Cheltenham Racecourse, situated in Prestbury Park, on the edge of the Cotswolds, is best known for the four-day Cheltenham Festival, which takes place in March each year. The Cheltenham Festival is the pinnacle of the National Hunt season, with the Champion Hurdle, the Queen Mother Champion Chase, the World Hurdle and the Cheltenham Gold Cup among the 27 races contested over the four days. The racecourse moved to Prestbury Park in 1831, but the first National Hunt race didn’t take place until 67 years later, in 1898.

Course Characteristics

The Old Course at Cheltenham, which is used on the first two days of the Cheltenham Festival, is a left-handed, galloping, undulating, testing oval, approximately a mile and a half around. There are ten, stiff fences, or eight flights of hurdles, per circuit.

The New Course, which is used on the last two days of the Festival, shares the same characteristics as the Old Course, but is slightly longer. The stiffness of the fences aside, the conventional courses at Cheltenham are defined by their testing nature and the stiff, uphill climb from the final fence to the winning post, which constitutes the famous Cheltenham hill.

The Cross Country Course, which is used for just three races a year, is laid out in the centre of the conventional courses and features an eclectic mixture of banks, ditches and rails.

Track Facts

Golden Miller won the Cheltenham Gold Cup five years running between 1932 and 1936. More recently, Cottage Rake (1948, 1949 and 1950), Arkle (1964, 1965 and 1966) and Best Mate (2002, 2003 and 2004) all won the Blue Riband event in three consecutive years.

In 1983, former trainer Michael Dickinson saddled Bregawn, Captain John, Wayward Lad, Silver Buck and Ashleigh House to fill the first five places in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Dawn Run, who won the Champion Hurdle in 1984 and the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1986, is the only horse in history to win both races.

Norton’s Coin, bred, owned and trained by Welsh farmer Sirrell Griffiths, was the longest-priced winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup, at 100/1, in 1990.

Chelmsford City Racecourse rose from the ashes of the ill-fated Great Leighs Racecourse, which was built on the same site, near Braintree in Essex, but closed in January, 2009, after going into administration less than twelve months after opening. The racecourse was reopened under its new name in January, 2015, although the track surface and layout remained unchanged. Chelmsford City Racecourse caters, exclusively, for Flat racing.

Course Characteristics

Chelmsford consists of left-handed oval, approximately one mile in circumference, with wide, sweeping turns and a two-furlong home straight. The course is essentially galloping in character, without undulations to unbalance a big, long striding horse. Races over 7 furlongs and a mile start on separate spurs.

The racing surface at Chelmsford is Polytrack, the same as at Kempton and Lingfield. However, the surface has been completely rewaxed, to increase its binding properties and reduce the amount of “kickback” – that is, loose surface kicked back into the faces of the following horses, and jockeys – since the racecourse reopened. The idea was to make racing fairer for horses ridden from off the pace, but statistics suggest that front-runners still have an edge, particularly in sprint races.

Track Facts

Chelmsford City Racecourse is the only racecourse in Essex.

Chelmsford City Racecourse is one of only five fully floodlit all-weather tracks in the country.

The first winner at Chelmsford City Racecourse was Tryster, trained by Charlie Appleby and ridden by Adam Kirby, on January 11, 2015.

On September 2, 2017, Chelmsford City Racecourse staged its most valuable raceday so far, with prize money amounting to £200,000.

Catterick Racecourse, also known as Catterick Bridge, has stood in its current location, in the Richmond district of North Yorkshire since 1783. The first grandstand, evidence of which still remains, was built in 1906 and, under the auspices of the Catterick Racecourse Company, formed in 1923, Catterick has continued to flourish right up to the present day. Today, Catterick hosts 27 Flat and National Hunt fixtures each year.

Course Characteristics

The round course at Catterick is a left-handed, oval, just over mile around and characterised by pronounced undulations and sharp turns. The last seven furlongs of the round course, including the sharp turn into the three-furlong straight, are downhill as is the whole of the five-furlong straight course.

The National Hunt course features eight, easy fences, or five hurdles, per circuit. Overall, Catterick can be classified as very sharp on the Flat and, although slightly less sharp over fences and hurdles, suits agile, nimble horses rather than their big, long-striding counterparts.

Track Facts

The most valuable Flat race run at Catterick, the Catterick Dash, is one the shortest, at 5 furlongs, while the most valuable National Hunt race, the North Yorkshire Grand National, is the longest, at 3 miles 6 furlongs.

Five-time champion jockey Willie Carson, rode his first winner, Pinker’s Pond, at Catterick in 1962.

Cheltenham Gold Cup winning jockey Ridley Lamb rode his first winner, White Speck, at Catterick in 1971, at the age of just 15.

Cartmel Racecourse is situated in the picturesque medieval village of Cartmel, on the edge of the Lake District, in Cumbria. Horseracing first took place at Cartmel in 1856 and, originally, was limited to just one fixture a year, on Whit Monday. Nowadays, Cartmel still only stages seven fixtures a year, but boasts a modern grandstand, restaurant and hospitality facilities.

Course Characteristics

Cartmel is a left-handed, sharp, undulating oval, bisected by the finishing straight. There are just six, stiff fences, or four hurdles, on each circuit of the track, which is only just over a mile in circumference. Cartmel has the distinction of having the longest run-in of any National Hunt course in the country, at half a mile. The idiosyncrasies of Cartmel often produce course specialists.

Track Facts

By far the most famous event in the history of Cartmel racecourse was an attempted betting coup in August 1974, which became known as the “Gay Future Affair.” Essentially, a diverse cast of characters, who became known as the “Cork Mafia”, attempted to defraud bookmakers by substituting one horse for another. The substitute won by 15 lengths at 10/1, but the coup was discovered, bookmakers refused to pay out and the ringleaders were eventually warned off for 10 years.

Cartmel staged a two-day fixture in July, featuring the inaugural running of the Cumbria Crystal Trophy Handicap Hurdle, for the first time in 2012.