Nottingham Course Guide

Racing has taken place at Nottingham since 1773 and two of its feature races both take place in the early part of the flat season. Run over one mile and six furlongs for older horses at the start of April, the Listed Further Flight Stakes has been won by some very useful types including the Hughie Morrison-trained Alcazar, who won the 2003 and 2004 renewals before winning the Group 1 Prix Royal Oak at Longchamp later in his career and Opinion Poll, who went on to add two Lonsdale Cups, a Goodwood Cup and Dubai Gold Cup to his victory tally after winning the race in 2010.

Another valuable race in Nottingham’s calendar is the Listed Kilvington Fillies Stakes. Open to three-year-olds and older fillies and mares and run over six furlongs in early May, the contest usually attracts a sizable field.

Flat Racing

Left handed. The gallop is often steady due to the relatively sharp bends, particularly into the straight, so those ridden prominently can be difficult to reel in. In races over a mile and a mile and a quarter, those drawn high in big fields are often forced wide on the turn, the alternatives being to drop out in the rear, or expend a lot of energy in the early stages to get across and race prominently. Five and six furlong races are contested over a straight course with minor undulations and speedy, handy types are favoured.

They’ve done a good job realigning the top turn at Nottingham, which for a while was very tricky. It seems fine now. The bottom bend isn’t the easiest to ride, because, in distance races, you need to come out right and then swing in left-handed, almost negotiating a turn, a straight and another turn. There’s a long home straight, where they often start racing too soon, setting it up for a closer, and, on the inner sprint course, you’ll sometimes see one getting away, particularly in extreme conditions.

View from the saddle: Jason Weaver

Nottingham Top Times
Last 5 years

Flat

Distance	Horse (Going)	Date	Winning time
5f 8y	Abate (Good)	20 Jul 2021	57.91s
6f 18y	Fenlander (Good to Firm)	25 Jun 2026	1m 10.92s
1m 75y	Fast Medicine (Good)	16 Apr 2022	1m 41.36s
1m 2f 50y	West Wind Blows (Good)	06 May 2022	2m 8.13s
1m 6f	Al Qareem (Good)	09 Apr 2025	3m 0.6s
2m	Yagood (Good to Firm)	29 Jul 2021	3m 28.52s
2m 1f 208y	Al Sayah (Good to Firm)	17 Jul 2026	3m 56.25s

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

Flat

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
R M Beckett	54	17	19	£105,207	31.48%	£11.89
M Appleby	102	15	38	£62,941	14.71%	£18.83
T D Easterby	103	12	37	£56,180	11.65%	-£36.78
P T Midgley	53	12	28	£50,508	22.64%	-£0.18
R Varian	38	12	11	£58,474	31.58%	£8.03
W J Haggas	63	11	32	£71,041	17.46%	-£18.04
E Walker	41	9	18	£38,813	21.95%	£21.53
K R Burke	43	8	17	£98,665	18.6%	-£13.83
E Bethell	34	8	10	£58,679	23.53%	£8.00
A M Balding	48	7	19	£64,083	14.58%	-£20.22

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

Flat

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
Rossa Ryan	71	12	28	£80,694	16.9%	-£17.59
Cieren Fallon	72	12	26	£61,805	16.67%	-£14.54
H Crouch	61	12	25	£55,922	19.67%	-£19.19
James Doyle	40	12	17	£51,384	30%	-£9.41
R Havlin	49	10	20	£55,656	20.41%	-£5.60
Ray Dawson	51	10	15	£52,284	19.61%	-£7.24
Rob Hornby	58	8	25	£68,144	13.79%	-£22.63
Alistair Rawlinson	49	8	18	£29,835	16.33%	£18.00
Billy Loughnane	38	8	17	£48,587	21.05%	-£4.00
Marco Ghiani	48	8	16	£32,226	16.67%	-£1.40