Horse racing in the UK and other Newbury, United Kingdom General Tips

Favorite Thing: There are two kinds of professional racing in the UK - the Flat, under the auspices of the Jockey Club, and National Hunt.

Queen Elizabeth is a noted and enthusiastic owner and racer of Flat horses and can sometimes be spotted at big meetings, in a headscarf inconspicuously inspecting the horses. Her mother, who died in 2002, was a celebrated champion of the National Hunt.

Me, I much prefer the atmosphere of a winter day at a National Hunt meeting to the precious company to be found at many Flat meetings.


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Fondest Memory: Flat racing is the kind of horseracing familiar in the rest of the world, where you find the multi-millionaire playboys, and takes place in the summer, partly because the harder ground suits this kind of racing and partly because its personalities spend the winter swanning around Dubai and elsewhere.

Flat races tend to be short in distance and furious in pace. Top Flat jockeys like Frankie Dettori and the legendary Lester Piggot are international celebrities and their private lives make headlines in tabloid newspapers.

The top Flat races in the racing calendar are the Classics: The St Leger run at Doncaster in September; the 1000 Guineas and 2000 Guineas are run at Newmarket in May, and of course the Derby and Oaks at Epsom Downs in June.

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Favorite Thing: National Hunt racing usually involves jumping over some kind of obstacles, do it is often referred to as Jumps racing. The races cover longer distances than the Flat, and the winter conditions are often difficult. Tactical racing is the order of the day, rather than going flat out for speed, so races make a fascinating study for those with eyes to see.

A Steeple Chase (or just Chase) originates in cross-country racing over hedges and ditches towards the church steeple, and typically involves water jumps and larger and stiffer fences.

A Hurdle involves smaller fences which are flexible and can be ridden through rather than over, though this is not good practice!

There is an exception to the Jumps rule, naturally. A Bumper is a National Hunt flat race, over longer distances than a true flat. These races are for relatively untried horses who have not raced at all over jumps, and there is a restriction on the number of bumbers a horse can run in. These races are probably best watched for indicators of future form, rather than bet on.

A National Hunt meeting will typically have seven races on the card: three chases, three hurdles and a bumper. The top races are all steeplchases: The Gold Cup, at Cheltenham in March, the King George V Chase at Kempton Park on New Years Day, and of course the Grand National, at Aintree near Liverpool, a week or so before Easter.

The Grand National catches the popular imagination, and the Gold Cup draws large numbers of Irish racegoers, but National Hunt racing generally has a lower public profile than the Flat. Top jump jockeys like Tony McCoy do very well for themselves but are less likely to be household names. Generally it's characterful trainers such as Jenny Pitman or Martin Pipe that attract attention.


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