Salisbury Racecourse
Salisbury racecourse is the second oldest racecourses in Britain after Chester, with racing at the track having taken place back in the middle of the 16th century in 1584.
The course now holds typically sixteen race meetings during the summer months from April through to September, with many of the meetings being themed as family days or combined with music evenings. Attendances can range from 2000 up to 9000 racegoers at a time.
The course itself is located in a glorious, picturesque setting some four miles outside of the Cathedral City of Salisbury and is easily accessible by car and well signposted, you can also reach the course by train by heading to Salisbury train station.
From the train station you can either take a taxi to the course which takes around 15 mins, or alternatively you can take the courtesy shuttle bus run by Wheelers Travel which runs on race days from the train station directly to the course. The bus leaves the railway station at the same time as the gates open on that days fixture and it will run again an hour later.
So, for example, if the racecourse opens at midday for entry then the bus will leave the train station at midday, and it’s second journey will be at 1.00 p.m. The bus returns to the station twenty minutes after the start of the last race of the day.
Configuration of the course.
The course is not the most standard of shapes being linear in design apart from a small three furlong loop toward the far end of the track. The addition of the loop allows the course to run races over distances up to 1 mile 6 furlongs. The tight right handed corner in the loop in the track can cause some horses difficulty, so gaining an advantageous position is paramount.
Distances of a mile or less are run on the straight part of the course which features a slight elbow to the right, and all of the races finish with a steady climb to the line, so a runner with stamina has an advantage. Also, historically those with a low stall draw have tended to have the better strike rate.
The Fate of the Favourites.
(General data covers the period 2008 – to date)
Clear favourites have had an excellent strike rate of 34.68% but beware, backing blindly would have seen you lose money. (Though losing just 20.06 points at BFSP over 1436 bets doesn’t sound that bad…)
That favourites successful strike rate has been maintained in recent times too (2019-to date).
Breaking those results down between Handicap and Non Handicap favourites shows an improved strike rate for the Non Handicappers.
Backing favourites that had won their last race and came out to win again in Non Handicap races would have seen you make a small profit but nothing to write home about.
Favourites and their Trainers.
In terms of the physical number of winners in recent years a small number have turned a slight profit at the Betfair Starting Prices, in particular Roger Varian, Clive Cox, Andrew Balding, Richard Hannon Jnr and Saeed Bin Suroor.
Backing these trainers Handicap and Non Handicap runners when they go off as favourite would have turned a profit ROI of just over 29.00% over the period at BFSP.
Favourites and their Jockeys.
Jockeys with a 50% strike rate at the course when riding the favourite since 2019 are Oisin Murphy, Hector Crouch and Andrea Atzeni, but don’t expect to make a profit.
Backing these three jockeys when riding Non Handicap favourites see them with strike rates in excess of 63.00% and up to 80.00% for Atzeni but the market is well aware of their success.
There is also a massive flaw here …how do you know what is going to go off as favourite in the race. It is pretty much impossible. We’ll avoid favourite backing thank you.
One thing we did notice of interest is a possibly profitable angle when backing Handicap runners in general when ridden by Hector Crouch or David Probert.
Since 2019 backing the Handicap runners at Salisbury ridden by these guys would have given you a healthy return on your investment!
And that is pretty much year on year.
We have three meetings at Salisbury during September, the 1st, the 9th and the 29th of the month.
System 13 (JO-94-13-09-22-OCP): Back Handicap runners at Salisbury to win only at BFSP when ridden by Hector Crouch or David Probert.
Now a few more recent general course statistics for you.
(2019- to date of writing 13th August 2022)
Position in the Betting Market
- The top three in the betting have provided 237 winners from 1031 runners giving a strike rate of 23% and an A/E of 0.86.
- 516 of the runners from the top three in the betting finished in the places.
Big, priced winners are rare, but they can arise but just eighteen winners from 361winners during the period went off at 25/1 or larger.
Last Time Out
- Horses that finished in the first three last time out produced 178 winners from 930 runners and 370 finished placed overall.
Previous Wins at the Course.
- Of those horses which had won at the track previously just twenty-six of them went on to win again from 198 runners.
The Two Year Olds
- Keep an eye on two year olds having their first run at the course from Richard Hannon Jnr.
2022 has so far generated a 31.25% strike rate and an 80% ROI to BFSP. We may have come to the party late at Salisbury, but we will be watching avidly through September and will be filing to take note for next year.
System 14 (JO-94-14-09-22-OCP): Back Richard Hannon Jnr’s 2yr olds at Salisbury when having their first run at the track.
Featured Image: (CC BY 4.0) – Lost my bet…