Racecourses Horseracing in Great Britain

there 60 licensed racecourses in great britain, further 2 in northern ireland (down royal , downpatrick). apart chelmsford city , ffos las (which opened in 2009), courses date 1927 or earlier. oldest chester racecourse, dates 16th century.

unlike other countries, notably united states, racing in britain takes place on turf. however, there 6 courses have all-weather tracks - kempton park, lingfield, southwell, wolverhampton, chelmsford city , newcastle. southwell s surface fibresand. wolverhampton installed tapeta surface in august 2014, replacing existing polytrack; newcastle converted historic gosforth park flat racing turf track tapeta course addition of floodlit all-weather straight mile in may 2016. flat racing @ newcastle takes place on tapeta surface turf course retained solely winter programme of jumps racing. other 3 british all-weather tracks polytrack. ireland has single all-weather polytrack course @ dundalk. courses vary wildly in layout. there few regular ovals, typical layout of other countries united states. each course has own idiosyncrasies, , horses known more suited tracks others, hence idiom horses courses.

there 2 main operating groups of british racecourses - jockey club racecourses , arena racing company run fifteen courses each.