Dunstall Park Racecourse - Wolverhampton

A Brief History

The Dunstall Park Racecourse at Wolverhampton opened in 1888 though there has been a racecourse there since 1825.

Few people realise that Wolverhampton used to host National Hunt racing but the final meeting at the course took place back in 1993 and a fibresand track was installed together with floodlighting (the first course in the UK to be equipped with floodlights for evening racing). The course then reopened in January 1994 by HRH Queen Elizabeth II.

Until 1994 the course had always been in private ownership but in 1999 the course was purchased by Arena Leisure (now Arena Racing Company).

In 2014 the track was resurfaced with the now popular Tapeta surface which took three months to complete, and the conference facilities and Dunstall Park Holiday Inn Hotel were refurbished.

The most valuable race run at the course is the Lady Wulfruna Stakes which is ran in March and this year won by Berkshire Shadow.

The course hosts eighty racing fixtures throughout the year together with the now popular concerts events and venue hire.

Location

The course is located in the heart of the West Midlands in the City of Wolverhampton, just off the A449.

Arriving from the North of the country exit from Junction 11 of the M6 and join the A460 toward Wolverhampton and then take the M54 at Junction 1 heading West. Exit at Junction 2 and stay on the A449 following the signs toward Wolverhampton.

Arriving from the South, exit at Junction 10a from the M6 and join the M54, then exit at Junction 2 heading on the A449 toward Wolverhampton.

Wolverhampton has a mainline train station serviced regular by direct trains and also the Metro service from Birmingham City Centre, together with a comprehensive bus service too. The Bus station is just a short walk from the train station where you can catch the number 5, 6, 6A, 62 or 62A.

The Course

The track is an eight furlong oval track with tight left hand turns and a short two furlong run in to the finishing post. A good position out of the starting stalls is essential!

You can see a layout of the course here.

The Favourites Stats

All figures are based on data available from 1^st January 2020 to 12^th April 2023.

An explanation of A/E can be found here.

Favourites (including joint and co favourites) have produced the following set of results:

764 winners from 2243 runners 33.93% -96.59pts (SP). A/E 0.95. 1406 placed 62.68%.

Breaking those 2243 runners down between Handicap and Non Handicap races.

Non Handicap: 252 winners from 596 runners 42.28% -37.19pts (SP). A/E 0.94. 444 placed 74.50%

Handicap: 509 winners from 1647 runners 30.90% -59.40pts (SP) +55.10pts (BFSP) A/E 0.96. 962 placed 59.40%.

• Favourites that won their last race have produced – 221 winners from 570 runners 38.77% +6.82pts (SP) +43.29pts (BFSP). A/E 0.99. 367 placed 64.39%.

• Favourites that had finished outside the top four on their last start produced – 189 winners from 565 runners 33.45% +25.91pts (SP) +69.69pts (BFSP). A/E 1.04. 335 placed 59.29%.

Summary: Both those runners which had won their last race and those which finished out of the places offered a chance of profits, but significantly when backing at Betfair Exchange prices.

Trainers and Favourites:

Based on those trainers which have had at least thirty runners during the period we are looking at, the most prolific of wins come from the popular and well known names such as Mark Johnston, Charlie Appleby, and Mick Appleby, but in general you will struggle to make any major profits from backing the favourites at Wolverhampton.

Mark Johnston: – 23 winners from fifty-three runners 43.40% +10.85pts (SP) +14.31pts (BFSP) A/E 1.14 35 placed 66.04%.

Mick Appleby: twenty-one winners from fifty-five runners 38.18% +11.63pts (SP) +16.61pts (BFSP) A/E 1.10 35 placed 63.64%.

And with the best favourites strike rate at Wolverhampton Charlie Appleby: 22 winners from 39 runners 56.41% ++9.29pts (SP) +12.44pts (BFSP) A/E 1.12 34 placed 87.18%.

General Course Stats:

• Odds SP: 14/1 and above – 184 winners from 7740 runners 2.38%, -3192pts to ISP. -1377.47pts to BFSP. A/E 0.71 1971 placed 9.34%.

