Newbury has joined the Sky Sports Racing family from 2024, with 29 racedays still to come this year, including 11 newly classified Premier fixtures.
This brings a host of thrilling races including the Betfair Hurdle (February 10), Lockinge (May 18) and the Coral Gold Cup (November 30), with the total prize money for 2024 now worth an extra £7m compared to last year.
History
Newbury is over 110-years-old with the first recorded racing taking place in 1805 but this wasn’t the racecourse as we know it now. In 1905 the racecourse we see today was opened after John Porter proposed the idea. He is now honoured with a race in his name.
It wasn’t a smooth course to being an official racecourse as the plans were rejected by The Jockey Club several times. A chance meeting with King Edward VII catapulted the plans forward and the racecourse was approved.
At first it was just flat racing but a year later in 1906, nine days of racing were planned with six on the flat and three over jumps.
The Track
The flat course is left-handed with undulations throughout the straight mile. Its galloping nature makes it ideal for big, striding type.
Down the straight course all the action normally happens on the stand-side rail, but the centre of the track can be beneficial. With little draw bias on the straight track often classy horses are sent here. However, the round 1m track can depend heavily on the draw.
The Jumps course is also left-handed and galloping but has the advantage of less undulations. The chase course is fairly stiff and a slower pace here is to be expected. Front runners are rarely beaten on the chase course. The long straights and sweeping bends can be beneficial to experienced horses.
Local Legends
With so much top class racing the big names in terms of jockeys, trainers and horses are attracted to Newbury.
Richard Hannon Senior is the leading flat trainer in all time here and has had the most success here with icons such as Paco Boy, who won three Group 1 races including the Lockinge Stakes in some style. He also had star Canford Cliffs win the race in 2011.
John Gosden also has a startling strike rate here of 19 per cent. He owes his most recent win in the Lockinge to Palace Pier and Frankie Dettori in 2021. Dettori too has an outstanding record here that includes five wins in the Lockinge. We also saw Juddmonte star Arrest show how good he was by a comfortable group three win before heading to finish second in the St Leger.
Richard Johnson leads the all-time winners at Newbury for the jumps with a huge 139 wins. This includes two Challow Novices’ Hurdles with Fingal Bay and Thyme Hill and three wins on Native River, who was five from six runs on this course.
Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls both have a strike rate of 21 per cent here, however Henderson comes out on top with 286 wins. The top trainer is also five-time winner of the upcoming Betfair Chase, most recently in 2013 and this year he has five entries including Iberico Lord, Luccia and Doddiethegreat.
Fixture list –
Jumps…
10-Feb – Betfair Super
Saturday 01 & 02 Mar – BetVictor Afternoon Racing
22 & 23 Mar – BetVictor Jumps Finale
Flat…
19 & 20 Apr – Dubai Duty Free Spring Trials
17-May – Starlight Charity Raceday
18-May – Al Shaqab Lockinge Day
13-Jun – Afternoon Racing
25-Jun – Evening Racing
04-Jul – Summer Evening Series
11-Jul – Summer Evening Series
19-Jul – Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Raceday
20-Jul – Weatherbys Super Sprint Day
25-Jul – Summer Evening Series
16-Aug – Afternoon Racing
17-Aug – BetVictor Hungerford Day
29-Aug – Evening Racing
05-Sep – Evening Racing
20 & 21 Sep – Dubai Duty Free International Weekend
25 & 26 Oct – BetVictor Flat Finale
Jumps…
07-Nov – BetVictor Jumps Opener
29-Nov – Coral Long Distance Hurdle Day
30-Nov – Coral Gold Cup Day
18-Dec – BetVictor Christmas Raceday
28-Dec – Coral Challow Hurdle Day
Watch all the action live on Sky Sports Racing.
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Source : Sky Sports
