The Top Horse Racecouses in The UK That Attract The Classiest Runners

By Paul John Coleman

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The unique thing about horse racing tracks in Britain is that every course is different from each other. Some have steep uphill finishes such as Cheltenham or Towcester. Some are very tight tracks such as Chester. Some of the National Hunt tracks have stiff fences or undulating tracks.

Here is a list of tracks where a previous course win would be a big advantage in the UK because of the unique characteristics of the course.

Ascot, Carlisle, Chester Epsom, Newcastle, Beverly Catterick, Goodwood, Newmarket, Brighton, Pontefract and Lingfield for flat racing.
Ascot, Fakenham, Kelso, Newcastle, Carlisle, Fontwell. Leicester, Plumpton, Catterick, Haydock, Lingfield, Sandown, Cheltenham, Aintree, Towcester for National Hunt racing.

Most trainers will run their horses within a certain class according to the horse's ability. If a horse shows very good form the trainer may up it in class to a better grade of venue. Most of the top grade racing with the biggest prize money is run at eight courses. These are Ascot, Epsom, York, Newmarket, Goodwood,
Doncaster, Sandown, and Newbury. Obviously a horse moving up from a low-grade track to one of these top venues would have to be out of the ordinary to win a race there.

Older Horse Stakes

By Navshin Chatur

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While most of the racing world will be focusing on the three-year-olds at Gulfstream, Santa Anita and Tampa, there are two important races going on for the older horse division. First is the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap at Gulfstream Park.
The one-turn, one-mile drew a field of only six, but it is a deep field. Of the six there are three graded stakes winners including a Grade 1 belonging to Jackson Bend, who is not even the favorite.

Instead, favoritism landed with Mucho Macho Man, who will be cutting back a furlong in distance after winning the Sunshine Millions classic in his last start. Prior to that, MMM won a mile race at Aqueduct.
As a three-year-old Mucho Macho Man was one of the top prospects in the country. He won the Grade 2 Risen Star at Fair Grounds then was third in the Kentucky Derby, sixth in the Preakness and seventh in the Belmont.

It will be interesting to see if jockey Ramon Dominguez hooks up with Tackleberry, who drew to his outside. Tackleberry was a beast at Gulfstream Park winning three of four including this race. He is likely to be on the front-end when the gates open for jockey Rajiv Maragh, who rode MMM in four starts before being taken off in the Belmont.