Newbury Course Guide

One of the UK’s premier tracks, Newbury stages high-quality racing both on the Flat and over jumps and owes its popularity to a combination of factors, notably the very fair, galloping nature of the course, generally excellent ground and its proximity to the major training centre of Lambourn.

Its feature race is the Hennessy Gold Cup, usually run at the end of November, a handicap chase over three and a quarter miles that boasts a roll of honour which includes racing greats Mill House, Arkle, Burrough Hill Lad, One Man, Denman and Bobs Worth. The Saturday is the highlight of a three-day meeting which invariably attracts high-quality fields. The other feature meeting over jumps is the Betfair Hurdle fixture in mid-February, the feature race, a two-mile handicap hurdle, is always one of the big betting races of the winter and sits on a card that includes the Game Spirit Chase and Denman Chase, leading trials for Champion Chase and Gold Cup respectively.

On the Flat Newbury stages a Group 1 race in the form of the Lockinge Stakes, run in mid-May the one-mile contest has been won in the past by Brigadier Gerard, Kris, Selkirk, Hawk Wing, Canford Cliffs and Frankel. Other feature flat races include the Greenham Stakes in April, the Super Sprint in July and the Geoffrey Freer Stakes in August.

Flat Racing
Jumps Racing

Left handed, galloping. The straight mile course is undulating throughout. One of the fairest courses in the country, though its galloping nature makes it ideal for the big, long-striding type, and the track becomes testing in inclement weather. Whilst the majority of the action on the straight course usually takes place on the stand rail, those who choose to come down the centre of the track instead can find themselves at an advantage.

There aren’t many fairer courses than Newbury, which is big and galloping, but, probably due to the woodland on the far side, it can sometimes ride a good bit softer down the back straight than it does in the home straight. There’s very little draw bias on the straight track and there’s no wonder so many trainers want to send their classy horses there. The one tricky start is the one up in the spur (the round 1m) and that can prove draw-dependent. Otherwise, you get very few hard-luck stories at Newbury.

View from the saddle: Jason Weaver

Left handed, galloping with few undulations. One of the fairest courses in the country, though its galloping nature does suit the big, long-striding type. The chase course is regarded as being fairly stiff, though the low casualty rate over recent seasons contradicts such a view; the fact that many races are run at a steady pace possibly contributes to such a low figure, as does the generally better standard of horse on show. Leaders are rarely overhauled on the chase run-in for all it often looks as though they might be, especially from the elbow.

It’s among the fairest courses in the country and you get few hard-luck stories. There’s plenty of time during a race, with two very long straights and two sweeping bends, and you don’t often get too much shimmying or jockeying for position. If you’ve got the right horse, everything seems to happen nice and smoothly. The fences are very fair and, although the cross-fence used to claim a lot of victims, it’s nowhere near as bad now. Newbury is a great place for a novice and, unlike Cheltenham say, where the fences can be tricky for inexperienced horses, it’s really straightforward.

View from the saddle: Mick Fitzgerald

Newbury Top Times
Last 5 years

Chase
Hurdle
National Hunt Flat
Flat

Distance	Horse (Going)	Date	Winning time
2m 92y	Imperial Presence (Good to Soft)	25 Mar 2017	3m 57.6s
2m 1f	Owen Na View (Good)	21 Mar 2015	4m 2.7s
2m 2f 110y	Major Milborne (Good to Soft)	17 Dec 2014	4m 45.05s
2m 3f 187y	Thomas Crapper (Soft)	04 Mar 2017	4m 16.25s
2m 6f 93y	O Maonlai (Good to Soft)	26 Nov 2016	5m 34.1s
2m 7f 86y	Thistlecrack (Good to Soft)	26 Nov 2016	5m 46.3s
3m	The Skyfarmer (Good)	20 Mar 2015	5m 51.82s
3m 1f 214y	Native River (Good to Soft)	26 Nov 2016	6m 25s
3m 2f 110y	Carruthers (Good)	21 Mar 2015	6m 32.4s

