Betting at Beverley Racecourse: Home of the Beverley Bullet

In last month’s OCP magazine I looked at Pontefract racecourse. This month I’m heading across to ‘God’s Own County’ of Yorkshire to visit Beverley Racecourse.

Beverley holds significance in my own horse racing journey. It was the first racecourse that I visited with my dad as a child, on an old Wallace Arnold Racing Excursion. from Leeds. It’s from that day my love for this great sport of ours began.

As before in this series of articles on British racecourses, I will look briefly at the track’s location, history, configuration and most importrantly I'll highlight some significant factors that help you with your Beverley racecourse betting.

Beverley Racecourse History and Location

Beverley racecourse is located in the historic market town of Beverley, in East Yorkshire. The course is set in the marvellous surroundings of The Westwood, and race meetings are held here between April & September.

For those coming by car the course is easily accessible from the M62.

Racegoers coming by public transport Beverley Railway Station is located on the Hull to Scarborough line and there is regular train service from Hull, which can be reached by direct services from London and big northern cities like Leeds, Sheffield & Manchester and towns like Doncaster. The track is within a short walk of the town of Beverley which is the way to go on a nice sunny day.

For those racegoers wanting to use the bus there are direct and regular services from York & Hull and there is a bus stop right by the racecourse.

Horse racing has been taking place in Beverley for over 300 years with the first race meetings taking place in 1730, The first official race meeting, at the present location, and the erection of the first grandstand took place in 1767. As was the case with most racecourses around the country horse racing ceased at Beverley during the first and second World Wars.

Today the two biggest races in the Beverley racing calendar are the Listed Hillary Needler Trophy which is a race for 2-year-olds held each May and the Listed Beverley Bullet Sprint which takes place in August of each year.

Both races are run over 5f.

Beverley racecourse might not host any Group races but it’s a one of the friendliest and picturesque tracks in Britain.

Beverley Racecourse Track Configuration

Beverley is a right-handed course, just over 1 mile 3 furlongs and has downhill bend into the straight which is then a short 2 ½ furlong uphill run-in to the winning post.

The tight bend on the round course requires horses who are well balanced and agile as the ground tends to run away from horse & jockey. At this point a jockey must make sure their mount isn’t pushed out too wide on the bend or it’s hard to win from that position.

There has been a definite draw bias in play at the course. Low numbers are preferred for races of a mile and under.

The 5f course is uphill throughout and puts a premium on stamina especially if the going is soft. A low draw is needed over the minimum trip of 5f as is good speed from the stalls.

Beverley Racecourse Stats

Let’s begin by looking at some general stats including favourite stats at the course since 2014.

The stats below are from Jan 1st 2017 to the time of writing (24/06/22) and cover all meetings at the course. Once again, I am using the ever useful www.horseracebase.com for the stats.

Let’s begin by looking at some general meeting stats from the last five years. Beginning with the fate of the favourites both clear and joint.

Bearing in mind that favourites, including Joint & Co favs, won 31% of all turf flat races in the period under research.

The results below contain 591 winners from 5349 runners.

Beverley Favourites

Clear, joint & co-favourites have produced the following set of results:

265 winners 767 runners 34% -21.29 A/E 1.00 475 placed 61%.

If you had backed every favourite at Beverley, you would have lost £21.29 to a £1 level stake at industry starting prices.

Breaking those results down into handicap & non-handicap races gives us:

• Non-handicap – 113 winners from 266 runners 42% -4.79 A/E 1.00 194 placed 72%
• Handicap – 152 winners from 501 runners 30% -16.5 A/E 1.00 281 placed 56%

Digging a bit deeper let’s focus on favourites that won their last race and those favourites who had finished outside the first three on their last start.

• Favourites that won their last race have produced – 47 winners from 135 runners 35% -5.55 A/E 0.99 85 placed 63%.
• Favourites that had finished outside the top four on their last start produced – 49 winners from 160 runners 31% -1.04 A/E 1.04 103 placed 64%

Beverley Trainers and Favourites:

If you’re a favourite backer. Then the best performing trainers when the money is down are:

Summary: Richard Fahey & Mark Johnston top the trainers with favourites table in terms of numbers.

