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	Edged Out (Good to Firm)	18 Jun 2017	59.18s
6f	Rewaayat (Good to Firm)	11 Jul 2020	1m 11.62s
6f 213y	Bedouin's Story (Firm)	14 Jul 2018	1m 22.77s
1m	Regal Reality (Good to Firm)	09 Aug 2020	1m 38.32s
1m 1f 201y	Burgonet (Good to Firm)	12 Jun 2018	1m 9.56s
1m 4f 5y	Infrastructure (Good to Firm)	27 Jun 2018	2m 31.77s
1m 6f 44y	Gumball (Good to Firm)	28 Apr 2019	3m 0.66s

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

Flat

Trainer	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
R Hannon	198	16	85	£163,008	8.08%	-£99.05
A M Balding	91	14	34	£99,731	15.38%	-£23.29
C G Cox	63	13	22	£87,876	20.63%	£3.86
M R Channon	68	11	21	£70,903	16.18%	-£1.13
B R Millman	89	10	33	£47,242	11.24%	-£50.72
H Candy	37	9	7	£70,054	24.32%	£11.26
R M Beckett	68	8	26	£61,832	11.76%	-£25.42
Eve Johnson Houghton	62	8	26	£60,835	12.9%	-£39.11
W J Haggas	26	8	10	£71,141	30.77%	-£3.38
C Hills	35	8	8	£41,371	22.86%	£25.38

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

Flat

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
Oisin Murphy	69	17	25	£145,245	24.64%	£11.50
Jim Crowley	84	13	42	£73,080	15.48%	-£16.92
Charles Bishop	80	13	33	£86,715	16.25%	-£12.84
Tom Marquand	90	12	27	£104,092	13.33%	-£8.66
David Probert	74	12	22	£52,482	16.22%	£22.18
Andrea Atzeni	31	11	11	£103,151	35.48%	£12.21
Harry Bentley	65	9	26	£83,807	13.85%	-£26.01
Jason Watson	47	9	11	£48,776	19.15%	-£0.10
S De Sousa	35	8	13	£90,932	22.86%	-£6.79
R L Moore	36	7	19	£82,284	19.44%	-£18.46