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	Alfred Cove (Firm)	30 May 2023	1m 0.62s
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	Ravens Ark (Good to Firm)	05 Aug 2021	2m 29.08s

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	45	133	£157,907	13.76%	-£119.40
G & J Moore	114	18	45	£61,756	15.79%	£28.75
G Boughey	42	13	12	£49,546	30.95%	£8.72
J Gallagher	90	12	38	£39,409	13.33%	-£42.75
J R Boyle	92	11	41	£35,431	11.96%	-£40.96
Eve Johnson Houghton	52	11	21	£53,273	21.15%	£42.03
S C Williams	39	11	16	£47,036	28.21%	£24.33
R Hannon	43	8	20	£39,882	18.6%	£0.21
M J Attwater	101	7	36	£24,755	6.93%	-£50.50
George Baker	61	7	23	£22,863	11.48%	-£34.51

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

Flat

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
Jack Doughty	129	20	54	£70,285	15.5%	-£42.47
Jason Watson	92	18	45	£68,486	19.57%	-£24.79
Darragh Keenan	101	17	38	£65,926	16.83%	£36.74
Hollie Doyle	66	14	28	£49,175	21.21%	-£17.83
Billy Loughnane	73	13	32	£46,893	17.81%	-£19.22
T P Queally	66	13	26	£46,684	19.7%	£87.50
William Carson	122	12	46	£38,519	9.84%	-£88.40
L Morris	84	12	38	£44,038	14.29%	£1.33
Joe Leavy	67	12	25	£58,941	17.91%	£22.33
Marco Ghiani	38	12	10	£45,622	31.58%	£14.53