Doncaster Course Guide

Home of the World’s Oldest Classic, Doncaster is one of the historic homes of horse racing. The highlight of the year on the flat is undoubtedly the four-day St Leger Festival in September, where the feature race, the St Leger, first run in 1776, is staged on the Saturday, and the meeting also boasts such prestigious races as the Doncaster Cup, Champagne Stakes, Flying Childers Stakes, May Hill Stakes and Portland Handicap.

Doncaster also stages the first and last turf race meetings of the Flat season; starting with the Lincoln Meeting in March and ending on November Handicap day. In between are a clutch of valuable afternoon and evening fixtures, including the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy, run in late October, which is often a strong pointer to the following year’s classics.

Over jumps Doncaster hosts some important fixtures over the winter; the most significant being the Yorkshire Chase in late January and the Grimthorpe Chase in early March.

Flat Racing
Jumps Racing

Left handed, galloping. One of the fairest courses in the country, essentially flat with the exception of a slight uphill gradient about a mile and a quarter from the finish. Races between five furlongs and one mile are run on the straight course, though there is also a round mile start on an off-shoot of the round course. It is a free-draining course, underfoot conditions only occasionally being soft/heavy.

There are not many fairer courses than Doncaster, which is a lovely, virtually flat, galloping track. You do climb briefly, up and over Rose Hill, but, for the most part, it’s beautifully smooth to ride, a good, solid test of a horse. There can be one or two hard-luck stories, especially on the round course, when lots of runners are still in contention late on, and that’s where jockeyship comes in. I liked to be on the stands’ side on the straight course, but either side is fine, just as long as you’re not far off a rail.

View from the saddle: Jason Weaver

Left handed, essentially flat. Extremely well-draining course, with conditions often favouring speedier types despite its galloping nature. Surprisingly for such a galloping track, plenty of chases are well run and this perhaps explains why the casualty figures are so high.

It always pays to sit comfy on a horse at Doncaster, so, ideally, you want one that travels easily for you. If you find yourself pushing along turning into the back straight, you often get further and further behind those going better than you are. That’s especially true when the ground is quick and it’s fair to say you can afford to be a bit more patient when there’s some ease underfoot. It’s quite a tough track for a novice chaser, because a couple of the fences - including the last ditch - can test their jumping.

View from the saddle: Mick Fitzgerald

Doncaster Top Times
Last 5 years

Chase
Hurdle
National Hunt Flat
Flat

Distance	Horse (Going)	Date	Winning time
2m 78y	Clic Work (Good to Soft)	29 Dec 2016	3m 54.4s
2m 3f 31y	Buster Thomas (Good)	30 Nov 2018	4m 39.67s
2m 4f 115y	Kalane (Good to Soft)	29 Dec 2016	4m 59.8s
2m 7f 214y	Rocky's Treasure (Good)	15 Dec 2018	5m 53.1s
3m 2f 14y	Paint The Clouds (Good)	24 Feb 2016	6m 28.9s

Distance	Horse (Going)	Date	Winning time
2m 140y	Go Long (Good)	27 Nov 2015	3m 53.6s
2m 3f 88y	Just Milly (Good to Soft)	29 Dec 2016	4m 33.25s
2m 4f 181y	Nadaitak (Good)	30 Nov 2018	5m 0.23s
3m 84y	Parish Business (Good to Soft)	29 Dec 2016	5m 47.2s

Distance	Horse (Going)	Date	Winning time
1m 5f	Irish Prophecy (Good)	26 Nov 2016	2m 56.1s
2m 128y	Black Op (Good)	22 Feb 2017	3m 46.6s

Distance	Horse (Going)	Date	Winning time
5f	Cotai Glory (Good)	09 Sep 2015	57.85s
5f 143y	Princess Power (Good)	29 Jun 2019	1m 6.01s
6f 110y	Hoof It (Good)	11 Sep 2015	1m 16.72s
7f	Realtra (Good)	10 Sep 2015	1m 22.86s
1m	National Army (Good to Firm)	01 Jun 2018	1m 36.37s
1m 2f 43y	West End Charmer (Good to Firm)	01 Jun 2019	2m 5.57s
1m 3f 197y	Sea Of Style (Good to Firm)	25 Jul 2020	2m 29.35s
1m 6f	Logician (Good to Firm)	14 Sep 2019	3m 0.27s
2m 110y	Handiwork (Good to Firm)	28 Apr 2017	3m 37.02s
2m 2f	Pallasator (Good)	11 Sep 2015	3m 49.6s

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

Chase
Hurdle
National Hunt Flat
Flat

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
D Skelton	24	6	9	£74,432	25%	£0.33
C E Longsdon	19	4	11	£45,020	21.05%	£21.00
A King	22	4	10	£36,383	18.18%	-£16.02
P F Nicholls	21	4	9	£32,386	19.05%	-£12.22
N G Richards	12	4	6	£100,096	33.33%	£21.50
D McCain Jnr	16	3	10	£15,921	18.75%	-£2.50
Jonjo O'Neill	19	3	6	£24,502	15.79%	£15.00
N J Henderson	13	3	6	£92,522	23.08%	£0.57
Mrs R Dobbin	12	3	5	£16,621	25%	£4.00
N A Twiston-Davies	14	3	4	£65,733	21.43%	£14.33

