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Which NH tracks are in you opinion almost identical to each other?
Like I think that Taunton and Ludlow are almost the same, the only difference being that one of them has an extra obstacle in the straight. But they are both rather flat and right-handed tracks with almost no undulations and rather easy to handle.
I also have the impression that Wetherby and Haydock are similar, mainly flat, left-handed and with very long straights. I know that the Wetherby fences could be stiffer than the ones used at Haydock nowadays, but they are mainly the same.
Take Carlisle and Exeter for example, they are right-handed and pretty much with a stiff uphill final mile. Horses seem to finish rather exhausted on testing ground.Or Stratford and Fakenham which are tight and only have one flight of hurdles in the straight, with the hurdle course being on the inside of the chase course on both occasions and horses keep turning all the time. Warwick ist also similar with it’s rather shorter straight.
Up in the north Donny, Newcastle and Ayr (I’m talking just about the NH courses) look very similar to me with the chase tracks on the inside of the hurdle tracks, all left-handed and with a long straight with four fences each.
I’d like to figure out what kind of horse you need for the above mentioned courses.Ruby, looks like you’ve made the same assumption I did on a blog post last year – that Newcastle is pretty flat. I’ve never been racing there and have never got the impression from TV coverage that it represented anything like a stiff test, but I was soon put right. Apparently it takes a bit of getting. Mick Fitz says it rides very much like Newbury in its stamina demands
I really thought that Doncaster and particularly Newcastle are quite similar. Especially since they never seem to run downhill when entering the country.
I was never aware of a stiff uphill finish at Newcastle. To me it was more due to a possible sticky ground.Carlisle, Exeter and even Ascot are downhill when you leave the home straight. I thought that Newbury and Chepstow were quite similar thanks to the undulations, the very long straight (5 fences at Chepstow, 4 at Newbury) and the fact that they are both left-handed tracks.
Does anyone know which courses have the same underground conditions underneath the turf.
By the way, don’t you people think that Southwell (NH) and Worcester are almost twin tracks?
Both use portable fences and hurdles, are very flat and oval left-handed tracks with a nice long straight (about 3f – 4f).The most identical for me would be Ffos Las and Newbury as Ffos Las was designed to be pretty much an exact replica of Newbury albeit their fences are most likely a little less stiffer than Newbury’s ones.
Musselburgh & Market Rasen are also not too dissimilar either with both being sharp right handed tracks although Market Rasen has the softer fences.
Good point about Ffos Las and Newbury. The only fence missing is the Cross Fence which you don’t have at Ffos Las. Market Rasen and Musselburgh is also quite good, though the Musselburgh fences are ,as you have mentioned, quite unforgiving. Especially in the closing stages.
…By the way, don’t you people think that Southwell (NH) and Worcester are almost twin tracks?
Both use portable fences and hurdles, are very flat and oval left-handed tracks with a nice long straight (about 3f – 4f).Tangential to the above comment – The reason Worcester’s racing surface is so level is entirely due to Worcester City Corporation buying the site at Pitchcroft (in 1899) for use as a resource to dump the city’s landfill waste. The waste filled in all the natural hollows on the site leaving it as flat as a pancake.
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