Galopprennbahn Bremen

Continuing my virtual journey through Germany, this is Bremen Racetrack, it is almost rectangular in shape, with very long straights (they are about 650m long), no chutes at all and an inner Steeplechase track (with some tracks crossing the infield). The track is 2010m long, runs clockwise, and measures almost 1600m from the wire at the top of the backstretch and less than 1000m when they are entering the far turn. Maybe they start 1800m races from the middle of the "turn" (it isn´t much of a turn, more like a little straight). All in all, pretty unique.


View Larger Map

Corowa Racecourse

Located in a small town in Australia (yet again!) this is a 1860m grass irregular oval, with a 1000m chute off the far turn in a 90º angle, a 1400m backstretch chute and a 1600m near turn chute. It is very well aligned east-west, so the finish line is at the north-east corner.


View Larger Map

Ippodromo San Siro (Milan)

This is a large turf oval in Milan, Italy. It has 2 turns at each end of the track, so in theory there are 4 different ovals in there. The big one measures 2800m and the small one just over 2000m. The stretch is on the lower side of the image, and the finish line is just where the first turn starts, in front of the grandstand. I found this video of a 2400m race. The chute that starts in the lower right side of the image measures just over 1000m. The strange thing is that there is also a chute on the other end of the stretch.. I wonder if they also run left-handed races there? Also, you can see that there is a steeplechase track on the inside.


View Larger Map

Just to the south there is a smaller oval used for trotters, and you can also see Stadio Giuseppe Meazza (formerly also known as San Siro) where both Milan football teams play.

Coffs Harbour Racecourse

It is curious how almost every city in Australia has its own racecourse. According to Wikipedia Coffs Harbour has less than 30,000 inhabitants, but that doesn´t stop it from having a very nice turf oval, with the far turn bigger than the near one, and four chutes, one measuring only 600 metres from the finish line (I guess it is used rather for 2300m races) another one for 4 furlong (800m) races in the middle of the turn, then a 5 furlong (1000m) chute and at the top of the backstretch a mile (1600m) chute. The racetrack measures around 1700m.


View Larger Map

Happy Valley

With this one I complete my first goal, that is to have at least one track from every corner of the world. This is Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong. It is a very small irregular turf oval, mainly due to the land restrictions there are in Hong Kong (there isn´t much free space). The track is around 1400m or 7 furlongs around, and it has small chutes for 1000m races (which doubles for 2400m races), 1200m and 1800m. It has a very large grandstand which borders the track where the finish line is. I can´t post the map directly here, but you can see it through this link.

Clairwood Racecourse

This is another southafrican racecourse, in Durban. It is a turf left-handed track with a 1200m straight course and an oval measuring around 2600m, thought it´s not actually a perfect oval since the far turn is bigger and more "square" thatn the clubhouse turn, which also isn´t symmetrical. At the top of the backstretch the distance is 2000m, so I guess that´s where they start those races.



View Larger Map