Category: Racecourses

The ever exciting Royal Ascot is underway. This prestigious event dates back to the early 1700s and with its royal connections and top racing action, it’s a date in the racing calendar that’s not to be missed. Whether on course enjoying the racing and royal ascot hospitality, or viewing from the comfort of your home, there’s plenty of betting opportunities and high points.

Royal Ascot is definitely the most valuable race meeting in Britain, with prize money of over £7.3 million (2018), and arguably the most famous race meeting in the world. The five-day festival features 30 races, including 18 Group races, eight of which are top flight, or Group One, contests and form part of the QIPCO British Champions Series. Let’s cast an eye on some of the highlights so far!

Tuesday, June 19

2.30 Queen Anne Stakes

Named after Queen Anne, who founded Ascot racecourse in 1711, the Queen Anne Stakes is run over a straight mile. The 2018 renewal produced a major shock, with Accidental Agent, at 33/1, beating fellow outsider Lord Glitters, at 20/1, in a driving finish. Interestingly, the winner was the second lowest rated horse in the race, and the runner-up the lowest, according to the BHA handicapper.

3.40 King’s Stand Stakes

The first Group One sprint of the week, the King’s Stand Stakes, has become a popular target for overseas contenders in recent years and, once again, featured runners from France, Ireland and North America. However, Blue Point, trained by Charlie Appleby in Newmarket, took the spoils, staying on to beat Battaash convincingly by 1¾ lengths.

4.20 St. James’s Palace Stakes

The St. James’s Palace Stakes often brings together the winners of the 2,000 Guineas in Britain and Ireland but, while the first three from the Irish 2,000 Guineas did battle once again in 2018, the foremost aspirant from the Newmarket Classic was the second, Tip Two Win. In any event, it was Gustav Klimt, sixth at Newmarket and third at the Curragh, who fared best of the quartet, but despite closing on the winner, Without Parole, towards the finish, was never getting there and eventually went down by half a length.

Wednesday, June 20

4.20 Prince of Wales’s Stakes

The Prince of Wales’s Stakes, run over 1 mile 2 furlongs, was supposed to be a “shoo in” for Cracksman, who previously been beaten just twice – in the Derby and the Irish equivalent – in his nine-race career. However, John Gosden’s 4-year-old, who was sent off at 2/5, was never travelling and could only finish second, beaten 2¼ lengths, behind Poet’s Word.

Thursday, June 21

4.20 Gold Cup

The longest Group One race run in Britain, at 2 miles 4 furlongs, the Gold Cup was won, narrowly, by Stradivarius, trained by John Gosden and ridden by Frankie Dettori. The 7/4 joint favourite, who’d won the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot in 2017, was reversing previous form with the other joint favourite, Order Of St. George, on their running in the Qipco British Champions Long Distance Cup, over 2 miles, at Ascot the previous October.

There are so many race courses in Britain, each of them with their own detailed and colourful history and tales of betting success and failure. At current count 60 courses are operating and with regular racing fixtures, there’s never a shortage of top class racing action. This goes to show why we have two dedicated horse racing TV channels in the UK, namely Racing UK and At The Races, as well as a wide range of online live steaming and race review options.

Much like with horses, not all race courses are created equal. Some racecourses have a richer racing history than others, and more often than not this is due to annual races and their festivals which see eager betting fans placing their bets. The 1000 and 2000 guineas at Newmarket come to mind, as does the Royal Ascot at Aintree – both popular racing calendar events. I’ll focus on those another time, but for now I’ll cover the big two; the Grand National and the Cheltenham Festival.

These two courses are hugely popular and millions of pounds worth of bets are placed due to the thrilling horse racing action. Case in point, in 2013 £130 million was bet on the Grand National, this rose to close to £300million in 2018. Similarly £150m was bet on the Cheltenham Festival this year by eager horse racing fans, so if you are also a fan, you should try placing your bet online with one of the top bookmakers and feel the thrill of online sport betting.

Cheltenham Festival (Cheltenham Racecourse)

Held over four days from 12th to 15^th March, the Cheltenham Festival is a prominent UK racing festival with prize money of close to 5 million pounds over the duration of the festival. Races that form part of the Cheltenham festival include the Champion Hurdle and the Queen Mother Champion Chase, the latter named due to the royals love and connection to racing. Many millions watch at home and abroad. The jewel in the crown of the event is the much anticipated Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The Cheltenham racetrack is at Prestbury Park, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire and is often considered the home of British jump racing. The course has a capacity of close to 70,000. The racecourse has old and new course sections and has recently been updated to include a 6,500 capacity princess royal stand.

The Grand National (Aintree Racecourse)

The Grand National steeplechase event is the most popular and indeed most famous racing event in the UK and has the highest prize money. It’s televised worldwide with audiences of up to 600 million tuning in in countless countries. The Grand National is steeped in history, first taking place in 1839 and with many horses and jockeys entering the history books as result of their Grand National success, such as Red Rum, Bob Champion and others.

The race takes place at Aintree racecourse in Liverpool. The Aintree course features 16 fences including notoriously difficult ones to traverse such as the Chair and Becher’s Brook. Even experienced jockeys sometimes fall foul on this course. When used for the Grand National the course run is 4 miles 514 yards in length.

Are you a veteran fan of horse racing, or are you looking to start indulging in the Sport of Kings? Uttoxeter Racecourse is the go-to place for watching it in Staffordshire, UK. It is considered to be among the best country racecourses in England, and for good reasons. Staffordshire’s National Hunt racing is held here, and with more than 20 other fixtures every year, Uttoxeter Racecourse has a full-packed racing schedule all year-round. Some headlining races hosted in Uttoxeter Racecourse include the Britannia Building Society English National held in June that is preceded by the John Smiths Midlands Grand National held in March.

Uttoxeter Racecourse racetrack

Uttoxeter’s racetrack is oval and reaches a circumference of about one and a quarter miles. There’re two main grandstands for audiences, with snack bars and more than enough bookmakers for bet placements.

Uttoxeter Racecourse History

Uttoxeter Racecourse celebrated 100 years of successful racing in 2007 since it was built and launched in 1907 by a company that took over from Keele Park that had ceased operations. The racecourse operated intermittently after closing in World War I and again in World War II and reopened in April 1952 after it was bought by Uttoxeter Urban Council.

Uttoxeter Racecourse Historic Winners

1967 saw glorious racing at Uttoxeter Racecourse by jockey Josh Gifford on 5 year-old Jolly Signal when he equaled the record 121 season’s winners that had been set by Fred Winter. Teasy Weasy’s Rag Trade won the 1975’s Marston’s Pedigree Midlands Grand National and the Buckmaster owned by John Edward attained the 800th overall win in Uttoxeter in 1982. There have been many historic races in Uttoxeter, not least the Midlands Grand National that celebrated 40th Anniversary in 2009. The Racegoers Club voted Uttoxeter Racecourse as Midlands’ Best Small Racecourse.

Uttoxeter Racecourse Future

The course is continually developed concurrently with the improvement of the racing quality, courtesy of the innovative and forward thinking Uttoxeter administrative team.