 3 event today – which attracted the two season’s
leading staying novice chasers at that time Escartefigue and Fiddling The Facts,
which needed the best novice chase performance of the season to win it (Escartefigue
won). Now, there is the traditional October meeting – which has been
comprehensively usurped by Market Rasen’s late-September fixture as the
season-starter for good horses – the Silver Trophy meeting, the Welsh
National meeting and a load of dross. Rogues gallery-staying chases have become
staple fare, with maybe a 0-130 handicap hurdle or two if you’re lucky.
Don’t get me wrong, there are still reasonably strong novice hurdles
here, particularly over 2m4f and 3m, but Wales’s number one track is
still a shadow of what it was – indeed I can just see it losing that
moniker to the new track Ffos Las, unless Chepstow and Northern Racing do something
(for starters perhaps taking the Rehearsal Chase back off Newcastle?). The
track is a galloping, undulating, nearly 2m-round left-hander, where deep mudfests
are commonplace. When it’s heavy, sometimes horses meet the uphill section
on the back straight and just grind to a halt. The aforementioned novice hurdles,
as I suggested, do contain a few promising ones, but over 2m and 2m4f they
tend to be very steadily run to the home straight and, with half a mile going
downhill to run, those held up often never get there, and I would think twice
before having a bet in a 2m or 2m4f novice hurdle here.
Website: www.chepstow-racecourse.co.uk.
TV: At The Races
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Doncaster
Always overshadowed by its Flat programme, watch out for the emergence of Doncaster
as a superpower among jump tracks in future seasons, in part thanks to the
backing of Arena Leisure, who took over management of the racecourse from
Doncaster Borough Council in late 2004 (which in the fullness of time saw
it channel-hop from Racing UK to At The Races, the first track to do so – ATR
have the rest of the Arena venues). Like Ascot had done, Doncaster knocked
down a few old buildings, put up new ones, came back with a bang – in
their case starting with the 2007 St Leger meeting – and resumed its
jump programme, which runs from December to early-March. Although National
Hunt cards account for a fraction of Doncaster’s total fixture portfolio
the racecourse had always maintained their commitment to jumping before the
temporary closure, and they part-confirmed that with the installation a complete
new set of fences on the steeplechase track. They proved kinder to horses
than their predecessors, with only six falls/unseats from 139 chase runners
in 2007/08. The other part of that confirmation was the addition of a valuable
fixture on the first Saturday in February. The Great Yorkshire – sorry,
Sky Bet – Chase is still around, but one week later there is now an
even stronger jump card which was run for the first time in 2008, the centrepiece
of which is a William Hill-sponsored, £100,000 2m handicap chase, which
looks set to be regarded as the replacement for the previous incarnation
of Ascot’s Victor Chandler Chase. A valuable 4m chase is top of the
undercard, and the winners of the two divisions of the 2m novices’ hurdle
at this meeting ended up in the top half-dozen in the betting in the Supreme
Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham. The best novice hurdlers to have competed
at the track in 2008/09 were El Dancer, who went on to take the Top Novices'
Hurdle at Aintree, and Punchestown winner Copper Bleu. There are 11 fences
and seven hurdles on the nearly 2m-round, left-handed pear-shape. A prominent
position is important in large-field chases, and
over seven out to five out – which are on the crown of the long home
turn – those travelling off the rail could end up forfeiting ground,
the wider you go the more you lose over those three obstacles. Things are
fairer over hurdles. Doncaster before it closed would have been in my top
half-dozen tracks. I’ve yet to go there since the reopening, but I
suspect I won’t be disappointed when that’s put right.
* Further enhancing the quality of jumping at Doncaster, it's been announced
that the Grade 2 Lightning Novices' Chase over 2m is to move from Ascot
to Doncaster from January 2010, and it will be on the Sky Bet Chase undercard.
Website:
www.doncaster-racecourse.co.uk. TV: At The Races
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Exeter
If the One Mans etc. go to Carlisle, then the Best Mates, Racing Demons and
other good chasing debutants trained south of the divide – is it the
Trent, is it Newport Pagnell services or is it the M25? – come to this
place. It was once described on the front cover of the racecard as ‘Exeter
Racecourse/Devon & Exeter Steeplechases/Over The Course At Haldon’.
Sat-nav wasn’t around in them days, even after the ‘Devon &’-part
of the track’s name was removed officially in 1990. Do you go to Devon
first, then try Exeter, or can you find Haldon on the AA roadmap? And where’s
this Kennford that’s in its postal address? It’s actually a whole
lot easier than that to find, as it’s just off the A38, which you’ll
be on if you remember to filter right off the M5. The reason why Exeter is
as popular a place to introduce a novice fencer to the rigours of steeplechasing
as its northern counterpart is the same – fences that don’t snare
a horse’s legs in the event of a mistake (indeed I think Exeter’s
fences are the easiest in Britain), and every one of them jumped on either
level or uphill ground whilst going round this undulating, 2m-round right-hander.
All the hurdles are positioned on uphill or level ground too. The Haldon
Gold Cup in early-November, where the best two-mile chasers often start their
campaigns, is the best race at the track (look out for front-runners in it)
and – pleasingly for those who like tradition – has yet to move
from its Tuesday slot. Plenty of graduation and Class 2/3 novice chases throughout
the season back it up. Exeter was bought by Jockey Club Racecourses in late-2006
(when it was still Racecourse Holdings Trust) and, you would think, would
join the other JCR tracks on Racing UK at some point in the future.
Website:
www.exeter-racecourse.co.uk. TV: At The Races
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Fakenham
Dynamic, fast-paced, ride-a-finish-a-circuit-too-early rave-on, brought to
you by a friendly team of people down there in Norfolk. I remember my first
visit to the course, a Sunday meeting in November 2001. It had rained all
morning, was still tipping down, and I went to the racecourse office to ask
what the going was. The reply came: “Good to soft. Ha ha ha!”.
Derek Thompson was commentating, and he introduced the recall man to the
crowd before the start of the 3m chase – probably the only race start
in Britain where the person required to wave a flag in the event of a false
start does his job within talking distance of the spectators. Mr Recall Man,
probably extremely embarrassed, duly waved his flag for Tommo. It follows,
then – speaking of embarrassment – that Messrs O’Regan
and Thomas, when they ‘finished’ their steeplechases on Harringay
and Oumeyade respectively, probably found some sections of the crowd only
too pleased to tell them what they thought of them. If it’s that easy
to say hello to the guy in the white coat with the flag, it’s as simple
to say what you like to the jockeys. What those two should have done at that
point was to jump the fence in front of the enclosures – an obstacle
that’s so close to them, it’s virtually on the bottom steppings.