Distance	Horse (Going)	Date	Winning time
2m 69y	Our Power (Soft)	19 Dec 2018	3m 22.8s
2m 3f	Alzammaar (Good)	21 Mar 2015	4m 29.9s
2m 4f 118y	Snow Leopardess (Good to Soft)	25 Mar 2017	4m 53.5s
3m 110y	Rally (Good to Soft)	20 Mar 2015	5m 55.65s

Distance	Horse (Going)	Date	Winning time
1m 4f 143y	Aimee De Sivola (Soft)	20 Dec 2017	3m 6.22s
2m 69y	Bullionaire (Good to Soft)	25 Mar 2017	3m 44.9s

Distance	Horse (Going)	Date	Winning time
5f 34y	Robot Boy (Good to Firm)	17 Apr 2015	58.44s
6f	Never Back Down (Good to Firm)	19 May 2018	1m 10.27s
6f 110y	Twin Sails (Good to Firm)	11 Jun 2015	1m 18.06s
7f	Stage Magic (Good to Soft)	21 Jul 2017	1m 13.4s
1m	Ayaar (Good to Firm)	18 Apr 2015	1m 34.41s
1m 1f	Kismet Hardy (Good to Firm)	12 Aug 2016	1m 56.05s
1m 2f 6y	Intilaaq (Good to Firm)	18 Jul 2015	2m 3.63s
1m 3f	Desert Encounter (Good)	23 Sep 2017	2m 17.91s
1m 4f	Teodoro (Good to Firm)	26 Jun 2018	2m 28.61s
1m 5f 61y	The Graduate (Good to Firm)	12 Aug 2016	2m 48.87s
2m	Wordiness (Good to Firm)	18 Jul 2015	3m 29.94s
2m 110y	Stratum (Good to Firm)	21 Jul 2018	3m 32.57s
2m 2f	Sweet Selection (Good to Firm)	15 Jul 2016	3m 55.59s

Newbury 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
C L Tizzard	45	13	15	£422,156	28.89%	£22.54
P F Nicholls	46	7	19	£110,413	15.22%	£9.50
P J Hobbs	36	5	19	£44,007	13.89%	-£10.54
N J Henderson	32	5	14	£111,252	15.63%	-£15.99
Miss V Williams	17	5	4	£56,623	29.41%	£24.63
T R George	27	3	10	£36,720	11.11%	-£8.75
Miss R Curtis	18	3	8	£26,187	16.67%	-£4.75
W Greatrex	11	3	3	£37,466	27.27%	£4.13
Tom Lacey	8	3	2	£24,069	37.5%	£7.00
H Whittington	8	3	1	£27,653	37.5%	£2.00

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
N J Henderson	83	23	27	£180,110	27.71%	£12.44
P J Hobbs	46	10	16	£94,723	21.74%	£82.00
A King	67	9	28	£97,895	13.43%	-£32.07
Ben Pauling	31	6	6	£79,304	19.35%	£6.63
W Greatrex	28	3	11	£24,040	10.71%	-£16.25
G L Moore	45	3	9	£35,350	6.67%	-£17.75
P F Nicholls	30	3	8	£45,401	10%	-£20.93
O Sherwood	20	3	5	£37,881	15%	£6.00
D Skelton	44	2	16	£27,589	4.55%	-£32.50
Harry Fry	25	2	11	£56,950	8%	-£17.75

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
N J Henderson	19	3	5	£16,263	15.79%	-£8.13
Harry Fry	5	3	0	£90,290	60%	£6.33
A J Honeyball	4	2	1	£13,989	50%	£8.00
A King	18	1	9	£1,949	5.56%	-£10.00
F O'Brien	8	1	4	£1,949	12.5%	-£6.00
Ben Pauling	9	1	1	£2,274	11.11%	-£3.50
Nick Williams	4	1	1	£1,949	25%	£2.00
D Skelton	3	1	1	£2,339	33.33%	-£0.50
P J Hobbs	5	1	0	£2,599	20%	£4.00
P R Webber	3	1	0	£11,390	33.33%	£38.00

