Brighton Course Guide

Brighton stages meetings throughout the summer and the racecourse has views over both the sea and the city. It hosts a three-day festival in August including the most valuable race in its calendar, the John Smith’s Brighton Mile Challenge Trophy. The handicap is open to three-year-olds and older horses and regularly attracts sizable fields.

Racing on the downs high above the city, runners over 12 furlongs at Brighton have to negotiate left and right turns as well as a sharp downhill descent into the straight before a stiff climb to the line. For that reason, comparisons are drawn between Brighton and Epsom, though other tracks such as Goodwood, Lingfield (turf), Salisbury and Bath are not dissimilar.

Flat Racing

Left handed, sharp. 'U' shaped and around twelve furlongs in length, the pronounced gradients make it a track for handy types rather than big, long-striding sorts, though those very enterprisingly ridden can be caught out by the uphill finish. A course where bunching on the rail can occur due to the camber towards the inside of the track, especially in races contested by inexperienced sorts, many tending to hang. When the ground gets testing it often pays to switch towards the stand side inside the last three furlongs.

Horses need to handle all sorts at Brighton, with left-hand and right-hand turns, an uphill section and a sharp decline. That combination catches out a lot of runners. It can be ideal for what you might call ‘clever’ types, though, because the stables are at the end of the straight, so horses are running back to where they’ve come from after the home turn. What you can’t afford to do is get one unbalanced coming down the hill. If you do, you’ll struggle to get back on an even keel for the run to the line.

View from the saddle: Jason Weaver

Brighton Top Times
Last 5 years

Flat

Distance	Horse (Going)	Date	Winning time
5f 60y	Rory Rocket (Good to Firm)	07 Jul 2026	1m 0.47s
5f 215y	Northcliff (Good to Firm)	30 Apr 2025	1m 7.3s
6f 210y	Zu Run (Good to Firm)	08 May 2025	1m 19.56s
7f 216y	Havana Mojito (Good to Firm)	29 Apr 2025	1m 32.51s
1m 1f 207y	Mystic Wells (Good to Firm)	26 Apr 2022	1m 58.3s
1m 3f 198y	Candyman Stan (Good to Firm)	12 Apr 2025	2m 30.12s

Brighton Top Trainers
Last 3 years (ordered by number of winners)

Flat

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
A W Carroll	327	44	137	£156,702	13.46%	-£120.38
G & J Moore	136	24	48	£85,517	17.65%	£46.70
J R Boyle	101	14	43	£46,526	13.86%	-£27.96
G Boughey	37	14	12	£55,873	37.84%	£15.47
James Owen	46	11	18	£51,325	23.91%	-£5.66
J Gallagher	82	10	31	£33,442	12.2%	-£37.50
S C Williams	46	10	19	£41,774	21.74%	£22.00
Eve Johnson Houghton	50	9	20	£45,475	18%	£41.33
M J Attwater	108	7	34	£25,173	6.48%	-£32.50
M Wigham	25	7	13	£25,174	28%	£4.71

Brighton Top Jockeys
Last 3 years (ordered by number of winners)

Flat

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
Jack Doughty	143	21	60	£75,519	14.69%	-£54.47
T P Queally	64	16	20	£57,151	25%	£82.70
Jason Watson	80	15	42	£59,274	18.75%	-£28.87
D Egan	50	15	22	£64,328	30%	£22.38
Billy Loughnane	61	14	26	£56,447	22.95%	-£10.24
Darragh Keenan	91	13	31	£44,537	14.29%	-£25.01
William Carson	119	12	44	£40,088	10.08%	-£64.50
Joe Leavy	69	11	25	£54,335	15.94%	£15.33
Marco Ghiani	47	11	15	£41,302	23.4%	-£0.19
Saffie Osborne	65	10	29	£38,004	15.38%	-£19.05