SOUTHWELL Racecourse

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

About SOUTHWELL Racecourse

Southwell racecourse is now much better known for its all weather racing, but they do still have the occasional jump meeting there. Despite some recent investment Southwell racecourse is still quite a bleak place especially in the winter when the wind is howling.

Key Characteristics

The Southwell track is laid out in a fairly tight, level oval of less than a mile and a quarter. The course is divided into a summer and a winter track, with the slightly larger summer track on the outside of the winter one. There are seven portable fences to a circuit which are stiff ones for a minor track. Their are also quite difficult brush-type hurdles.

Course Summary

Track: Tight left handed track with an easy finish.

Fences: Difficult.

Interesting Facts

In November 1989, Southwell became the first racecourse in Britain to stage an all-weather National Hunt meeting, though the experiment was discontinued shortly afterwards on safety grounds.
The course's original all-weather surface, Fibresand, was unique in Britain and closely resembled American dirt tracks, producing a distinctive kickback and demanding extra stamina; it was replaced by a Tapeta surface in 2021.
During the Second World War, the racecourse was requisitioned and used as an RAF storage depot rather than for racing.
Southwell was forced to close for around two months over the winter of 2012–13 after severe flooding caused major damage to the track and buildings.
The course is closely associated with pioneering jockey Hayley Turner OBE, one of the first women to build a sustained career in the saddle, who got her start working for a trainer based just across from the track.
Southwell made national headlines in 2019 when drones repeatedly flew over the course during racing, broadcasting live footage of the action online.
Racing in the area dates back to informal pony and thoroughbred meetings near Southwell Minster in the 1840s, before the current Rolleston site opened in 1898 after the original track was forced to close.

Similar Courses

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

Aintree
Fontwell
Kelso
Bangor
Newton Abbot
Market Rasen