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	Eqtiraan (Good to Firm)	18 Jun 2017	1m 11.76s
6f 213y	Bedouin's Story (Firm)	14 Jul 2018	1m 22.77s
1m	Power of Darkness (Good to Firm)	27 Jun 2018	1m 38.8s
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	233	24	95	£209,406	10.3%	-£64.63
A M Balding	111	21	32	£132,575	18.92%	-£3.07
R M Beckett	96	13	36	£82,043	13.54%	-£39.33
B R Millman	110	11	36	£58,774	10%	-£61.38
C G Cox	74	11	27	£86,714	14.86%	-£28.72
M R Channon	93	10	36	£67,827	10.75%	-£19.90
C Hills	51	9	17	£52,917	17.65%	£1.35
Eve Johnson Houghton	63	8	26	£63,209	12.7%	-£35.53
H Candy	56	8	17	£79,330	14.29%	-£5.65
W J Haggas	30	8	15	£50,763	26.67%	-£5.13

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

Flat

Jockey	Runners	Wins	Places	Prize Money	Strike-Rate	P/L
Oisin Murphy	103	19	36	£147,645	18.45%	£9.63
Jim Crowley	111	17	50	£128,989	15.32%	-£18.28
Tom Marquand	103	14	21	£123,879	13.59%	£10.11
Charles Bishop	67	13	23	£79,275	19.4%	£0.63
David Probert	74	11	16	£48,840	14.86%	£10.70
Andrea Atzeni	38	11	12	£89,407	28.95%	£14.75
Rob Hornby	67	9	14	£40,171	13.43%	£59.00
Kieran Shoemark	53	8	19	£50,941	15.09%	-£27.52
Harry Bentley	45	8	16	£89,026	17.78%	-£1.92
R L Moore	39	7	21	£73,195	17.95%	-£23.41