Cordoned off with barriers on the last circuit, that is one of six chase
fences on the square-shaped course, accompanied by four hurdles, one on each
side. You’d think that such a sharp track – it’s a fraction
less than a mile round, with the last hurdle actually jumped three times
in 2m races and four over 2m7f110y – would suit those who go out to
make all, but it’s not always so. Some front-runners, particularly
if taken on by others, take off like there’s no tomorrow, tear into
the bends, use themselves up and get collared just as easily as they might
round a more conventional track. Wherever you sit in a race you need to travel
well, and if for any reason you’re not – say if you miss the
break, or a mistake sets you back at any stage – then you won’t
be winning. Novice chases are the best-quality contests, the racecourse’s
efforts in putting up five-figure prize money for some of these having attracted
dual Charlie Hall winner Ollie Magern and Grade 1 Aintree/Punchestown winner
Twist Magic in recent seasons. Course specialists are often the ones to be
with: a few years ago El Cordobes, going even further back Prince Carlton,
and much more recently Cool Roxy and Beau Torero, are four who spring to
mind. Many of my bets at Fakenham have found ways of getting beaten that
aren’t represented by a letter in the form book, but a successful wagers
in May and October 2008 mean that I now see it in a better light.
Website: www.fakenhamracecourse.co.uk.
TV: At The Races
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Ffos Las
'It's like Newbury.' A.P.McCoy's description of Ffos Las, already the subject
of rave reviews, with nothing whatsoever negative written about it, before
it opened in a blaze of glory on 18th June 2009, struck me as being too sexy
to be true. However it remained the case after the event that nobody had a
bad word to say about it, and all the vibes are that it is here to stay, and
that it is an asset not just to Wales, but to British racing. At the time of
writing just two Summer jump meetings on fast ground are all we have to go
on, and they shouldn't bear
much
resemblance
to
the Winter
product. What'll it be like when proper jumpers and 'Saturday horses' - another
sexy phrase - compete on soft or heavy going? I'm sure we'll find out in time.
In terms of what the horses and jockeys will encounter, the dual-purpose Ffos
Las circuit certainly looks more like a grade one course than a gaff track.
Flat and galloping (like Newbury, but closer
to Worcester), it is so wide, both on the straights and the sweeping bends,
that it could probably
accommodate
30
runners
or more
in
a race - of course that won't happen, but it seems physically possible, looking
at the TV pictures. With this configuration, there should be no hard-luck stories
- horses shouldn't get in each other's way and the only ones that will lose
position in a race should be those that are either not good enough or ungenuine.
Two legs of McCoy's first-night treble suggested that it doesn't matter where
you're positioned through a race - he made all on Sea Wall in the 3m chase,
then held up Nostringsattached and produced him at the last in the 2m5f chase.
The second jump card here, at the end of August, saw McCoy among the winners
again and strong turnouts for valuable Class 2 events - a 2m handicap hurdle
and a 3m1f110y handicap
chase,
the fields
for both of which would have just about passed for good handicaps at 'festival'
meetings. These feature races both went to Irish yards, and Ffos Las's relative
closeness to the ferry port at Fishguard - Stena Line are actually marketing
racing trips from Rosslare on their website! - means that there's likely to
be a strong Irish contingent for most, if not all, cards at Ffos Las. There
are nine fences on the steeplechase circuit - five down the back, four in the
home
straight
-
and
six hurdles,
three in
each
straight;
traditional
hurdles are used. It only remains for me to get along there and decide for
myself if the hype is justified.
Website: www.ffoslasracecourse.com. TV: At The Races
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Folkestone
‘You need a horse with five legs to go round there.’ My memory’s
not what it was, but I’m sure that John Reid was the Flat jockey who
came up with that quote about the course at Westenhanger in Kent, the county’s
only racecourse. Even less complimentary was Richard Johnson in his book Out
Of The Shadows, and if you’ve read that you’ll know what I’m
on about. Personally I can’t bring myself to put it in this piece. Arena
Leisure own Folkestone, and they want to make something good of the track,
particularly with their National Hunt programme. The Daily Mail Handicap Chase,
a 0-125 won in the latest season by Cossack Dancer (who should have won at
Exeter the time before, but that’s another story), had £25,000
prize money in 2007, and a new race the Kent National, over 3m7f, proved an
instant hit, with the winner Iris De Balme going on to take the more prestigious
Scottish version. The track is a sharp, undulating right-hander measuring around
a mile-and-a-quarter, and early in the season hurdles races are run on the
Flat course, gradually moving further in towards the outer of the chase circuit
as the season progresses. Be aware of the configuration of the hurdles track,
if you weren’t already. There are two on the side going away from the
stands then two in the back straight, all those coming in around five furlongs
or so. Following that, there’s anything between half a mile and six furlongs
of running on the Flat, incorporating the home turn, before they get to the
last, the only hurdle in the home straight. A poor jumper who made mistakes
three out and/or two out still has a chance. Chases are more of a level playing
field, with two on the side going away, three in the back straight and the
remaining two fences taken in line for home. Back to the name; Folkestone racecourse
isn’t actually in Folkestone, but in the aforementioned Westenhanger,
whose train station is next to the track. The Eurostar passes through it at
the moment, but I’m sure French racegoers can get a taxi from Ashford.
Website: www.folkestone-racecourse.co.uk. TV: At The Races
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Fontwell
A little place that’s a bit popular is this. Perhaps the reason is that
Fontwell is two tracks in one, a figure-of-eight chase circuit – one
of a kind, unless Windsor has another jump revival – and a sharp, left-handed
hurdles course. The minimum distance over hurdles and fences here is two and
a quarter miles – some bumpers are run over 1m6f – and the winning
post is therefore passed three or four times in a race. The perfect ingredient
for someone to ‘do a Fakenham’, as it might now be referred to,
but thankfully nobody has since Adrian Maguire gave hurdler Access Sun the
works after just a mile and three quarters in 1994. Fontwell took on a few
new meetings in 2005/06 and, as a result, had a problem with turf wear and
tear. Grass can’t take a regular pounding like Polytrack can, and it
showed. Hopefully things have improved in that regard, as the ground will get
no let-up in 2009 with a whopping 22 fixtures scheduled. The stiffest part
of the track is the run-in, which is slightly uphill on both tracks and not
quite straight for the chasers, who have to make a slight turn close home where
the chase and hurdle tracks meet a few yards away from the line. A horse that
can act right-handed might be one to be with over fences here, as the last
bend is clockwise. Northern Racing own this southern track – go figure – and
have given the go-ahead for Fontwell to have a new grandstand built in the
Premier Enclosure, at a reported cost of a cool £7.5 million.
Website:
www.fontwellpark.co.uk. TV: At The Races
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Haydock
There was another change to the configuration at Haydock for the 2008/09 jumps
campaign. In the second season since they demolished the famous drop fences,
with the reported intention of creating a second Flat track where the chase
course
was,
that ground ended up being used as the 'traditional hurdles' track. The
eight portable steeplechase fences that made their first appearance in 2007/08,
were
sited
on the inner
once again, swapping with the same number of Fixed Brush hurdles for the first
few meetings, the 'mini-fences' once again in use for their ever-popular novice
hurdle series, as well as a few handicap hurdles. Later in the season, both
sets of hurdles used the outer circuit, and at the mixed Swinton Hurdle
card in May, the traditional hurdles were sited on the inner, then removed
and the fences put in their place for the beginners' chase. Confused? The track
remains
a sharp-to-galloping left-hander with a dog leg-right
in
the
middle of the back straight, the inner circuit sharper than the outer, with
eight fences and six traditional hurdles per circuit. To get back to their
Fixed Brush hurdle races: there are the same number of brush hurdles per circuit
as there are fences, which means that 12 hurdles are taken over 2m, 14 over
2m4f and, in the valuable 3m handicap hurdle over these obstacles on the Betfair
Chase undercard in November - which is to be a Listed race for the first time
in 2009 - there are 16 to jump. That race is, for all intents and purposes,
a
valuable
steeplechase
where
the
fences
are
small.
