Key Characteristics
Thirsk Racecourse is set in North Yorkshire. It is a lovely course set in the Yorkshire countryside, and is a great racecourse to get away from it all.
The round course is a left-handed, oval track, just over a mile and a quarter in extent, with a run-in of half a mile. There is a straight six-furlong course, which is slightly undulating throughout. The round course itself is almost perfectly flat, but though the turns are relatively easy and the ground well levelled all round, the track is on the sharp side and by no means ideal for a horse that requires time to settle down, and time and space to get down to work in the straight.
Draw Bias & Pace Analysis
The stats show that being drawn high over the 5 & 6 furlong sprints is a big advantage particularly if the ground is good or better. This is because horses drawn high race up the stands rails where it is seems the ground is better than in the middle or far side of the track. In soft conditions this advantage is reduced.
Over 7 in big fields it appears to be a disadvantage to be drawn high as there is only a short run to the first bend and if you don’t get a good position you either have to run wide or drop to the back. Again in soft conditions this bias ceases to exist.
Thirsk seems to have a bit of a pace bias favouring front runners, although the exception being races over a mile. In terms of the individual distances, shown below is how Thirsk ranks :
5 Furlongs – 10th out of 31 courses
6 Furlongs – 4th out of 27 courses
7 Furlongs – 4th out of 22 courses
8 Furlongs – 22nd out of 25 courses
Trainer & Jockeys
Keith Dalgleish, Michael Appleby, Brian Smart, Richard Fahey and Paul Midgely
Daniel Tudhope, Kevin Stott, Paul Hanagan and Paul Mulrennan