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
D Skelton	47	9	16	£38,900	19.15%	-£10.38
N J Henderson	28	8	8	£51,880	28.57%	-£10.94
Ben Pauling	28	7	6	£42,215	25%	£41.13
D McCain Jnr	27	5	9	£45,615	18.52%	£10.83
Miss E C Lavelle	17	5	6	£36,970	29.41%	£5.25
P A Kirby	42	4	11	£65,138	9.52%	-£30.50
Ian Williams	29	4	11	£15,466	13.79%	-£4.95
C E Longsdon	32	4	6	£16,547	12.5%	-£9.77
Amy Murphy	12	4	4	£17,935	33.33%	£3.57
O Sherwood	19	3	5	£27,092	15.79%	-£3.25

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
T R George	5	1	3	£2,274	20%	-£2.50
K C Bailey	3	1	2	£2,599	33.33%	£0.25
D Skelton	4	1	1	£2,274	25%	-£0.75
Olly Murphy	2	1	1	£1,949	50%	-£0.09
B Ellison	2	1	1	£2,274	50%	£1.00
G P Mcpherson	3	1	0	£2,599	33.33%	£6.00
B I Case	2	1	0	£2,274	50%	£13.00
J P L Ewart	2	1	0	£1,949	50%	£4.50
J Ryan	1	1	0	£2,274	100%	£2.50
J Scott	1	1	0	£2,274	100%	£14.00

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
R Varian	97	25	43	£360,003	25.77%	-£15.45
R A Fahey	217	19	78	£112,301	8.76%	-£93.80
R Hannon	161	17	64	£175,958	10.56%	-£58.13
M Johnston	100	15	47	£98,514	15%	-£20.70
J H M Gosden	67	14	27	£646,105	20.9%	-£26.31
W J Haggas	57	12	20	£119,670	21.05%	£3.13
Ian Williams	66	12	19	£121,005	18.18%	£19.13
Sir Michael Stoute	46	12	18	£164,820	26.09%	-£6.68
S bin Suroor	36	12	14	£86,292	33.33%	£7.87
A M Balding	47	10	13	£273,960	21.28%	£38.25

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

Chase
Hurdle
National Hunt Flat
Flat

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
B S Hughes	35	4	19	£29,157	11.43%	-£20.20
Henry Brooke	15	4	7	£63,546	26.67%	£32.75
Aidan Coleman	13	4	2	£31,366	30.77%	-£5.74
Danny Cook	13	3	8	£15,596	23.08%	£4.75
Wayne Hutchinson	12	3	5	£29,040	25%	-£7.27
Harry Skelton	10	3	5	£58,511	30%	£3.00
R D Day	6	3	3	£53,297	50%	£10.50
Paul O'Brien	6	3	1	£40,406	50%	£28.50
Craig Nichol	11	2	5	£43,166	18.18%	£13.50
R P McLernon	11	2	4	£20,704	18.18%	£12.00

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
L P Aspell	26	8	9	£70,578	30.77%	£15.00
Nico de Boinville	23	7	3	£40,868	30.43%	£2.48
Harry Skelton	22	6	8	£27,268	27.27%	-£1.38
B S Hughes	45	5	18	£45,485	11.11%	-£8.17
David Bass	13	5	4	£22,289	38.46%	£33.46
T J O'Brien	27	4	13	£15,141	14.81%	-£4.29
Henry Brooke	32	3	11	£27,183	9.38%	-£18.50
Aidan Coleman	28	3	11	£22,366	10.71%	-£14.50
Jack Quinlan	17	3	5	£14,166	17.65%	-£10.93
Jonjo O'Neill Jr.	16	3	4	£20,180	18.75%	£3.36

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
Kielan Woods	4	2	1	£4,873	50%	£20.00
G Sheehan	4	1	2	£2,599	25%	£2.00
J J Burke	3	1	0	£2,274	33.33%	-£0.50
Nico de Boinville	2	1	0	£2,274	50%	£0.20
C O'Farrell	2	1	0	£1,949	50%	£6.50
P J Brennan	2	1	0	£2,274	50%	£1.50
Mr J J Codd	1	1	0	£1,949	100%	£0.91
Matt Griffiths	1	1	0	£2,274	100%	£14.00
M Hamill	1	1	0	£2,599	100%	£2.25
Mr T Durrell	1	1	0	£2,274	100%	£2.25

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
Andrea Atzeni	126	24	49	£388,529	19.05%	-£45.98
R L Moore	82	18	32	£1,211,652	21.95%	-£24.17
P J McDonald	108	16	42	£169,309	14.81%	£6.88
D Tudhope	93	16	42	£128,062	17.2%	-£6.13
Jim Crowley	64	16	20	£331,348	25%	£0.69
J P Spencer	54	12	18	£139,699	22.22%	£21.82
D Allan	75	11	20	£91,104	14.67%	£29.50
Oisin Murphy	83	10	35	£293,317	12.05%	-£24.08
B A Curtis	91	10	28	£49,357	10.99%	-£24.29
A Kirby	54	10	26	£65,952	18.52%	£28.42