Look
for
a good steeplechaser racing off a lower hurdle handicap mark than it would
in a chase, because the contest is more of a chase than a hurdle! A thing
that looks like
a water jump sits inside the track opposite the stands – I’m
not sure whether or not it’s the natural hedge from the old one – and,
having not been used yet, hopefully will be in 2009/10.
Website: www.haydock-park.co.uk.
TV: Racing UK
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Hereford
One of the Three Counties tracks, here’s a traditional National Hunt
course situated in the middle of un-traditional territory. Surrounded by the
local school and the lorry parks and buildings of an industrial estate, one
finds the Hereford racecourse, which is one of the more unremarkable British
NH tracks. I don’t mean that in an unkind way by any means – it
just seems like a track that has little in the way of unique features. Northern
Racing own this Midlands track, and there’s been a bit of give and take
here over the last two seasons. The number of fixtures was reduced from 15
to 10 for 2008, and sadly one of the fixtures that it lost was the traditional
Grand National day meeting, which had made it onto Channel 4 a couple of times.
Northern seem to think that Chepstow is the place to be if you can’t
get to Aintree. The flip side is that, as with other gaffs, there’s been
an effort to increase the quality here. A one-off fixture on December 23rd
2006 included a £25,000 chase that was also terrestrial-televised, and
a new and valuable 0-130 handicap hurdle made its debut last February. The
track is a square-shaped, 1m3f-round right-hander with tight bends and minor
undulations. Despite the track’s sharpness, some horses can come from
behind. The chase fences, though big, jump better than they look on TV and
take few fallers.
Website: www.hereford-racecourse.co.uk. TV: At The Races
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Hexham
Moving to the Heart Of All England now – as suggested by the race title
of one of Hexham’s longest-established races - for this North East-located,
scenic natural ampitheatre. The feature here is the chase course, for the wings
of the fences are well-maintained, natural hedges, which have been in place
for around a hundred years. For the horses, getting round here can be a bit
tough, especially if heavy going is the order of the day, for it’s a
galloping, hilly left-hander. The place where a lot of races are decided is
the climb to the home turn, because it is just that – the more tired
the horse, the tougher the climb, and as the equine participants in the track’s
best race (apart from the Heart Of...), the Northumberland National run in
November over 4m, would tell you if they could talk, some horses just stop
as if shot. That race was over £25,000 to the winner in 2007 and forms
part of what is now a stronger race programme than Hexham used to put on. There
are some Class 3 novice chases, and one of 2007/08’s leading novices
Hobbs Hill started his chase campaign here. Lastly, and for those who don’t
know, the aforementioned ‘Heart Of All England’ is a maiden hunter
chase run each May, and it’s a race that most of the Northern point-to-point
fraternity would love to win.
Website: www.hexham-racecourse.co.uk. TV: At
The Races
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Huntingdon
One of the best tracks in the country in terms of accessibility from all over
Britain, just off the A1 south of Peterborough, here’s one of those
rare tracks that place the emphasis on speed rather than stamina when the
ground’s good or faster. Huntingdon’s course bends right-handed,
has easy bends and is flat throughout – see two-mile chasers fly the
open ditch in front of the grandstand and whizz round here, where it’s
a must to be up with the pace. Actually, it’s desirable to be up there
regardless of trip, whether it’s fences or hurdles. The race that everyone
knows is the Peterborough Chase, which has a roll of honour including Very
Promising, Pegwell Bay, Sabin Du Loir, Edredon Bleu, Edredon Bleu, Edredon
Bleu and Edredon Bleu. Some nag or other called Best Mate came off the subs
bench to take Edredon Bleu’s place in 2002 and he won it too. A drain
on top-jockey resources was the main reason behind the race going from a
Saturday slot to a midweek date in December from 2008 (if they weren’t
chasing the backsides of Ruby Walsh and Kauto Star round Haydock, they went
to Ascot).
Besides
the Peterborough, there are a couple of last-stop-before-Cheltenham races
over hurdles in February; the Sidney Banks over 2m4f has been a trial for
the Ballymore Properties, and the Chatteris Fen for juveniles attracts Triumph
Hurdle (or Fred Winter) candidates. By the way, the assertions of Racing
UK presenters that the Peterborough used to be run on a Thursday during November
should be corrected, for it formerly took place on a Tuesday. Its new date
is to become a permanent slot.
Website: www.huntingdon-racecourse.co.uk.
TV: Racing UK
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Kelso
‘
...and those drawn on the stands’ side have an advantage.’ Mudfest?
Hurdle race? Kelso? Hope your horse bags the stands’ side rail in the
home straight. Going back to the ‘jumps-is-the-poor-relation’ argument
mentioned under Chepstow, when an article about track bias appears in the Racing
Post, what will it talk about? Take 4/6 that the first thing mentioned is the
importance of an inside draw at Chester. For the forecast, the next subject
will probably be the straight course at Beverley, then for the trifecta the
straight course at Thirsk. But at the jump track at Kelso on the Scottish borders,
the stands’ side rail is emphatically where to be at the finish when
the mud’s flying. Where have you read that before? Probably nowhere.
The horse going best two out over hurdles might not be the one, depending on
where the jockey steers it after the last. With the run-in wide (also used
for chases), they can finish the width of the track apart – this makes
for tricky viewing on TV – and the one on the far side often ends up
pipped. To talk about the rest of the track here, there’s a fair chase
circuit – possibly a little on the sharp side – and a sharp hurdles
track running inside of it, both going left-handed. There’s a two-furlong
run-in for the chasers, joining that biased home straight on the hurdles course
and missing out two fences. In similar fashion to Carlisle (also Cartmel and
the Mildmay circuit at Aintree, come to that), the take-off side of the fences
has only the kicking-board eyeline, so the plain fences look like ditches.
Some quality contests feature throughout the season at Kelso, and the best
card here – currently going without terrestrial TV coverage, which is
nothing short of diabolical – is the late February one (early March some
years), headed up by the Grade 2 Premier Kelso Novices’ Hurdle. The Scottish
Borders National used to be on that card too, but has since been moved to a
December date.
Website: www.kelso-races.co.uk. TV: At The Races
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Kempton
Let’s go back to October 2006. ‘Bit of history now as they cross
over the all-weather track for the first time...’ Richard ‘Jumping’s
Back!’ Hoiles’s words as he commentated on the opening novices’ hurdle
at Kempton’s first jumps meeting after their Polytrack was installed,
were actually describing something that had been done before, just not at Kempton.