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
R Hannon	313	31	95	£432,028	9.9%	-£98.22
J H M Gosden	111	31	43	£426,612	27.93%	£21.59
W J Haggas	124	28	44	£320,280	22.58%	£9.34
A M Balding	123	12	46	£196,273	9.76%	-£0.85
C Hills	116	12	38	£171,899	10.34%	-£21.13
Sir Michael Stoute	79	12	29	£427,368	15.19%	-£34.29
R M Beckett	91	11	30	£114,047	12.09%	-£21.92
R Charlton	78	11	22	£210,262	14.1%	£12.00
Ed Walker	73	9	30	£35,578	12.33%	-£1.88
R Varian	72	9	24	£154,649	12.5%	-£32.25

Newbury 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
R Johnson	40	11	17	£236,610	27.5%	£11.81
T Scudamore	25	7	5	£213,955	28%	£26.13
H Cobden	23	5	9	£60,259	21.74%	£9.58
Nico de Boinville	20	5	9	£127,534	25%	-£5.62
T J O'Brien	22	4	7	£54,866	18.18%	£11.50
Aidan Coleman	31	4	6	£50,114	12.9%	-£22.28
N D Fehily	23	4	6	£77,040	17.39%	£10.25
S Bowen	18	3	9	£39,090	16.67%	-£8.00
Wayne Hutchinson	19	3	6	£21,899	15.79%	-£7.00
L Treadwell	6	3	0	£18,845	50%	£27.00

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
Nico de Boinville	39	12	10	£73,125	30.77%	£23.29
R Johnson	56	11	21	£144,530	19.64%	£81.75
B J Geraghty	23	10	10	£144,399	43.48%	£25.16
Wayne Hutchinson	52	8	25	£75,115	15.38%	-£21.41
N D Fehily	34	3	11	£23,030	8.82%	-£21.88
H Cobden	21	3	5	£29,156	14.29%	-£8.43
Sam Twiston-Davies	25	3	4	£97,370	12%	-£9.50
David Bass	9	3	1	£37,768	33.33%	£3.20
Mr Alex Ferguson	7	3	0	£39,522	42.86%	£1.75
T Scudamore	28	2	14	£16,505	7.14%	-£18.75

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
N D Fehily	7	3	1	£90,290	42.86%	£4.33
S Bowen	4	2	1	£13,729	50%	£19.88
G Sheehan	10	1	4	£11,390	10%	£31.00
P J Brennan	9	1	4	£1,949	11.11%	-£7.00
R Johnson	9	1	2	£2,599	11.11%	£0.00
David Bass	6	1	2	£2,274	16.67%	£0.50
J McGrath	5	1	2	£2,599	20%	-£2.00
Lizzie Kelly	4	1	2	£1,949	25%	£2.00
Nico de Boinville	11	1	1	£2,274	9.09%	-£5.00
H Cobden	5	1	0	£2,599	20%	£0.50

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
L Dettori	88	26	25	£443,202	29.55%	£15.13
Jim Crowley	162	23	49	£617,725	14.2%	£18.11
James Doyle	117	21	43	£292,521	17.95%	-£16.19
R L Moore	120	18	46	£490,131	15%	-£55.66
S De Sousa	108	18	33	£409,454	16.67%	£5.49
W Buick	57	15	18	£376,483	26.32%	£32.66
Oisin Murphy	167	13	68	£108,455	7.78%	-£101.89
Jason Watson	58	10	14	£159,195	17.24%	£25.50
A Kirby	127	9	52	£116,615	7.09%	-£60.25
S M Levey	87	9	26	£116,895	10.34%	-£15.33