Salisbury Course Guide

The Wiltshire course stage races throughout the summer including three Listed contests but the highlight of Salisbury’s season is the Group 3 Sovereign Stakes, traditionally staged in August.

Upgraded from Listed status in 2004, the David Elsworth-trained Norse Dancer landed the first Pattern race of his career in the year the one-mile contest was upgraded to Group Three status. Other recent winners include the very smart Captain Cat (2014) and Kodi Bear (2015).

Other feature races staged at Salisbury include the 12-furlong Listed Upavon Fillies’ Stakes and the Cathedral Stakes, which takes place annually on a Sunday meeting in mid-June. Run over six furlongs for three-year-olds and older, the race was won in 2007 by Sakhee’s Secret, who landed the Group 1 July Cup at Newmarket on his next start.

The final Listed event of the season is the Dick Poole Fillies’ Stakes which is restricted to two-year-olds and run over six furlongs.

Flat Racing

Right handed. A loop course, and despite the run-in of seven furlongs (with a right-handed elbow after three furlongs), those ridden handily can gain an advantage as the gallop is often on the steady side around the sharp loop section. The straight course is uphill throughout the last half-mile and rather testing, especially for early season two-year-olds, so an ability to see out the trip thoroughly is important.

The ground runs away from you down towards the bottom loop at Salisbury and the bend is tighter than some people think. It doesn’t seem to ride as a smooth turn, either, with a short ‘straight’ before the long left-hander into the home straight. You definitely do not want to be wide on that bend and, when it’s wet, it can be a bit slippy. Poor positioning going into the loop is a big disadvantage, too, but, because Salisbury is a track that’s largely on the collar, you don’t get many hard-luck stories there.

View from the saddle: Jason Weaver

Salisbury Top Times
Last 5 years

Flat

Distance	Horse (Going)	Date	Winning time
5f	Glamorous Breeze (Good to Firm)	10 Aug 2022	58.85s
6f	Fair Angellica (Good to Firm)	24 May 2025	1m 11.28s
6f 213y	Equatorial (Good to Firm)	13 Jun 2023	1m 24.46s
1m	Dubai Mirage (Good to Firm)	22 Jun 2022	1m 38.33s
1m 1f 201y	Silver Lake (Good to Firm)	11 Jul 2026	2m 5.13s
1m 4f 5y	Allonsy (Good to Firm)	15 Aug 2024	2m 33.21s
1m 6f 44y	Spirit Mixer (Good to Firm)	01 May 2022	2m 59.48s

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

Flat

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
R M Beckett	122	28	58	£312,962	22.95%	-£21.08
A M Balding	86	17	41	£151,634	19.77%	-£17.13
B R Millman	70	13	25	£81,472	18.57%	-£7.62
R Hannon	93	12	47	£77,807	12.9%	-£57.87
Eve Johnson Houghton	83	11	34	£57,532	13.25%	£18.46
C G Cox	70	11	32	£63,222	15.71%	-£28.46
E Walker	65	11	26	£94,256	16.92%	-£0.82
W J Haggas	33	10	13	£86,885	30.3%	-£6.71
R Varian	36	7	15	£70,288	19.44%	-£8.84
P D Evans	44	7	14	£36,438	15.91%	-£14.42

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

Flat

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
Oisin Murphy	60	25	24	£177,168	41.67%	£34.16
H Crouch	83	22	38	£193,396	26.51%	£19.07
Rossa Ryan	101	15	40	£177,586	14.85%	-£38.57
Billy Loughnane	54	12	22	£75,516	22.22%	-£8.45
Tom Marquand	60	9	17	£50,736	15%	-£21.31
Rob Hornby	69	8	24	£45,184	11.59%	£21.00
T E Whelan	51	8	22	£82,882	15.69%	£31.58
K Shoemark	34	8	10	£118,320	23.53%	£15.13
David Probert	64	7	29	£42,964	10.94%	£1.31
Cieren Fallon	12	7	2	£41,456	58.33%	£6.90