Some may have forgotten about the few NH cards that took place at Wolverhampton
after their all-weather circuit opened for business, which took in a few yards
of Fibresand when turning into the back straight. The ‘new’ track
at Kempton includes about half a furlong of Polytrack after passing the stands.
It’s the same, triangular shape as the old one and is minus one fence
on the chase track - the water jump removed without replacement – but
it is a more galloping track than before. And here’s another difference.
As seems to be the case at Southwell, another track with a turf circuit next
to an all-weather, Kempton when there is give in the ground appears to be one
point softer than the official going, i.e if they say ‘good to soft’ it’s
actually ‘soft’, and if they say ‘heavy’ then it’s ‘very
heavy’ (not an official going description, but it arguably should be).
If you happened to video Simon’s win in the 2007 Racing Post Chase, then
watch it, because that illustrates what I’m trying to say. The jump programme,
running side by side with Winter Flat dross, is longer it was before the re-configure
(it now extends well into March) and, of course, includes the Kauto Star benefit
that is the King George VI Chase on Boxing Day – more traditional than
Turkey at that time of year – backed up by the Feltham Novices’ Chase
and Christmas Hurdle, and the aforementioned Racing Post Chase plus a hatful
of other Graded races on the last Saturday in February. Public trannie should
be convenient, for Kempton has its own train station with direct services from
London Waterloo.
Website: www.kempton.co.uk. TV: Racing UK
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Leicester
Remittance Man, Royal Athlete, Raymylette, Indefence, Arctic Kinsman, Erhaab.
Many good horses come to Leicester at the beginning of their careers, even
the odd Derby winner, but that’s enough about horses who do hardly
anything and, for some strange reason, earn more prize money than jumpers
do. I’ve a bit of time for Leicester, and so do many professionals,
and if there is fair ground – bearing in mind that the chase track
isn’t watered – then expect to see some good ones turn up in
the beginners’ and novice chases. Indeed a race errantly billed as ‘the
best chase ever staged at Leicester’ made its debut last season in
early January 2008, a Class 2 conditions chase won by Jack The Giant. If
persevered with, the race could – and should – get better, but
I can’t
have it that the inaugural running was a better race than, for example, a
novice chase here in February 1992 which Ryde Again won from Riverside Boy,
a subsequent Welsh National winner. The course is a rectangular-shaped, stiff
right-hander. The first two of the six fences in the back straight are taken
downhill, the next on level ground then the remainder uphill. Turn right
at the end and you’re confronted with the open ditch on the crown of
the home turn, which is probably on an adverse camber, meeting the straight
course side on, then turn right again and go downhill then uphill for a long
home straight with only three fences in it, thus allowing a horse that’s
a bit adrift for some reason, to get back into the mix and win. With six
to jump in the back straight a horse who’s made mistakes should be
punished for it, but that isn’t always the case with the home straight
working in their favour. Hurdle races are over the Flat course, which is
well watered during the Summer and usually softer than the chase. The run
to the line over hurdles is tougher as more of it is uphill, and the leader
turning in usually won’t be first at the post. Leicester is most accessible
by train, but if you’re using East Midlands Trains (formerly Midland
Mainline), the only way to avoid paying a ludicrous amount of money for the
privilege is to book well in advance and hope your chosen meeting doesn’t
get abandoned.
Website: www.leicester-racecourse.co.uk. TV: At The Races
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Lingfield
The future of National Hunt racing at Lingfield seems secure, only in that
messages to the effect that the track intends to go Flat-only – commonplace
in the late 90s – haven’t appeared for some time. Things were
indeed bleak back in 1999/2000 when the number of jump meetings here was
reduced to one and a half – the December meeting and a mixed card in
March, with the Winter Derby, on what was then the Equitrack, the feature.
Things are better now, although one must admit that the number of Lingfield
jump cards in recent years has been boosted by meetings transferred from
elsewhere. Arena Leisure, the track’s owners, stepped in when Ascot
closed for the rebuild and put on their October and February meetings at
Lingfield, and the Surrey track has also stepped in for Doncaster and, in
late 2007, flooded Worcester. Of Lingfield’s own jump cards, the highlight – when
the weather allows – very much remains the mid-December meeting, featuring
the Grade 2 December Novices’ Chase and Summit Junior Hurdle, although
better-quality renewals than the last time they went ahead, which was 2007,
are hoped for in this corner in 2009. No points for guessing which track
is aggressively
competing
against
those races, with just-as-valuable, non-Graded, similar contests, drawing
better-quality fields. Lingfield is a triangular-shaped, 1m4f-round left-handed
track, with a stiff uphill climb starting before five out in chases and four
out over hurdles, followed by an equally-steep descent before the home turn.
No pitfalls jumping-wise for the chasers. The ground is often soft or heavy.
National Hunt Flat races, uniquely, are run on the all-weather Polytrack.
Many folk can’t see the point of that, but they themselves are missing
the point, for bumpers exist to teach horses to race – after all it’s
not as if they’re being asked to run on hot coals. Trains from London
Victoria.
Website: www.lingfield-racecourse.co.uk. TV: At The Races
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Ludlow
Energetic, go-the-wrong-side-of-the-third-last-hurdle, proper jumping-stuff
in the heart of Shropshire. Enter Ludlow, where the selling hurdle is king
(and the hunter chase queen, while the claiming hurdle is jack). To be fair,
they haven’t had a repetition of a grizzly incident in December 2003,
where a lady rider came to grief at the first in one of those sellers, the
hurdle was omitted next time and they went several different directions (rumours
of one runner ending up at Hereford and another at Bangor were unfounded).
There are two flat, right-handed tracks here. The hurdles course has an unconventional
layout, with one hurdle on the side going away from the stands, the runners
going straight on past the chase bend to go to the back straight, only two
there, then a sweeping turn followed by three quick hurdles in the home straight,
which can decide a race if a few are in contention turning in. The chase
track also has a slightly unusual configuration, with five fences in the
home straight – the water jump next to the winning post not taken on
the last circuit – and four down the back, chase runners taking the
first turn on the right. The fences here seem to be the softest in Britain – many
chasers only get half the height of these fences, brush them and don’t
bat an eyelid. Even the ‘Tricky Trevor’ fence, the first in the
straight, presents no horrors nowadays. The going is usually quick, and the
ground on the home turn is usually well churned up come February (look out
for Timmy Murphy going wide on a lot of his rides here).
Website: http://www.bobdavies.f2s.com/. TV: Racing UK
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Market Rasen
Summer jumping in Britain, introduced for the first time in 1995, has been
a success, and a large chunk of that is down to Market Rasen’s efforts
in putting on the best National Hunt cards at that time of year. The popular
Lincolnshire venue is also still where the jump season officially finishes,
as it was in 1994, when the Dunwoody-Maguire scrap for the Jockeys’ Championship
went right down to that final evening card on the first Saturday in June.
