Doncaster: Home of the World’s Oldest Classic
This is a first of what will be monthly look at a UK race course. It’s location, history and some of the races run at the track as well as digging out a significant stat that could be helpful when it comes to punting there.
The series begins with a look at Doncaster racecourse, the home of the St Leger the world’s oldest Classic horse race.
Location
Doncaster racecourse is also known as ‘Town Moor’ and is situated in the large South Yorkshire town of the same name, about two miles from the towns railway station.
It’s located close to the cities of Sheffield and Leeds either by public transport or car. Given the proximity of the course to the major motorways in the area the M1. M18, A1M M62 it's also easily accessible for those racegoers travelling by car from other parts of the UK.
Doncaster is also one of the main stopping points for the East Coast Mainline rail services from London to York & Edinburgh. For those racegoers who come by train to the track, it’s worth noting that there is shuttle bus service that runs from the racecourse to Doncaster Interchange which is next to the railway station.
The service is available for all the courses race meetings, which is a good incentive and something some other courses could look into doing.
The course has recently had a £34 million redevelopment with at its centre a new five-storey Grandstand. Like many of the big racecourses, the course has established its self as a major exhibition and conference centre which makes it more than just a racecourse these days.
The final part of this massive development will be the opening of the Hilton Garden Inn this summer. The hotel which will have 154-bedrooms and will provide some great views over the racecourse. The building of the hotel has been a big feather in the cap of Arc Racing who now runs the track and it’s also good news for the town which will now have a premium hotel for people visiting the town, as well as the racecourse.
All in all, Doncaster will enter a new decade very much a racecourse on the up both on and off the track.
History
The town of Doncaster was on the major stagecoach routes which inevitably meant the area became a centre of horse breeding to service the new lucrative stagecoach trade.
There are historical records of regular race meetings being held at Doncaster from the late 16th century and a course was marked out early in the 17th century.
Doncaster’s first racecourse was actually on Cantley Common before moving to its present location on Town Moor.
Doncaster went into the history books in the summer of 1992 when it staged the first ever Sunday meeting on a British racecourse. A crowd of 23,000 turned up despite the absence of betting on the day.
The course was unable to charge admission to the public for a race meeting so the entry fee was to hear the band of the Irish Guards play on the day. No cash betting was allowed but punters were able to place bets in betting shops the previous day.
Home of The St Leger & Doncaster Cup
The course is hosts two of world oldest horse races in the St Leger and the Doncaster Cup:
The St Leger, which is run in September of each year is the oldest of the classics and was first run in 1776 on Cantley Common before moving two Town Moor two years later. Named after a local man, Colonel Anthony St Leger, MP for Grimsby and later Governor of St Lucia.
St Leger owned the Park Hill Estate, not far from Doncaster, where he bred and reportedly raced horses on his own land.
The race was first run over 2m, before changing to its present distance of 1m 6f. The final part of the Triple Crown, which includes the 2000 Guineas & Epsom Derby and 1000 Guineas and Epsom Oaks. The last horse to complete the Triple Crown was the mighty Nijinsky, trained by Vincent O’Brien, way back in 1970 although Camelot came close to winning the Triple Crown in 2012 but had to settle for the runners-up spot.
It may be a long time before we see a horse go as close as Camelot did to winning it. The race may not have the same kudos as it once did but it remains a great race and one that the people of Yorkshire are very proud of.
The Doncaster Cup is an even older race than the St Leger and it’s the world’s oldest horse race run under rules. First run in 1766 on Cantley Common, the Group 2 race is now run over 2m 2f and along with Ascot Gold Cup & Goodwood Cup is part of the British Champion Series and is a target for the top staying flat horses each year.
The St Leger and Doncaster Cup are now both part of the four day St Leger Festival which also includes other top class races such as the Champagne Stakes, Flying Childers Stakes, May Hill Stakes and Portland Handicap.
Other Races
Besides the St Leger Doncaster also hosts another Group 1 race the Racing Post Trophy which is the final Group 1 race of the UK flat season. The race which is run over a mile is for 2-year-olds, was first raced in 1961 and became a Group 1 contest in 1971.
It used to be run over Doncaster’s round track but in recent years it’s been moved to the straight track. The winner of the race is normally the best staying juvenile of the year. In the past, the race has been won by the likes of Reference Point, High Chaparral. Motivator, Authorised and Camelot who went onto Epsom Derby glory as 3-year-olds. Shergar was only runner up in the 1980 renewal, when it was known as the William Hill Futurity, but went onto win the Derby in the following season. The 2013 winner Kingston Hill went onto finish runner-up in the following seasons Derby before returning to Town Moor to win that year's St Leger.
The course has the distinction of starting the UK flat season with the Lincoln Handicap, which was moved from Lincoln racecourse after it closed in 1964 and ends the flat season with the November Handicap which had formerly been run at the Manchester racecourse before it closed in 1963.
Doncaster is a dual-purpose track and hosts jump racing during the winter months.
The racing isn’t of the quality of the races run on the flat with the two biggest jumps races held being the Great Yorkshire Chase, presently known as the Sky Bet Handicap Chase, in late January and the Grimthorpe Chase in late Feb/early March.
Track Configuration
Doncaster is a left-handed, mostly flat galloping track. Most pundits consider the track to be one of the fairest in the country. Races up to a mile are run on the straight course, whilst the longer distance races are run on the round track. There are usually few hard luck stories on the straight course when there’s no track bias although it’s probably best not to be too far away from either rail. That’s not always the case in big fields on the round track where the importance of the jockey shouldn’t be underestimated.
Track Stats
Here are a few significant track stats with all the results from the start of 2014.
Jockey
Andrea Atzeni – I mentioned the importance of jockeyship at the track, in particular, the round course, and there is no better jockey in recent years on Town Moor than Andrea Atzeni. Since the start of 2014 he’s had 45 winners from 173 runners 26% +99.03 A/E 1.39 81 placed 47% (with a profit to Betfair SP +187.21).
This is a tremendous win strike rate by a jockey. Indeed, you could have backed his mounts blind at the course in the past four seasons and made a profit.
Trainers
Luca Cumani – Race Distance – 1m 2 ½ f to 1m 6 ½ – 19 winners from 52 runners 37% +33.1 A/E 1.73 32 placed 62%. (He’s just one 1 winner from 26 runners 4% -24.09 A/E 0.19 11 placed 42% with his runners at distances below 1m 2 ½ f).
Roger Varian – Non-handicaps (not maidens races) – 12 winners from 26 runners 46% +55.61 A/E 1.89 19 placed 73%.
When it comes to 2-year-old’s making their racecourse debuts, note trainers Karl Burke & David O’Meara:
Karl Burke – 4 winners from 8 runners 50% +69 A/E 4.17 5 placed 63%.
David O’Meara – 3 winners from 5 runners 60% +16.25 A/E 3.7 4 placed 80%.
When it comes to trainers and handicap debutants, it’s worth noting any runners from the following stables.
John Gosden – 9 winners from 17 runners +18.51 53% A/E 2.15 9 placed 53%.
Luca Cumani – 5 winners from 7 runners 71% +9.6 A/E 2.46 6 placed 86%.
Hugo Palmer – 4 winners from 10 runners 40% +9.63 A/E 2.11 4 placed 40%.
Well, hopefully, you enjoyed this very brief look at Doncaster Racecourse.
If we have selections for Doncaster racing today they will be here
You might like to read an interview with Michael Carr of Lucrative Racing
