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Haydock Racecourse

In last month’s OCP magazine I looked at Carlisle racecourse. This month I’m heading back down the M6 to Haydock Park which is one of the top dual code racecourses in the country.

As before in this series of articles on British racecourses, I will look briefly at the track’s location, history, configuration and will also highlight some significant track stats.

Haydock racecourse is both a flat and National Hunt racecourse.  Given that we are now entering the winter jumps season the track stats used will be for National Hunt racing only.

History and Location

Haydock Park is situated in an area of parkland close to the small towns of Ashton-in-Markerfield, Golborne and Newton-le-Willows and is about halfway between Manchester & Liverpool.

Horse racing has been taking place in the area since the mid-18th century with regular meetings being held at Newton-le-Willows throughout the 19th century. Racing at the current location took place for the first time in February 1899 and the track soon became one of the most successful in the country under the management of Sydney Sandon.

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Like many racecourses it was closed between 1939 to 1945, due to the Second World War, and only returned in August 1946.

For those coming to the races by car the Racecourse is very easily accessible being located just 1 mile from the M6 (Junction 23).

For racegoers coming by public transport, the nearest railway station is at Newton-le-Willows which is served by trains from Manchester Piccadilly, Victoria and Liverpool Lime Street stations. The racecourse is about 8 miles from Warrington Bank Quay railway station which is on the London to Glasgow mainline route.

On every Saturday race day there’s also a bus service from Liverpool City Centre. On other race days the racecourse runs a complimentary shuttle bus from Newton-le-Willows Station to the Racecourse a couple of hours prior to and after racing. Details of which days this bus runs can be found on the Haydock Park website.

https://www.thejockeyclub.co.uk/haydock/visitor-info/directions-and-parking/

The biggest race on the flat is the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup which is held each September. Over jumps the highlight is the Grade 1 Betfair Chase run over three miles in November. Recent winners of the race include Kauto Star, Cue Card, Silviniaco Conti and Bristol De Mai.

Other big jump races include the Tommy Whittle Chase just before Christmas, the Peter Marsh Chase in January, and the Grand National Trial in February.

The course also hosts England’s only mixed Flat and Jumps race day each May with the Swinton Hurdle the feature race on the card.

Track Configuration

Haydock Park’s jumps track is left-handed. The chase track is galloping in nature and is on the outside of the hurdles track which is a circuit of about 1m 4f.

The going can often be heavy during the winter months with stamina at a premium, but the emphasis is more on speed at the Swinton Meeting.

The chase course used to have some of the most testing fences in the country. However, these days that’s not the case although it can be a good test for novice chasers.

The hurdles track is tighter and favours speedier horses although on more testing winter ground it can be a gruelling test of stamina.

 

Haydock Park Stats: National Hunt

As ever let’s begin by looking at some general stats including favourite stats at the course since 2015.

The stats below are from Jan 1st, 2015 to the time of writing (10/10/19) and cover all jump 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.

The results below contain 258 winners from 2117 runners 637 placed.

 

Favourites

Clear favourites have produced the following set of results:

74 winners from 232 runners 32% -33.57 A/E 0.87 125 placed 54%.

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

Non-handicap – 45 winners from 91 runners 49% +2.18 A/E 0.99 6 placed 68%.

Chase – 12 winners from 28 runners 43% -3.93 A/E 0.88 16 placed 57%.

Hurdle – 28 winners from 54 runners 52% +4.13 A/E 1.03 39 placed 72%.

NHF – 5 winners from 9 runners 56% +1.98 A/E 1.11 7 placed 78%.

Handicaps – 29 winners from 141 runners 21% -35.75 A/E 0.73 63 placed 44%

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 – 36 winners from 107 runners 34% -23.53 A/E 0.83 53 placed 50%.

•           Favourites that had finished outside the top four on their last start produced – 13 winners from 46 runners 28% +0.14 A/E 0.91 23 placed 50%.

