Key Characteristics
York racecourse recently came out top in a Times survey of the best racecourses in the UK, and if you’ve ever visited York racecourse that wouldn’t surprise you. Excellent facilities and good viewing are coupled with a friendly atmosphere and cheap prices to make York a must visit. Such is its standing that when Ascot was being re-developed York was chosen to host the Royal Ascot meeting in 2005. The course is also called the Knavesmire, and horse racing has taken place there since 1731.
York really is a splendid course with a long run-in sweeping turns and virtually no undulations, making it a galloping horses dream. It is fair to every style of horse. There is also a perfectly flat straight course on which all 5 and 6 furlong races are run.
Draw Bias & Pace Analysis
At first glance there appears to be little draw bias over 5 furlongs but look deeper and there is a bias to low drawn runners in large fields on good ground or better while high drawn horses (particularly the highest drawn) have a slight advantage in the soft.
It definitely appears, from the stats, to be an advantage to be drawn high and therefore coming up the stands side at York over 6 furlongs and a high draw seems to be beneficial over 7 furlongs.
The course appears to be pretty fair to all types of horse although big galloping types do well here. There is a perception that there is a bias favouring front runners but this is not borne out by the facts with York ranked as only 36th best out of 37 courses for front runners, with the long flat straight having something to do with this.
Trainers & Jockeys
John Gosden, Sir Michael Stoute, Charlie Appleby, Michael Dodds and William Haggas.
Frankie Dettori, James Doyle, William Buick, Jim Crowley, P J McDonald and J P Sullivan.
Favourite Performance
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