• Previous course winners provided 1322 winners from 12366 runners 10.69%, -3097.12pts to ISP. -1020.22pts BFSP. A/E 0.85. 3741 placed 30.25%.

General Trainer Stats and Micro Angles

It certainly feels as though it is going to be difficult to find any winning angles at Wolverhampton based on the basic data above, but it would be amiss of us at least not to try.

One trainer with the possibility of profits for us is S (Sean) Curran.

His runners at Wolverhampton in recent years have had a 24.24% strike rate overall, a nice profit in 2020 +11.32pts (ISP) and 2021 +20.08pts (ISP) and he is already showing a profit in 2023 at time of writing 12^th April of +4.83pts. (2022 had a loss of -9.34pts to ISP).

The Non Handicappers don’t offer a great deal in terms of profits…

…but what they do offer is a cushioning in terms of strike rate if we were to back his runners blindly at Wolverhampton.

All but one of those winners have come in a relatively narrow distance band of 7f-9.5f.

We are willing to take a chance with the Curran runners for the rest of the year at Wolverhampton and see what pans out.

Micro 1: Back S (Sean) Curran’s runners at Wolverhampton when running over 7-9.5f.

Class Differences

The numbers of races at the course range in Class all the way through the ranks from Class 1 down to lowly and extremely unpredictable Class 7, with the bulk of races coming in the lower grades.

So, as a starting point we will split the Classes into two bands, Class 1-3, and Class 4 downwards.

Class 1-3 Races

Keith Dalglish

We may do worse than look at Keith Dalgleish’s runners at Wolverhampton when running in races graded Classes 1-3. He has a 30% win strike rate at Wolverhampton over the period viewed and a profit of +20.83pts to ISP / +25.60 to BFSP.

Those profits all came during 2020 and 2021, and he was one winner from four during 2022.

2023 has seen just one runner this year and winners have come at the last quarter and first quarter of the years, so we don’t really feel there is anything worth following here.

Horses that move to Turf Flat when LTO at Wolverhampton in a Class 1-3 race.

This may be an avenue worth noting for those running next time out in a Non Handicap on the Turf.

The numbers of runners are not prolific but when combined with other racecourse micro systems throughout the year they may add something of worth to the pot.

Qualifying runners have been minimal through 2022 (half as many as though that run during 2020 and 2021 but there has been one winner from four selections already this year (Vadream won at Doncaster at 9/1 on 1^st April) so we don’t need too many of those throughout the year to see a profit.

Micro 2: Back runners on the Turf Flat running in Non Handicap races when their last race was at Wolverhampton in a Class 1–3 race (Any Race).

Class 4 or lower

There are few trainers which are “stand out” down in these classes of race. They can often be a pin in the board at Wolverhampton where you can potentially run the same race several times and come out with a different winner each time!

Two may offer an opportunity to profit, an old hand and a relatively new kid to the block.

Saeed Bin Suroor – We wouldn’t expect the Bin Suroor runners to offer anything of value for us, but one thing that is of interest is that most of his runners have been entered in Class 5 races at Wolverhampton where he has a 33.33% strike rate.

But it is his three year olds non handicappers which seem to be the star of the show at Wolverhampton whichever Class they run in with a 58.82% strike rate.

Again, runners may be just a handful through the year but if they turn a double digit profit, we are happy to wait for them.

Micro 3: Back Saeed Bin Suroor’s three year old Non Handicappers when running at Wolverhampton.

James Ferguson – James Ferguson set up his training facility in 2019 and has been offering some winners.

His strike rate on the All Weather has been significantly better than that on the turf. 20.33% and 12.38% respectively, and a good portion of his runners have been seen at the Wolverhampton track, with the majority of those running in Class 4 or lower.

Of the fourteen winners from fifty one runners at Wolverhampton since 2019, those that had a relatively recent run i.e., 90 days or less provided fourteen of the winners.

Micro 4: Back James Fergusons Class 4-7 runners at Wolverhampton when their last run was within 90 days or less.

We would suggest that if you are interested in following these micro systems that you add these into your own tracker such as horseracebase.com

The OCP Team