Del Mar Racetrack

"Where the Turf meets the Surf".. indeed, the beach is just some metres away from this North American oval dirt track (now synthetic) with an inner turf track.


See larger map

The data
Dirt Track: 1 mile
Backstetch chute: 7f
Stretch chute: 2f (good for 1 1/4 mile races)
This, as in most north american tracks, means that 7 1/2 dirt races are not run.

Turf track: Overall length 1450m
Length from the wire to the start of the inner chute: 385m (it is used only for 1 1/8 furlong races).

The set-up of the tracks implies that only some distances can be run.

In the turf track, only 5f (from the top of the backstretch), 7 1/2f, 8f, 8 1/2f (from the stretch), 9f (from the inner chute) and 11f (from the backstretch going around twice) are run.

Club Hípico de Santiago

This is the main track in Chile´s capital city, Santiago. It is a big turf track with 2 turf tracks and 2 inner dirt tracks as well. The wire is at the upper right corner of the picture.


View Larger Map

Here is the data (chutes ennumerated counter-clockwise):

Main Turf Track
Length: around 2430m
First chute: 1200m
Second chute: 1300m
Backstretch chute: 2200m
90º backstretch chute: 2400m

Inner Turf Track
Length: around 1960m
First chute: 1200m
Second Chute: 1000m (YES! That is correct, the second chute is shorter thatn the first one, I do not know if they even use it, I´ll try to find a video).

Dirt Track
Length: around 1830m
From the top of the backstretch: 1560m

And then the inner track, in which I didn´t see a finish line even though it does have a backstretch chute... maybe some Chilean friend can shed some light on this.

Brighton Racecourse

This is Brighton Racecourse in Brighton, in southern England, and it is definitely WEIRD!! It is similar to Epsom in that both are U shaped one-way tracks. This one has a very steep (it goes up by 7 metres) uphill straight, it has a road crossing over at 1200m (no, I´m not kidding, it is paved), and 1400 and 2000m chutes. There is also another cross-over (this time, a dirt road) at 1850m mark. It´s overall length is a little over 2400m. I left the big A marking the grandstand just in case you had a hard time locating the track :D


View Larger Map

Galopprennbahn Bremen

Finishing my tour through Germany, I post Bremen´s racetrack, a clockwise triangular turf track of 1850m, with a 1550m chute in the backstretch. It also has a 1750m inner turf track, and then all sorts of tracks going through the infield, which apparently is used for steeplechase races.

Oh, and also, here you can see some pictures of the track:

View Larger Map

A racetrack in Berlin

I couldn´t get the name, but there is a similar one to the north-east. It is a 1200m oval running clockwise, with 320m straights, and it seems that there are two distinct surfaces, one on the inside and one on the outside. Also there is an inner track too. It is curious that neither this one nor the other I saw in Berlin have chutes.


View Larger Map