Wetherby: Home of The Charlie Hall Chase

This is the third article looking at UK racecourses. So far, we have looked at Goodwood and Ayr. For this month I am heading south again to “Gods Own County”, Yorkshire. Wetherby is the track and jumping the game and a look at The Charlie Hall Chase.

As I focus on my first mainly jumps track. I say mainly because in recent seasons the course has had a small number of flat meetings. Which I have to say have attracted some decent sized fields.

I have three local tracks Pontefract, York and Wetherby which is the closest racecourse to me as the crow flies. Given my fondness for Wetherby I thought the track would be an ideal place to start my look at the National Hunt tracks.

Given you will be reading this article in the run-up to arguably the tracks biggest meeting of the year the Charlie Hall Meeting. I will also have a look at that particular meeting and its historic race.

As before I will look briefly at the tracks location, history, configuration and two of its biggest races.

In the final section I will highlight some significant stats at the course.

Location and History

Wetherby Racecourse is located approximately 15 miles from Leeds. Its location close to the A1 means it’s easy to get to by car. However, the town of Wetherby doesn’t have a railway station so it’s not easy for those using public transport.

There are buses from Leeds, York and Harrogate and on its big meeting days the racecourse does put on a complimentary shuttle bus service between Wetherby Town Centre and the Racecourse.

The Racecourse is situated about 1 ½ miles from Wetherby Town Centre and it’s about 30-minute walk for those you wishing take the healthy option and walk to the track.

Horse racing at its present home on York Road, first started in 1891. The first Grandstand was built in 1906 and remains in place today. After the end of the First World War. A body called Wetherby Race Company was set up. This company bought the lease to the racecourse and appointed Rowland Meyrick as Clerk of The Course. Meyrick’s name is remembered today in the handicap chase named after him which is held at Wetherby each Boxing Day.

In 1924 the racecourse even gained its own railway station which was officially closed in 1959. When the railway station was in existence. There were regular horse racing specials from the industrial cities of Bradford, Leeds & Sheffield which increased the popularity of the course and led to much higher attendances at its meetings.

There’s been plenty of investment in facilities at the track since 1945, including the Millennium Stand in 2000 and the more recent £3.2m redevelopment of the racecourse. Giving Wetherby racegoers, a great race day experience.

Wetherby hosted its first flat fixture on 26th April 2015 and has since staged a limited number of flat fixtures in subsequent years. The easy accessibility of the track for trainers, from the likes of Newmarket as well as Yorkshire based trainers, has meant that field sizes for flat racing have stood up really well.

Wetherby’s most valuable meeting of its jumps season is its late October/early November fixture. The meeting features the tracks most prestigious race the Grade 2 Charlie Hall Chase which has been won by great staying chases like Wayward Lad, Burrough Hill Lad, Forgive ‘n Forget, One Man, See More Business, Silviniaco Conti and Cue Card.

The meeting also hosts good supporting races like the West Yorkshire Hurdle and the Wetherby Mares Hurdle. Other top races run at the track include Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase and the Grade 2 Towton Novices’ Chase which is held in February.

Track Configuration

Wetherby is Left-handed course. The hurdles course runs inside the chase track making for some sharp turns and favours the speedier horse who can hold a prominent position.

The fences used to be much stiffer than they are now but still provide a good jumping test for a chaser. Even on the chase course, horses that race prominently are favoured.

All in all, a fair galloping track.

Charlie Hall Chase

The 3m 1f Charlie Hall Chase, or Bet365 Charlie Hall Chase which has been sponsored by the online bookmaker since 2013. doesn’t attract a big field of staying chasers. Indeed, the average field size in the past decade is around seven runners.

The 2017 renewal was won by the Nigel Twiston-Davies trained Bristol De Mai before going onto win that years Betfair Chase.

Here are a few interesting stats from the race which contain 10 winners from 68 runners 22 placed:

Horses Age: 6 to 9 – 10 winners from 46 runners 20 placed (6yr olds are -3 winners from 4 runners 75% +11.1).
Official Rating: 151 to 165 – 10 winners from 47 runners 19 placed.
Wins in Month: 1 or 2 – 9 winners from 38 runners +23.85 A/E 1.73 15 placed.
Position in Betting: Top 3 – 7 winners from 31 runners 13 placed (70% of the winners from 46% off the runners).
Wins on the going: 1 or 2 – 7 winners from 30 runners +21.6 A/E 1.77 10 placed.