Now on reading that you think ‘what about Sandown?’. But, for
as long as the last jump race there on the last Saturday in April is run
before Market Rasen’s meeting finishes, it’s the ‘Raspberry’ where
the season comes to an end. There’s not a lot of tradition left in
National Hunt, so I personally hope that it stays that way. The track is
a sharp, slightly-undulating right-hander. Try and get on a front-runner,
or one who usually races prominently, in large-field chases, because over
fences here it’s well-nigh impossible to come from behind in a big
field. Such races include the Summer Plate, now in the jumps Pattern as a
Listed race, in July, and there’s another similar valuable handicap
chase in September. Over hurdles one can come from the rear, as Katies Tuitor
proved in the 2008 renewal of the Summer Hurdle, the other big July contest.
Stamina only comes into play here when there’s
give in the ground.
Website: www.marketrasenraces.co.uk. TV: Racing UK
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Musselburgh
They started National Hunt racing at Edinburgh, as this track used to be called,
in 1987 (the name change came in January 1996), to plug that little gap between
November and March and give a major Scottish city horse racing all year round.
Previously Scotland effectively had only two jump tracks during the core
period of the season, with Perth’s fixtures restricted to warmer months,
and Scottish trainers would have liked more venues closer to home to race
their horses at. The overall quality of horses at small Scottish yards, though
(also such stables in the far north of England), is moderate, and this mediocre-ness
found its way into Musselburgh’s jump programme. That said, efforts
have been made to boost the quality of National Hunt sport here and the best
NH meeting is a Sunday card in February which features the Scottish Triumph
Hurdle Trial and the Scottish County Hurdle. Hmm, is there a theme there?
The course is a sharp-to-galloping right-hander, though perhaps less sharp
than the media would have you believe. After all, the back and home straights
have four fences and three hurdles in them, so any sharpness is restricted
to the turns, especially the home turn, where many horses on the inner end
up coming off the rail. The ground is normally good or better, so there’s
another reason why horses run here – some don’t like slogging
round Ayr and Kelso in the mud, and that’s where the Musselburghs and
the Cattericks come into their own. In August 2007 a plan to build an all-weather
track here, at a reported cost of £11 million and which had been approved
by East Lothian Council, was thrown out. One group
of people who were pleased with that was HOOL (Hands Off Our Links), who
campaigned to save Musselburgh Golf Course, which almost certainly would
have been dug up, as the jump course might well have been.
Website: www.musselburgh-racecourse.co.uk.
TV: Racing UK
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Newbury
So there I am, writing this web page, and I reach Newbury, and I’m really
struggling for an opening line. But that’s the thing – the location
is so plain, un-scenic and lacking any sort of character that if it wasn’t
for the racecourse, someone would have built a high-rise tower block on the
site, which today would be inhabited by young Brits of the 21st century misbehaving
and dysfunctional families. Okay, let’s get away from that and talk about
British racing’s rough diamond, because it’s a grade one track
with lots of history and, with Newbury Racecourse station right outside, one
of the most accessible if you travel by rail. All you need is the trains to
be working properly (which usually they don’t – certainly allow
extra time if you’re coming from London Paddington). The best thing about
Newbury is that it’s a big wide-open, galloping track, turning to the
left, with lots of room, easy bends and a water jump opposite the stands, which
hopefully will remain, despite Paul Nicholls’s protests after his Nevada
Royale made a race-losing splash there. What I really wish Newbury would do
is restore the Cross Flight on the hurdles course. How come they didn’t
take away the Cross Fence at the same time, if it was a safety issue? The layout
over hurdles became three on the back and four in the home straight in late-1999,
then mix-and-match between three/four and four/three, before settling down
to a four/three configuration for the last few seasons. Over fences it’s
five down the back, the Cross Fence down the side, and four in the straight,
the water missed out on the last lap. You’ll be familiar with the major
jump fixtures. The Hennessy meeting, featuring the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup,
is in late-November, the Challow Hurdle for novices is over the Christmas period,
the totesport Trophy is in February and a valuable 2m4f handicap chase inaugurated
in 2004, which has had several sponsors already, is in early March. Not forgetting
the mares’ finals later that month; the chase having moved here from
Uttoxeter to accompany the hurdle. It's not all good, however. The prize money
for some of Newbury's novice hurdles in 2008/09, including a January race in
which Mad Max beat Pause And Clause and Shoreacres - above-average novices
all - was very, very poor for a 'big' track (£2,927 to the winner), and that's
something that needs addressing.
Website: www.newbury-racecourse.co.uk.
TV: Racing UK
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Newcastle
Back in ITV Seven days, Newcastle was awesome. Novice chases here were great
Saturday-afternoon television. You need to bear in mind that I was a small
child back then, and derived tremendous entertainment from races where six
started and only one got round. The most famous fallfest here, though, happened
well after Channel 4 had taken over Saturday afternoon coverage. Cast your
mind back to November 1990, and the Steel Plate & Sections Young Chasers
Qualifier. Five started, and all of them came a cropper. The Tim Reed-ridden
Tropenna, left alone when Mr Boston exited five from home, was the last to
go to ground, claimed by the ditch in the home straight three out (now four
out). Reed remounted the 16/1 chance, negotiated the last two and finished
alone. Of course, things have changed over the last ten years. Northern Racing
removed the water jump after they took over the track (quite possibly saving
it from closure), increased the number of fences in the straight from three
to four, and the hurdles taken after turning in from two to three. Over time
some of those truly huge fences were replaced by portable ones, and Newcastle
is now a fraction of the jumping test that it used to be. It’s still
a testing, galloping left-handed track though, and however easy they find
the obstacles, they still have to see out the race thoroughly. Sometimes
those staying on at the end can turn a four-length deficit into a two-length
victory. There’s been the odd change to the NH programme, and one of
the most notable of the races at Newcastle named after breeds of duck, the
Dipper Novices’ Chase run in January, has moved to Cheltenham. They
still have the Eider Chase, the well-known 4m1f mudfest run in February,
which gave the Grand National winner Comply Or Die in 2008 – you have
to go back to the 60s to find the last horse to win the Eider and the Grand
National in the same season, which was Highland Wedding. The Fighting Fifth
Hurdle in November, now a Grade 1, is the top hurdle race here by far, and
the main support contest on that card is the Rehearsal Chase, formerly run
at Chepstow.
Website: www.newcastle-racecourse.co.uk. TV: At The Races
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Newton Abbot
Market Rasen took the Summer Jumping baton at the beginning and ran with it.
Certain other tracks moved their fixture lists in part or in full to the
(theoretically) drier months later, and that’s now where Newton Abbot
comes in, having moved its entire programme to start in late March and finish
in early September. It’s now one of several tracks that describe themselves
as ‘the leading Summer jumping racecourse in the UK’, or similar.
Getting here is basically the same route as that to Exeter, but the two tracks
couldn’t be more different, for the Abbot is a sharp, left-handed track
with only seven fences and four hurdles to a circuit. The hurdles course
is the thing here, for the last hurdle is normally positioned less than a
hundred yards from the line and a good jump, a mistake or a jockey shortening
up to fiddle it can decide a race if there are a few in contention. The two
best races here are the Lord Mildmay Memorial Handicap Chase and the Summer
Festival Handicap Hurdle, run on the Saturday and Sunday respectively at
the two-day meeting that finishes off Newton Abbot’s
season.
