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	Wayward Prince (Good)	28 Feb 2015	6m 24.8s

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	Mecca's Angel (Good)	10 Sep 2014	57.73s
5f 140y	Muthmir (Good)	13 Sep 2014	1m 5.38s
6f 110y	Badr Al Badoor (Good)	12 Sep 2014	1m 16.62s
7f	Ansgar (Good)	13 Sep 2014	1m 22.41s
1m	Dancing Vega (Good to Soft)	26 Oct 2018	1m 4.12s
1m 2f 60y	Bin Battuta (Good)	02 Apr 2017	2m 6.65s
1m 4f	Gold Trail (Good)	10 Sep 2016	2m 31.31s
1m 6f 132y	Curbyourenthusiasm (Good)	11 Sep 2015	3m 3.34s
2m 110y	Longshadow (Good to Firm)	24 Apr 2015	3m 36.94s
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
P F Nicholls	27	7	8	£77,968	25.93%	-£4.13
Jonjo O'Neill	23	7	8	£51,691	30.43%	£28.25
C E Longsdon	23	5	11	£57,532	21.74%	£18.00
A King	21	5	10	£81,943	23.81%	-£5.02
N J Henderson	17	5	9	£42,829	29.41%	-£3.48
Mrs R Dobbin	7	4	1	£21,170	57.14%	£11.75
B Ellison	13	3	8	£58,454	23.08%	-£2.50
N A Twiston-Davies	14	3	4	£68,326	21.43%	£13.75
N G Richards	9	3	3	£84,456	33.33%	£19.50
Mrs S J Smith	9	3	3	£68,227	33.33%	£7.25

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
N J Henderson	26	8	7	£65,781	30.77%	-£6.60
D Skelton	33	7	13	£29,348	21.21%	-£10.04
Miss E C Lavelle	18	7	6	£47,751	38.89%	£10.75
A King	45	6	20	£33,029	13.33%	-£10.88
Ian Williams	35	6	13	£29,375	17.14%	£10.05
Ben Pauling	22	6	5	£40,655	27.27%	£17.25
B I Case	19	6	5	£27,717	31.58%	£12.46
P A Kirby	32	5	9	£45,609	15.63%	-£11.63
D McCain Jnr	21	4	7	£30,796	19.05%	-£6.50
P F Nicholls	18	4	7	£66,676	22.22%	-£6.94

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
T R George	5	2	3	£4,223	40%	£1.83
B Ellison	3	1	2	£1,949	33.33%	-£1.38
Miss E C Lavelle	7	1	1	£1,949	14.29%	-£2.00
K C Bailey	4	1	1	£2,599	25%	-£0.75
Olly Murphy	2	1	1	£1,949	50%	-£0.09
G P Mcpherson	3	1	0	£2,599	33.33%	£6.00
N G Richards	2	1	0	£1,949	50%	£4.50
B I Case	2	1	0	£2,274	50%	£13.00
D Skelton	2	1	0	£2,274	50%	£0.25
J P L Ewart	2	1	0	£1,949	50%	£4.50

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
R Varian	101	26	42	£405,653	25.74%	£3.75
R A Fahey	266	22	81	£154,332	8.27%	-£101.38
R Hannon	195	20	78	£188,293	10.26%	-£35.28
M Johnston	113	17	44	£127,718	15.04%	-£14.69
Sir Michael Stoute	51	17	22	£206,410	33.33%	£24.52
W J Haggas	71	15	29	£484,276	21.13%	-£13.07
J H M Gosden	91	14	38	£203,043	15.38%	-£35.89
S bin Suroor	37	14	15	£132,661	37.84%	£13.69
D M Simcock	63	13	29	£217,214	20.63%	-£4.30
L M Cumani	41	12	17	£136,354	29.27%	£29.34

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
Henry Brooke	14	6	5	£99,375	42.86%	£48.75
Aidan Coleman	16	6	4	£70,208	37.5%	£3.51
Wayne Hutchinson	13	3	6	£29,040	23.08%	-£9.27
Danny Cook	12	3	6	£42,421	25%	-£3.25
R D Day	6	3	2	£53,297	50%	£11.50
Nick Scholfield	8	3	1	£31,950	37.5%	£3.58
B S Hughes	29	2	16	£9,228	6.9%	-£26.20
Sam Twiston-Davies	15	2	4	£25,650	13.33%	-£9.25
Craig Nichol	10	2	4	£43,166	20%	£13.50
R P McLernon	10	2	3	£20,704	20%	£13.00

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
L P Aspell	24	7	10	£61,911	29.17%	£8.50
Harry Skelton	21	5	8	£21,355	23.81%	-£3.29
W T Kennedy	20	5	3	£31,576	25%	£20.50
Nico de Boinville	19	5	2	£33,915	26.32%	£3.42
Tom Cannon	27	4	9	£25,036	14.81%	£4.25
David Bass	15	4	8	£20,578	26.67%	£1.21
D A Jacob	16	4	6	£39,958	25%	-£9.42
Max Kendrick	11	4	3	£15,661	36.36%	£11.21
B S Hughes	49	3	24	£13,711	6.12%	-£40.06
Aidan Coleman	21	3	10	£20,505	14.29%	-£14.50

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
Kielan Woods	5	2	0	£4,873	40%	£19.00
C O'Farrell	3	2	0	£3,898	66.67%	£16.50
G Sheehan	4	1	1	£2,599	25%	£2.00
Mr Kaine Wood	2	1	1	£1,949	50%	-£0.38
A P Heskin	2	1	1	£1,949	50%	£2.33
R D Day	3	1	0	£1,949	33.33%	£3.50
J J Burke	3	1	0	£2,274	33.33%	-£0.50
M Hamill	1	1	0	£2,599	100%	£2.25
P J Brennan	1	1	0	£2,274	100%	£2.50
T J Murphy	1	1	0	£1,949	100%	£4.00

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
Andrea Atzeni	136	32	45	£686,949	23.53%	-£9.52
R L Moore	98	26	36	£1,313,935	26.53%	£9.87
P J McDonald	143	23	46	£237,650	16.08%	£62.63
J P Spencer	99	20	40	£200,797	20.2%	£17.27
D Tudhope	100	19	37	£209,329	19%	£20.25
W Buick	74	14	31	£146,300	18.92%	£2.44
James Doyle	92	13	31	£220,541	14.13%	-£51.38
Jim Crowley	75	13	30	£207,267	17.33%	-£35.34
S De Sousa	87	13	23	£158,797	14.94%	-£30.78
Oisin Murphy	88	12	29	£239,532	13.64%	-£47.26