Now, as we know trends are busted in these sorts of races on a regular basis but I think they provide a good way to short list contenders for a big race.

Wetherby Stats: National Hunt

Here are a few interesting trainer track stats that will hopefully enable you to identify some nice priced winners over jumps at Wetherby this season. First, I will look at some trainer stats for all meetings before looking at those trainers to note at the upcoming Bet365 Charlie Hall Meeting.

The stats below are from 2014 to the time of writing (05/09/18) and cover all flat meetings at the course. Once again using the ever useful www.horseracebase.com for the stats.

The results below contain 492 winners from 4090 runners.

General Stats

Top 3 in the betting provided 73% of the winners from 37% of the total runners
Top four last time out provided 63% of the winners from 45% of the total runners

Fate of the Favourites

On average favourites, including Joint & Co favs, win about 35% of all jumps races. How have favourites fared at Wetherby?

All Favourites have produced – 197 winners from 538 runners 36% -28.99 A/E 0.96

Breaking those results down into non-handicap and handicaps and looking at last time out placings:

Non -Handicaps – 109 winners from 237 runners 46% -16.42 A/E 0.96 169 placed 71%.
Handicaps – 88 winners from 301 runners 29% -12.57 170 placed 56%.
Favourites that won their last race are – 65 winners from 162 runners 40% -1.03 A/E 0.95 102 placed 63%.
Favourites that had finished outside the top four on their last start are – 56 winners from 146 runners 38% +8.86 A/E 1.06 97 placed 66%.

Trainer Stats: All Meetings

Race Type

Dan Skelton (Handicap Chases) – 7 winners from 17 runners 41% +14.33 A/E 1.68 10 placed 59%.
Nicky Richards (Handicap Hurdles) – 5 winners from 13 runners 38% +19.25 A/E 2.18 8 placed 62%.

Odds: 9/1 & under

Dan Skelton – 30 winners from 70 runners 43% +29.66 A/E 1.32 47 placed 67%.
Philip Kirby – 16 winners from 50 runners 32% +26.92 A/E 1.5 24 placed 48%.

Race Class (Handicaps)

Neil Mulholland (Class 4) – 4 winners from 6 runners 67% +13.63 A/E 3.01 4 placed 67%.
Nicky Richards (Class 3) – 4 winners from 7 runners 57% +22.75 A/E 3.42 5 placed 71%.

Going

Michael Easterby (Soft) – 5 winners from 10 runners 50% +8.08 A/E 2.27.
Venetia Williams (Heavy) – 4 winners from 9 runners 44% +5.45 A/E 1.67 6 placed 67%.

Trainer & Jockey Combinations

Nicky Richards & Ryan Day – 4 winners from 10 runner 40% +42 7 placed 70%.
Philip Hobbs & Richard Johnson – 6 winners from 16 runners 38% +5 13 placed 81%.
Kim Bailey & David Bass – 6 winners from 17 runners +12 11 placed 65%.

Trainer Stats – Charlie Hall Meeting

Before looking at some trainer stats at this meeting. Let’s look at some general meeting stats. The result below contain 66 winners from 560 runners 161 placed.

Top three in the betting have provided 79% of the winners from just 36% of the runners.
Odds SP: 22/1 and bigger – 1 winner from 152 runners 0.66 -126 A/E 0.32 9 placed 6%.
Favourites: 29 winners from 73 runners 40% -1.11 A/E 1.02 45 placed 62%.

Non-Handicaps

Harry Fry – 3 winners from 4 runners 75% +5.25 4 placed 100%.

Handicaps

Nicky Richards – 2 winners from 2 runners 100% +5.5.
Sandy Thomson -2 winners from 2 runners 100% +8.75.
Michael Easterby – 2 winners from 6 runners 33% +24 3 placed 50%.

Hopefully you enjoyed this brief look at Wetherby Racecourse and some of the key stats.

By the time next month’s magazine is published we will be close to the start of Cheltenham’s first jumps meeting of the season and the winter game will be about to hit top gear.

Until next time.
John