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


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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:

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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.


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Galopprennbahn Frankfurt-Niederrad

Ok, this is in Germany, in Frankfurt, it is a triangular-shaped racetrack, with both a main turf course (1700m) and an inner turf course (1600m), running counter-clockwise. The main course also has a 1600m chute off the clubhouse turn. Very functional, they can have races for most distances between 1000m and 2400m


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Mornington Racecourse

Long delay between posts, and it is going to be that way for a while because I haven´t finished up moving yet. Anyway, this is a strange track, kind of a romboid shape, with a short straight (less than 300m long), 1000m, 1200m and 1600m chutes, and a total circumference of 1800m. It also has several dirt training tracks.


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Ascot Park in Invercargill

So, what is so special about this racecourse you may ask? Well, I´ve been doing some research and it seems it is the southernmost racetrack of the world. Of corse I could be wrong but I scouted Argentina and Chile´s south and didn´t find any.

This is a 1880m left-handed racecourse with three chutes, and an alternate track for steeplechase. It also has two completely separate inner dirt tracks, and both inner tracks have inner turf tracks. It has a remarkable square form.


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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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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.


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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.


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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.


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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.

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!

Randwick Racecourse

I decided to take a trip (albeit a virtual one) to one of Australia´s racecourses. I noticed that these tend to be bigger than the ones in the Americas, and also that the shapes are not the classic oval. This one in Sydney, for example, is almost square-shaped right hand course, though the near turn is sharper near the finish line, so it is trapezoidal really. This track has a 2200 meter circumference, and has chutes for 1000m races (doubling as the 3200m chute), 1200m, 1400m and 1600m. The four chutes are located along the backstretch. 1800m and 2000m races start on the turn.


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