Summary: Compared to Carlisle it’s not been a good track for favourite backers overall although non-handicap favourites in hurdle & NHF races have been profitable to back blind.

Trainers and Favourites:

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

Nigel Twiston-Davies – 6 winners from 6 runners 100% +5.77 A/E 1.83.

Kim Bailey – 4 winners from 4 runners 100% +6.51 A/E 2.47.

Summary: Both Nigel Twiston-Davies & Kim Bailey have 100%-win strike rates with clear favourites in non-handicap races at Haydock.

Jockeys and Favourites:

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

Paddy Brennan – 4 winners from 4 runners 100% +6.65 A/E 2.38.

Brian Hughes – 4 winners from 4 runners 100% +3.28 A/E 1.79.

Daryl Jacob – 3 winners from 3 runners 100% +2.63 A/E 1.69.

Sam Twiston-Davies – 5 winners from 7 runners 71% +2.29 A/E 1.38 7 placed 100%.

Summary: The likes of Paddy Brennan, Brian Hughes, Daryl Jacob and Sam Twiston-Davies all have 100% win & place strike rates with non-handicap favourites at the course.

General Course Stats:

•           Odds SP: 14/1 & above – 19 winners from 639 runners 3% -166 A/E 0.66 80 placed 13%.

•           Previous course winners provided 43 winners from 296 runners 15% -12.51 A/E 0.9 97 placed 33%.

Summary: Haydock Park isn’t really a course specialist track and runners sent off 14/1 & bigger have won just 3% of races since the start of 2015.

Trainer Stats and Angles:

Here are a few interesting trainer track stats, which will hopefully enable you to identify some winners at Haydock Park’s upcoming winter jumps seasons.  On this occasion I have concentrated on those runners with an odds threshold of 14/1.

1.         Trainers & Handicap Hurdle Runners (14/1 & under).

  • Nigel Twiston-Davies – 5 winners from 21 runners 24% +10.58 A/E 1.51 11 places 52%.
  • Evan Williams – 4 winners from 15 runners 27% +11 A/E 1.87 9 placed 60%.
  • Harry Fry – 3 winners from 12 runners 25% +12 A/E 1.48 5 placed 42%.

2.         Trainers & Handicap Chase Runners (14/1 & under)

  • Peter Bowen – 4 winners from 8 runners 50% +15 A/E 3.36 5 placed 63%.
  • Kerry Lee – 3 winners from 9 runners 33% +7.8 A/E 1.69 6 placed 67%.
  • Ian Williams – 3 winners from 10 runners 30% +9 A/E 1.94 4 placed 40%.
  • Jamie Snowden – 3 winners from 5 runners 60% +9.33 A/E 2.21 4 placed 80%

3.         Trainers & Race Class – Handicaps (14/1 & under)

  • Nicky Richards (Class 3) – 3 winners from 7 runners 43% +6.25 A/E 2.04 4 placed 57%.
  • Venetia Williams (Class 3) – 5 winners from 16 runners 31% +11.5 A/E 1.88 6 placed 38%.

4.         Trainers & NHF Races – Racecourse Debutants (14/1 & under).

  • Kim Bailey – 2 winners from 2 runners 100% +3.16 A/E 2.41.
  • Peter Bowen – 1 winner from 1 runner 100% +7 A/E 7.69.

Summary: Several interesting trainer records which should prove to be profitable once again here this winter.

Haydock Park Trainer Micro Angle:

Finally, here’s a Haydock trainer micro angle for you:

Trainer: Paul Nicholls

NH Race Type: Chase

Odds SP: 4/1 & under

8 winners from 13 runners 62% +12.05 A/E 1.80 10 placed 77%.

System 91: Back Paul Nicholls chasers going off at 4/1 or less at Haydock.

All of the trainers’ eight winners since the start of 2015 had the above traits.

Hopefully you enjoyed this brief look at Haydock racecourse and some of the track’s National Hunt stats. The next stop on this tour of British racecourses takes us to another top dual-purpose track at Newbury.

Until next time.

John

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