Website: www.newtonabbotracing.com. TV: At The Races
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Perth
We’re at Britain’s most northerly racecourse now, and another venue
that has made a success of Summer jumping. They are absolutely packin ‘em
in at this picturesque track, set in the grounds of Scone Palace Park (‘Will
you to Scone?’ If Macbeth liked his racing, he wouldn’t have gone
to Fife). Perth has two major Scottish towns to draw racegoers from – Aberdeen
and Montrose – but never races during the core period of the season,
as the ground here is usually saturated in Winter. Now they can race every
month from April to September, and stage a quality race during June, the Perth
Gold Cup, a 3m handicap chase. Perth is an easy right-handed track with plenty
of room, suitable for all horses and not favouring one run style over another.
The popularity of the track extends to the trainers who send horses here -
with two-day fixtures the rule, southern yards and many small Irish stables
send runners to Perth, and the racing is competitive. The best meeting here
is the Perth Festival towards the end of April, three days peppered with a
few above-average contests. With plenty of prize money to run for, Messrs Pipe
and Nicholls took their scrap for the 2004/05 Trainers’ Championship
here. However the trainers who often take the honours are Nigel Twiston-Davies
and, over the last couple of seasons in particular, Gordon Elliott, whose runners
always go to Perth on business (those from the Elliott yard are often overbet
and too short). The track
were
hoping
to
use Easyfix
hurdles,
now part of the furniture in Ireland at some tracks including Ballinrobe and
Kilbeggan, at the latest Perth Festival, but that didn't happen and traditional
hurdles are still used.
Website: http://www.perth-races.co.uk.
TV: At The Races
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Plumpton
Plumpton's desire to race no matter what the weather throws at them, saw things
at the track sink to a new low on February 9th 2009. There had been abandonments,
and A.P.McCoy had therefore been denied a chance to get his 3,000th winner.
Plumpton announced in the morning that racing was to go ahead after an inspection,
then it rained, rained and rained some more. Okay, they wanted Plumpton to
be the place where A.P. rode his 3,000th, I get that - and he did, on Restless
D'Artaix in a beginners' chase - but for heaven's sake, the horses were galloping
through large lakes! You call that safe for horses? They weren't raceable at
any stage that day. It’s
unfortunate that, when I think of Plumpton, that’s the first thing that
springs to mind, because it really shouldn’t be. The course don’t
have the backing of one of the big racecourse-owning groups and have done everything
they
can to put historical perceptions of the track to rest, not least introduce
a £25,000 bonus for a novice chaser who wins a race here then win at
the Cheltenham Festival (pocketed by Voy Por Ustedes’s connections
in 2005/06). The tight, rectangular, left-handed course has several undulations
and, arguably, the least-popular fence in Britain for jump jockeys on novice
chasers. When they turn to go down the back straight they go downhill and,
on that descent, there’s a fence. You don’t need me to tell you
what often happens there. I’m surprised the course haven’t considered
moving it to where the water jump used to be, on the crown of the home bend.
For hurdlers, the uphill/downhill parts and tricky turns mean that, in a
big field, it’s a struggle for horses trapped in mid-pack. Plumpton
is one of the best for going by train, with the railway station right next
to that turn for home.
Website: www.plumptonracecourse.co.uk. TV: At
The Races
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Sandown
No introduction necessary. You’ll have heard the endless schmaltz emanating
from various members of the Channel 4 Racing team past and present, extolling
the virtues of Sandown, for near-enough the last two decades. Graham Goode
turned into a different person when calling the finishes here. Okay, some of
it is justified; it’s a lovely natural ampitheatre, there’s exciting
racing and top-class horses run here. Something Channel 4 never tell you is
that if you go by car, it’s a hellish nightmare trying to get out. Plenty
of staff are available to help you park when you arrive late morning, but where
are they after the last? Everyone jams up the exit as they all go for the same
place, the main road is already busy because of traffic coming from/going to
Esher High Street and the Scilly Isles roundabout, after which the Grade 1
novice chase here is named, is horrible. In the first place the car park here
is about the muddiest at any of Britain’s racecourses, so all in all
you’re better off coming here by train. Get off at Esher station and
it’s something like between 200 and 300 yards’ walk. You’ll
be familiar with the right-handed, galloping, slightly-undulating course with
an uphill finish, which is made out to be stiffer than it actually is – it’s
not the Cheltenham hill, which itself isn’t a patch on the Towcester
hill. You know the Railway Fences, the Pond Fence and the Rhododendron Walk
(the latter isn't part of the course, but there’s a name for most
things here). Hurdle races use the Flat course and the configuration is uneven,
with
four
hurdles
on the back straight and two in the home run. The race programme, then: the
Tingle Creek in early December is the number two 2m chase in the calendar;
the Tolworth Hurdle for novices in January sometimes gives you a Cheltenham
Festival winner; the Sandown Handicap Hurdle and the aforementioned Scilly
Isles are in February; the Imperial Cup in March is usually won by a horse
going on to the Fred Winter or County Hurdles a few days afterwards (the lure
of a £75,000 bonus for winning the Imperial Cup and at the Cheltenham
Festival), and of course there’s the Finale meeting on the last day in
April featuring the used-to-be-the-Whitbread Gold Cup. Not forgetting two of
the few remaining traditions of National Hunt racing, the Royal Artillery in
February and the Grand Military in March, where the human participants are
past and present members of the Armed Forces (see racecards for the full conditions).
Website: www.sandown.co.uk. TV: Racing UK
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Sedgefield
This spot in County Durham was made famous for being Tony Blair’s constituency,
but I strongly suspect that people with no interest in horse racing don’t
know that Sedgefield has a racecourse. Past descriptions of it stated that
it had a 525-yard run-in – this goes back to the days when it was unique
in having the open ditch as the last fence, at the top of the home straight,
then a run-in omitting the water jump. Obviously this has changed since then,
the water replaced by a plain fence which is now the last and the run-in now
a more normal 200-odd yards. The rectangular, left-handed, undulating circuit
is on the sharp side, rising sharply after the last fence/hurdle on the back
straight before a steep descent coming off the home turn. It’s desirable
for a horse to be leading at this point if it’s going for the win – it’s
harder to gain ground on the leader when going downhill. Stamina is important
in the longer races, for there’s no three-mile start at Sedgefield and
staying contests are over 3m3f (hurdles)/3m3f110y (chases). Adverse
publicity about Sedgefield in 2008 will not be dwelled upon here, but because
of it, report has it that they are looking into the feasibility of staging
races
over
a trip nearer to 3m. Go and Google it if you must, but in my opinion National
Hunt’s small tracks sometimes get too much of a bum deal from the press.
