Hipódromo do Cristal

It seems that in Brazil every time they look for a place to build a racetrack they look for a spot near a river (just kidding!).

This is Porto Alegre´s racetrack, inaugurated in 1959 it has a 1928m dirt oval with a 700m straight, a 1600m chute off the backstretch and a 1900m chute off the clubhouse turn. It also has an inner turf oval with two far turns, with the larger oval measuring 1780m.


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Los Alamitos Race Course

This is a quarter-horse racing venue in Los Angeles, California. It has a 1000m dirt oval with a 500m straight and a 900m chute off the backstretch.


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Epsom Downs

One of the most traditional European racecourses, this is a one-way track that zig-zags through english contryside. Obviously it´s distintive is that horses can´t "go around" it and once they are past the finish line they have a small "curl" where they stop and that´s all. There is a 5 furlong straight, 6f and 7f chutes, and then the main track, which has a maximun length of a mile and a half (around 2400m).


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Cidade Jardim

This is the racetrack of the São Paulo Jockey Club. It´s main turf oval has a circumference of over 2100m, with a 1000m straight course and a 2000m backstretch chute. The inner dirt track has a circumference of just under 2000m, and it also has a shorter far turn. There is also an irregular oval inside dirt track which is used only for training.


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Also, here you can see a beautiful night shot of the racetrack.

Hipodromo de Las Piedras

This is my other hometown racetrack. Located in the border between Montevideo department and Canelones department (you can clearly see the river that marks the border passing through the track!) this is a triangular dirt track with a 700m chute (it almost is a straight course), a 1300m chute and a 1500m chute. The total circumference of the track is just a tick above 1500m. The stretch is in the upper part of the picture. It is a small racetrack, but it was the center of Uruguay´s racing world while the main racetrack (Maroñas) was closed between 1997 and 2003.


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Hipodromo de San Isidro

One of the finest racetracks in the world. This is in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. It has a main turf track and an inner dirt track with two far turns. The "smaller" dirt track measures 2240m around and the big one 2600m. The main turf track measures a whooping 2780m around. It has a straight course of 1000m, a 1400m chute and a 2400m chute on the backstretch. If you look to the west there is a training track almost as big as the racetrack itself.


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Hipodromo Argentino de Palermo

This is one of the two main tracks in Argentina. Located near the city centre in Buenos Aires, the nation´s capital, this is a dirt triangular track with a circumference of little less than 2400m, or 12 furlongs. It features a 1000m straight, and also 1800m and 2200m small chutes. The 2000m races start in the little straight to the right of the picture. A railroad track runs alongside the backstretch.


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This is a 2500m race run there, the Gran Premio Nacional G.I won by brazilian Eu Tamben.

If you look to the north, you´ll see there is an airport less than a kilometre away from the backstretch.

Nad Al Sheba

This is one of the best racecourses in the world, specially for the elevated purses it gives out, including the world`s richest dirt race, the Dubai World Cup (G.I) ran over 2000m every spring in the international meeting, where several G.I millionare races take place. This track is shaped like a triangle, with an outer dirt track featuring a 1200m straight, and also 1600m and 2000m chutes, and it is 2250m around. The inner turf track has also 1200m, 1600m and 2000m chutes, though the 1200m chute is not used for those distances but to accomodate 2800m to 3200m races. The track seems a little narrow when compared to other big dirt tracks around the world, and it is 20m wide.


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The Emirates Racing Site has a nice diagram and some more info about the track.

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.



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Kenilworth Racecourse

This is a left-handed turf course located in Cape Town South Africa, that actually has three totally different courses that come together after their respective finish lines. Taking the stretch run as reference, the "outside" course is 2700m around, and it has a chute for races up to 1900m, and the "inner" course is 2800m around (because its far turn is much bigger) and it uses the chute for races up to 2000m. Both courses are triangular in shape, with the clubhouse turn being the "third" side of the triangle. There is a 1200m Straight course that goes through both turns. Apparently all three courses have their own finish lines.


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Well, now I only have to post a racetrack from Asia to have all continents covered!