However, punters looking for a bit a of value would be advised to look at favourites from the William Haggas, Michael Bell & Anne Duffield stables.

Beverley Jockeys and Favourites

Which jockeys have done the business when the money is down for favourite backers?

Summary: Both Joe Fanning & Danny Tudhope are doing well in terms of win strike rates on favourites.

But looking at jockeys who provide a bit more value, favourites ridden by Danny Tudhope, Ben Curtis and Tony Hamilton need to be noted.

Bevereley Racecourse Betting Stats

Now a few general course stats. Starting with market position.

Market Position

• The top three in the betting provided 426 winners from 1860 runners 23% -119.16 A/E 0.95 960 placed 52%.
• Odds SP: 28/1 & above – 12 winners from 810 runners 1% -319 A/E 0.72 46 placed 6%

Summary: Big priced winners do occasionally pop up, but you will be waiting a long time to find them and if you have backed all runners at the meeting that started 28/1 or bigger you would have lost £319 to a £1 level stake.

Last Time Out Placing

Those horses that finished in the first three in their last race provided 307 winners from 1480 runners 21% -48.46 A/E 1 670 placed 45%.

Last Time Out Winners

• Last time out winners provided 63 winners from 388 runners 16% -109.07 A/E 0.83 157 placed 40%.

Previous Course Winners

• Previous course winners provided 116 winners from 969 runners 12% -223.44 A/E 0.88 303 placed 31%.

Summary: The average for last time out winners in all turf flat races in the period is 16% with an A/E 0.87 so last time out winners are performing about average.

Previous course winners average in a turf flat races in the period under analysis is 12% with an A/E 0.85. So, previous course winners are close to the average.

If you had backed all previous course winners, you would have lost £223.44 to a £1 level stake.

Draw

I mentioned earlier that punters need to take note of the draw bias at the track. Here are some results by draw segment by race distance.

For consistency I have just used handicap races:

Five Furlongs

Seven & Half Furlongs

One Mile & Half Furlong

One Mile & Two Furlongs

One Mile & Four Furlongs and Further

Summary: It’s clear that draw bias is very much in effect over 5f, looking at the stats from both the win & place perspective.
It also may be worth noting that low draw looks to be a positive at race distances over 1m 4f plus.

Trainer Stats and Angles

Here are a few interesting trainer track stats, that will hopefully enable you to identify some winners at Beverley through the rest of this season.

Trainers & Handicap Runners In The Top-Three In The Betting.

Summary: Tom Dascombe & David Loughnane runners well fancied in the betting have been the most profitable to follow.

Trainers & Two-year-old’s Making Their Racecourse Debut.

Trainers & Handicap Debutants.

Summary: Just nineteen horses have won on their handicap debut at the course since the start of 2015 and just two trainer’s Richard Fahey & Sir Michael Stoute have saddled more than one winner.

Trainers & Race Distance (Handicaps)

Summary: Digging deeper and looking at trainers & race distance. Anne Duffield’s handicap sprinters have been value bets.

Trainers & Race Class (Handicaps)

Summary: Looking at trainers and race class.

David Loughnane’s runners in Class 5 & 6 have produced a healthy – 8 winners from 25 runners 32% +42.75 A/E 2.2 11 placed 44%. Those sent off in the first three in the betting have produced 6 winners from 11 runners 55% +24.75 A/E 2.31 9 placed 82% (each-way +31.04).

It could also be worth noting Michael Bell’s handicap runners in Class 5 races and Jane Chapple-Hyam’s runners in Class 6 races.

Summary: Back David Loughnane handicap runners in Class 5 or 6 races only.

Hopefully you enjoyed this brief look at Beverley racecourse and some of the track’s key stats.

The next instalment in this tour of British racecourses stays in Yorkshire and heads to the ‘Garden Racecourse’ also known as Ripon.

This article was first published in On Course Profits magazine, subscribe for free here – https://www.oncourseprofits.com