Website: www.sedgefield-racecourse.co.uk. TV: At The Races
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Southwell
In professional punter Sidney Harris’s book, the title of which I can’t
remember, he stated that he had no strategy at all about the jump track at
Southwell. Well, if Sidney’s reading this, I can help him out. I think
that the going here at this Nottinghamshire track is usually one point softer
than it actually is, i.e. if they say ‘good’, it’s actually ‘good
to soft’, and if they say ‘heavy’, it’s ‘very
heavy’ (which I think should be introduced as an official going description),
that observation probably related in some way to the construction of the all-weather
circuit, for the same thing happens at Kempton now. And in chases, get a good
jumper on your side, for the fences here, though portable, are pretty tough
for a gaff. But the course itself is pretty-well normal - it’s an American-shaped,
completely flat left-hander, situated inside the Fibresand. The turns are easy
and both straights give a horse and jockey time to get organised at the obstacles.
Some horses can make all, others have no problem coming from behind – no
run style has an advantage over another in well-run races. Haydock, in its
new incarnation, has two things to thank Southwell for; first, the concept
of staging chases and hurdles on the same strip of ground, for they’ve
been doing that here for well in excess of a decade. Chases first, whip the
fences off, hurdles on. Second, the Fixed Brush hurdles. Originally made for
the all-weather hurdling experiment, Southwell used them on grass for the first
time in March 1993 and has done so ever since. The ‘mini-fences’ are
kinder to horses, who brush through the plastic ‘birch’ rather
than whack a solid wood frame. And, of course, you can’t knock ‘em
flat. Southwell took over some Doncaster jump meetings when that track was
being rebuilt, and has gained three new NH fixtures of its own in 2009. There’s
no scenery at Southwell – Harris used the word ‘featureless’ – but
I like it.
Website: www.southwell-racecourse.co.uk. TV: At The Races
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Stratford
The course next to the River Avon is another to have re-invented itself as
a Summer jumps course, but the comfort of those that visit Stratford does
not appear to be one of the racecourse’s prime concerns. They rebuilt
their grandstand relatively recently, back in 1997, but they got it wrong
in my opinion. The new structure is too small and unable to cope with a crowd.
People insist on taking their pints onto it and, all in all, I think I’d
prefer a walk in the park than a day at Stratford when it’s sunny and
warm. The track is a tight left-hander with no significant undulations. Two
of the five hurdles on the course are in the home straight and jumping can
decide the outcome of hurdle races. The staff have had to work on the configuration
of the chase course. For over a decade after they took out their water jump
in front of the stands, they had two fences in the home straight, which worked
fine until there were suddenly a lot of fallers over these two fences in
2006. Maybe the second last had been re-sited a few yards one way or the
other before the falls, but I’m very much guessing there. Their first
solution was to remove that second last but have a new fence closer to the
line – so the last became the second last, and the new final fence
was sited about a hundred yards before the winning post. This still didn’t
solve the problem as the number of falls at these two remained above average,
so for 2008 Stratford restored the water jump in front of the stands. This
seems to have done the trick and there are now fewer fallers in the home
straight, as well as a great spectacle for racegoers – well, those
who can actually see it from the grandstand. Ruby Walsh would disagree with
this, though, after the Gallik Dawn wrong-course incident at the late May
2008-meeting. Barriers placed in front of it did not prevent Ruby and his
mount from jumping it when going for the line. It’s a bit like the
Fakenham thing – a jockey should be properly acquainted with the layout
of the course before going out to ride. I say well done Stratford for bringing
it back – all
we need now is the old Courage Brewery Chase back from ITV Seven days, with
the shire horses at the start. Ahh, memories...
Website: www.stratfordracecourse.net.
TV: At The Races
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Taunton
We’re off west here, deep in Zummerset cider-drinking country. They say
that, first and foremost, Taunton is a hurdle-race track, and they have special
Jockey Club dispensation which lets them stage just two chases per meeting
instead of the minimum three in the height of Winter. Novice hurdles here often
carry prize money that’s above the minimum levels. Okay, that’s
great, but there’s a problem here that the racecourse executive probably
don’t think they have. I don’t know if any work has ever been done
on the turn out of the back straight on the hurdles course, but that is the
worst bend on a British racetrack. It comes not long after the last hurdle
down the back, and normally takes the form of about five yards of rail, shaped
into a curve. The place to be at that point is in front, no two ways.
The layout of that turn
is such
that
those
in the
chasing
group
can
do
nothing
but get
in each other’s way, and most are beaten right there. The fact that most
novice hurdles at the track go up through the gears at this point after being
steadily-run affairs only makes matters worse. To be fair, that bend was dolled
out to its furthest extremity for a couple of meetings early in 2009 and it
appeared less problematical,
watching on TV anyway. Aside from that, a jumping error
at any point on the last circuit of hurdle races often means that a horse holding
a strong winning chance before the mistake, instantly goes to having no chance
at all. But don’t be surprised if a fancied horse in a Taunton hurdle
that’s well beaten, returns to form next time at a track with a fairer
layout. Overall Taunton is a sharp, right-handed, rectangular course, better
for chasers than hurdlers I think (as you’ll have gathered), as long
as you hold a prominent position from the outset on either circuit. It’s
a popular place, and even on a crisp and cold Thursday in February, you have
to wedge yourself in to the grandstand.
Website: www.tauntonracecourse.co.uk.
TV: At The Races
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Towcester
And now mountaineering for racehorses, located in Northamptonshire within easy
reach of the M1 and M40 and not a million miles away from Silverstone, but
don’t expect to see anything near Jenson Button’s speed here.
This is Towcester, the world’s toughest racecourse. The galloping,
right-handed track includes the stiffest uphill finish anywhere. Publications
always use phraseology to the effect of ‘many a race is turned on its
head’, and that’s how it is. The last half-mile of the circuit
is all uphill, and they start climbing well before the last fence/hurdle
prior to the home turn. The closer you get to the line, the harder the climb.
Sometimes the four-length leader three out ends up pulled up before the last.
In terms of the quality of racing, Towcester arguably hasn’t made much
effort to improve it. There was a flirtation with a valuable novice chase
for a couple of years before the course closed for rebuilding in 2001, but
since its 2003 reopening, some may have looked at racecards for Towcester
and probably thought ‘I’m not paying money to see that...’.
Well you don’t have to, because admission is free for most meetings
here.
Website: www.towcester-racecourse.co.uk. TV: At The Races
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Uttoxeter
This is where it all began for the late Sir Stanley Clarke’s Northern
Racing group. The Staffordshire countryside course at Uttoxeter was down on
its uppers, then Sir Stanley bought it, financed a whole host of improvements
to buildings and stuff, moved the Midlands National to a March slot and got
Channel 4 to televise it for the first time in 1991. Forward wind to 2009 and,
to be honest, with Sir Stanley sadly no longer around, Uttoxeter is resting
on its laurels. To be fair, it’s often the case that there’s only
so much you can do – and there’s nothing wrong with the buildings
and facilities – but what about the track? It operates all year round
and the running surface for the horses can sometimes be described as ‘variable’.
