WINCANTON Racecourse

A practical guide to WINCANTON Racecourse, including its track layout, jumping test and the courses most likely to provide useful form clues.

About WINCANTON Racecourse

Wincanton is thought to have been the scene of the earliest steeplechases ever held. Matches between hunting folk were a feature of the areas countryside and by the commencement of the 19th Century, Easter Monday at Wincanton had become a recognised fixture. The course at this time was at Hatherleigh Farm, South West of Wincanton town and it wasn't until 1925 that the course moved to its present location at Kingwell Farm. Overall Wincanton is a lovely racecourse to visit.

Key Characteristics

Wincanton is quite a sharp mile and a half oval course, with nine fences per circuit. It is a very flat course.

Course Summary

Track: Galloping right handed track with an easy finish.

Fences: Average

Interesting Facts

During WWII, the racecourse was requisitioned as a military base, and heavyweight boxing legend Joe Louis reportedly refereed military boxing matches there in 1944.
The track has three fences in quick succession in the home straight, which often shakes up the finishing order and produces close finishes.
Unusually for a jumps course, the run-in is slightly downhill rather than uphill, which is part of why Wincanton tends to suit front-runners and doesn't demand a big stamina reserve.
It's a right-handed galloping oval of about a mile and three furlongs, with nine fences (including two open ditches) per circuit and a run-in of roughly 200 yards.
The course stages the Kingwell Hurdle each February, a well-regarded trial race for the Cheltenham Festival.
Champion jockey Josh Gifford rode the first of his 642 career winners at Wincanton, back in 1959.
Steve Knight, a former pupil at a school in the town, rode Maori Venture to victory in the 1987 Grand National.
Top trainer Paul Nicholls is based nearby at Ditcheat and has dominated the course's trainers' table for years, sending up plenty of promising young horses to race there.
In 1966, Wincanton became only the second racecourse (after Cheltenham) to be taken over by what's now Jockey Club Racecourses.
In 2015, the Racegoers Club voted it the best small racecourse in the South West & Wales category.

Similar Courses

Form from the following courses may be particularly relevant when assessing runners at WINCANTON:

Folkestone
Kempton
Hereford
Huntingdon
Ludlow
Taunton