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	Rebel At Dawn (Good)	02 Jun 2021	57.6s
6f 18y	Aramram (Good)	11 May 2024	1m 11.39s
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	Oceanline (Good)	02 Jun 2021	2m 59.73s
2m	Yagood (Good to Firm)	29 Jul 2021	3m 28.52s
2m 1f 208y	Trojan Sun (Heavy)	23 Oct 2025	4m 28.17s

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	55	17	19	£102,860	30.91%	£11.14
M Appleby	118	16	42	£71,437	13.56%	£10.33
P T Midgley	55	13	29	£56,266	23.64%	£5.08
T D Easterby	97	11	39	£50,816	11.34%	-£21.04
W J Haggas	58	10	28	£65,641	17.24%	-£14.91
R Varian	42	10	16	£44,189	23.81%	-£8.94
E Bethell	27	10	6	£66,827	37.04%	£25.83
K R Burke	44	9	16	£102,364	20.45%	-£10.50
E Walker	33	8	13	£31,672	24.24%	£11.65
A M Balding	46	7	18	£64,083	15.22%	-£18.22

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

Flat

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
H Crouch	58	12	24	£55,922	20.69%	-£16.19
James Doyle	39	12	16	£49,648	30.77%	-£7.23
Rossa Ryan	65	11	26	£76,768	16.92%	-£15.34
Rob Hornby	55	10	25	£79,116	18.18%	£1.37
Cieren Fallon	61	9	21	£44,267	14.75%	-£27.29
Alistair Rawlinson	59	9	20	£38,855	15.25%	£12.00
R Havlin	45	9	18	£50,256	20%	-£2.85
Callum Rodriguez	44	9	12	£63,102	20.45%	-£8.04
Billy Loughnane	38	8	17	£48,587	21.05%	-£4.00
Ray Dawson	53	7	22	£34,219	13.21%	-£24.74