There is an omitted fence and/or hurdle somewhere at many meetings, and unsightly
bits of sticking-out running rail are used to doll off the areas not in use – it
needs looking at. The course itself is a sharp left-hander with a dog-leg
right-turn on the back straight. The ground here in the height of Winter can
get so muddy that it stretches the definition of ‘raceable’. The
other major race here is another National, the English Summer version, reduced
in trip from 4m to 3m4f for the 2009 running in late June. The temperature
around then is sometimes 90 in the shade, surely
too hot for a four-mile chase, so a good move to reduce the distance of a race
that, in its short life, has caught on with Irish as well as British trainers.
But then again, with English Summers normally being wet nowadays, they may
well no longer have the problem of
horses
suffering
from
heatstroke.
Website: www.uttoxeter-racecourse.co.uk.
TV: At The Races
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Warwick
Racing in Shakespeare’s county here folks. ‘Historic Warwick’ they
sometimes call it, and what a beautiful olde English town centre it is, dominated
by Warwick Castle. The racecourse ain’t bad either. The NH programme
runs from November to March and includes some above-average racing, with its
top race being the Grade 3 Classic Chase over 3m5f, the modern-day equivalent
of what used to be the ‘Brooke Bond Oxo National’. The Grade 2
Leamington Novices’ Hurdle and a Listed bumper top the undercard. The
February meeting – when the weather allows it to go ahead (the Winters
of our discontent...) – is also a good quality card, featuring the Grade
2 Kingmaker Novices’ Chase. The track itself is a galloping-in-the-main,
left-handed, mainly flat circuit. Some of the turns are a little tight, but
really the only horses Warwick wouldn’t suit would be any who can’t
act left-handed. The best-known feature at Warwick is the chase track, which
includes five rapid-fire fences close together going down the side towards
the home turn, placing the emphasis on good, straight jumping. Warwick station
is about 15 minutes’ walk away.
Website: www.warwickracecourse.co.uk.
TV: Racing UK
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Wetherby
The ground issues that have beset Wetherby’s re-aligned course in
2007/08 were still not behind them in the latest season, as the track was forced
to abandon its early June meeting because of hard ground. Having been forced
to alter the configuration of the track due to a compulsory purchase
order as a result of the widening of the A1, which famously passes the home
turn, the West Yorkshire venue was still being criticised in some quarters
for the condition of the new ground – some expressed the opinion that
the turf needed time to mature, but trainer Ferdy Murphy was rather less kind
with his 'licorice allsorts' comment. It’ll need to be right in time
for the track’s
biggest meeting of the season, featuring the Grade 2 Charlie Hall Chase on
October 31st. It’s regarded as a ‘new’ circuit, but not all
of it is new. There’s about 200 yards left of the previous track in the
home straight – watch closely and you can see the join in the grass,
like squares of turf on your lawn – and most of the back straight is
still the same as previously, including the remaining big, black Wetherby fences
on the circuit, then the course bears left at a point before the previous home
turn started, giving a sweeping bend into the new straight, which –unlike
the old home run – is completely straight, avoiding the elbow about a
furlong from home. What’s different about Wetherby post re-configuration
is that it’s now much easier for horses to come from behind than it used
to be. The Charlie Hall is backed up by such as the John Smith’s Hurdle,
the Wensleydale for juveniles and a new Listed mares’ hurdle, which made
its debut in 2007. The Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase is the pick of the track’s
two-day Christmas meeting.
Website: www.wetherbyracing.co.uk. TV: Racing
UK
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Wincanton
Here is one of those ‘almost-a-grade-one’ tracks, down the A303
in Somerset. Only just, though – a mile the other way and Wincanton would
be in Wiltshire. Once you pass Stonehenge, you’re nearly there. Situated
in the middle of nowhere, with the aroma of manure from the surrounding farms
(if you’re driving with your window down) but without single-track roads,
we have the number one track in the West Country, also Paul Nicholls’s
local track. Formerly shown once a year every Boxing Day on BBC between Kempton
races (when Auntie had the near-monopoly), it went about a decade without TV
coverage (so all Desert Orchid’s appearances at the course were missed)
until Channel 4 started regular visits when beaming the 1995 Jim Ford Chase
and Kingwell Hurdle down your tellywire. Since then several Thursday cards
have moved to Saturdays. Wonder why? Wincanton is a tight, rectangular right-hander
with – thanks to Wetherby’s alterations – quite possibly
the stiffest fences you can find nowadays on a British steeplechase course
away from the Grand National track, tall, formidable-looking and packed full
of birch. That said, before 2007/08 they replaced the permanent obstacles on
the back straight with portable ones, no easier than before though. The giant
Bacofoil
sheet – the water jump down the side going away from the stands – still
remained in place last season. Watch Wincanton in November when the sun’s
out and you’ll see what I mean. It’s desirable to be up with the
pace throughout and, over fences, the first to reach the third last fence normally
wins. Hurdle races were run for the first time over 2m4f in 2007/08. Wincanton’s
biggest days are in November, when the Badger Ales Chase, Elite Hurdle and
Rising Stars
Novices’ Chase are run, and February, when the Kingwell Hurdle and what
is now known as the Country Gentlemen’s* Association Chase take place.
Website:
www.wincantonracecourse.co.uk. TV: Racing UK
* Note: The CGA’s website states that ladies have been welcomed to
membership of it for more than 100 years.
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Worcester
Britain’s wacky climate is making a habit of trying to put the kybosh
on Worcester’s season of Summer jumping. This lovely track – and
I use the word because I mean it – was the first to move its entire season
to the warmest months of the year, but in 2007 they lost half their meetings
to the floods, and the weather continues to give the staff here more headaches
in Summer 2008 than it ever did in Winters past, with one August meeting lost
to the elements. Historically Worcester have always had problems with the River
Severn, which is next to the home straight, bursting its banks and engulfing
part or all of the track every now and again, but it’s safe to assume
that the rains and floods of 2007 and 2008 were like nothing else ever seen.
Worcester is a flat, galloping left-hander with a nice round turn at each end,
and it’s
for that reason that moving fixtures away from the jump season-proper wasn’t
popular with everyone. Simply, there is no track fairer to inexperienced horses,
whether they’re being introduced to racing in bumpers, starting over
hurdles or making a chasing debut. The obstacles on both courses are well spaced
out, and because the bends are more like proper semi-circles, rather than a
sudden right-angle or anything like that, horses won’t lose ground turning
for home. Once in line, if they’re habitually jumping right, then they
can get away with that. One race here at Worcester stands out like a beacon
from the rest of its programme, and that is the Fred Rimell Memorial, a long-established
contest named in honour of one of National Hunt racing’s greatest trainers.
Nowadays run as a beginners’ chase, the last two renewals, in 2005 and
2006, were won by Idle Talk, who ran second in the Royal & SunAlliance
Chase at Cheltenham – he could jump in those days – and the mare
Heltornic, who went on to take the Grade 2 Towton Novices’ and Grade
3 Red Square Vodka Handicap. Keep an eye on the form of the 2009 running, as
long as the weather backs off. Hurdle races are over the Fixed Brush obstacles.
Website: www.worcester-racecourse.co.uk. TV: At The Races
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© Roy
Waterhouse
2009
'The Meal Deal'