Doncaster Course Guide
Home of the World’s Oldest Classic, Doncaster is one of the historic homes of horse racing. The highlight of the year on the flat is undoubtedly the four-day St Leger Festival in September, where the feature race, the St Leger, first run in 1776, is staged on the Saturday, and the meeting also boasts such prestigious races as the Doncaster Cup, Champagne Stakes, Flying Childers Stakes, May Hill Stakes and Portland Handicap.
Doncaster also stages the first and last turf race meetings of the Flat season; starting with the Lincoln Meeting in March and ending on November Handicap day. In between are a clutch of valuable afternoon and evening fixtures, including the Group 1 Vertem Futurity, run in late October, which is often a strong pointer to the following year’s classics.
Over jumps Doncaster hosts some important fixtures over the winter; the most significant being the Yorkshire Chase in late January and the Grimthorpe Chase in early March.
Advance Going
Left handed, galloping. One of the fairest courses in the country, essentially flat with the exception of a slight uphill gradient about a mile and a quarter from the finish. Races between five furlongs and one mile are run on the straight course, though there is also a round mile start on an off-shoot of the round course. It is a free-draining course, underfoot conditions only occasionally being soft/heavy.
There are not many fairer courses than Doncaster, which is a lovely, virtually flat, galloping track. You do climb briefly, up and over Rose Hill, but, for the most part, it’s beautifully smooth to ride, a good, solid test of a horse. There can be one or two hard-luck stories, especially on the round course, when lots of runners are still in contention late on, and that’s where jockeyship comes in. I liked to be on the stands’ side on the straight course, but either side is fine, just as long as you’re not far off a rail.
View from the saddle: Jason Weaver
Left handed, essentially flat. Extremely well-draining course, with conditions often favouring speedier types despite its galloping nature. Surprisingly for such a galloping track, plenty of chases are well run and this perhaps explains why the casualty figures are so high.
It always pays to sit comfy on a horse at Doncaster, so, ideally, you want one that travels easily for you. If you find yourself pushing along turning into the back straight, you often get further and further behind those going better than you are. That’s especially true when the ground is quick and it’s fair to say you can afford to be a bit more patient when there’s some ease underfoot. It’s quite a tough track for a novice chaser, because a couple of the fences - including the last ditch - can test their jumping.
View from the saddle: Mick Fitzgerald
Upcoming races
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16:30 William Hill Futurity Trophy Stakes (Group 1)
(Class 1) (1m)
Replays & Results
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Distance Horse (Going) Date Winning time 2m 78y Grain D'oudairies (Good) 29 Nov 2024 3m 45.37s 2m 3f 31y Gentle Frank (Good) 02 Mar 2025 4m 39.7s 2m 4f 115y Le Chiffre D'or (Good) 09 Dec 2022 5m 0.63s 2m 7f 214y Annual Invictus (Good) 27 Jan 2024 5m 51.35s 3m 2f 1y Moroder (Good) 01 Mar 2025 6m 20s Distance Horse (Going) Date Winning time 2m 128y Epatante (Good) 28 Jan 2023 3m 50.92s 2m 3f 88y Geromino (Good) 27 Jan 2024 4m 36.1s 2m 4f 181y Ashington (Good) 14 Mar 2025 4m 56.1s 3m 84y Maximilian (Good) 28 Jan 2023 5m 44.97s Distance Horse (Going) Date Winning time 1m 5f Le Fils De Force (Good to Soft) 27 Nov 2021 3m 15.46s 2m 128y The Procrastinator (Soft) 29 Nov 2025 3m 14.02s Distance Horse (Going) Date Winning time 5f 3y Toca Madera (Good to Firm) 06 Jun 2026 57.25s 5f 143y Winged Messenger (Good) 10 Jul 2025 1m 6.09s 6f Blue Brother (Good-Good to Soft in places on Round course) 13 Sep 2026 1m 16.41s 7f 6y Arctic Dawn (Good to Firm) 06 Jun 2026 1m 22.34s 1m First Ruler (Good) 03 Jun 2022 1m 35.81s 1m 2f 43y Throubi (Good to Firm) 29 Jun 2024 2m 6.72s 1m 3f 197y Sweet William (Good to Firm) 07 Jul 2023 2m 29.6s 1m 6f Highwayman (Good-Good to Soft in places) 12 Sep 2026 3m 3.33s 2m 109y Grand Providence (Good to Firm) 07 Jul 2023 3m 33.4s 2m 1f 197y Sweet William (Good to Soft) 12 Sep 2025 3m 52.24s -
Trainer Runners Wins Prize Money Strike-Rate P/L O Greenall & J Guerriero 24 8 £56K 33.33% £8.73 A J Honeyball 17 6 £185K 35.29% £25.25 R Hobson 14 4 £94K 28.57% £9.13 K C Bailey 12 4 £54K 33.33% £19.63 N B King 7 4 £21K 57.14% £11.28 D McCain Jnr 16 3 £14K 18.75% -£0.25 S England 7 3 £26K 42.86% £14.50 Nigel & Willy Twiston-Davies 17 3 £26K 17.65% -£8.00 Miss E C Lavelle 9 3 £15K 33.33% £3.50 C E Longsdon 18 2 £11K 11.11% £16.00 Trainer Runners Wins Prize Money Strike-Rate P/L D McCain Jnr 51 9 £96K 17.65% £105.48 N J Henderson 37 9 £79K 24.32% -£8.10 B Pauling 37 6 £53K 16.22% -£24.73 Harry Derham 29 6 £28K 20.69% -£19.43 O Greenall & J Guerriero 36 5 £26K 13.89% -£23.56 J Parkinson & S Smith 26 4 £18K 15.38% -£7.13 Dan Skelton 39 4 £22K 10.26% -£31.75 N P Mulholland 21 4 £19K 19.05% £1.83 K C Bailey 12 4 £17K 33.33% £1.37 T Lacey 12 4 £15K 33.33% £16.50 Trainer Runners Wins Prize Money Strike-Rate P/L B Pauling 7 2 £5K 28.57% -£2.55 Dan Skelton 8 2 £5K 25% £8.50 A King 7 2 £14K 28.57% £3.00 Toby Bulgin 3 2 £6K 66.67% £33.50 Nigel & Willy Twiston-Davies 6 1 £3K 16.67% £1.50 Jonjo & A J O'Neill 5 1 £3K 20% -£3.47 N B King 4 1 £3K 25% £21.00 P Bowen 1 1 £4K 100% £6.00 H Palmer 1 1 £3K 100% £16.00 Dr R Newland & J Insole 1 1 £2K 100% £3.50 Trainer Runners Wins Prize Money Strike-Rate P/L D O'Meara 181 22 £187K 12.15% -£72.97 A M Balding 107 16 £332K 14.95% -£27.31 J & T Gosden 77 16 £406K 20.78% -£7.28 R A Fahey 146 15 £107K 10.27% -£24.92 W J Haggas 74 15 £498K 20.27% £45.05 R Hannon 90 14 £161K 15.56% -£22.80 R M Beckett 87 14 £230K 16.09% £3.98 K R Burke 115 13 £308K 11.3% -£60.63 C Appleby 43 13 £639K 30.23% £12.88 R Varian 54 12 £165K 22.22% -£15.17 -
Jockey Runners Wins Prize Money Strike-Rate P/L J M Quinlan 15 5 £26K 33.33% £7.03 James Bowen 20 4 £61K 20% -£5.30 Thomas Bellamy 15 4 £29K 26.67% £3.00 Ben Godfrey 7 4 £78K 57.14% £22.38 B S Hughes 29 3 £14K 10.34% -£18.65 Danny McMenamin 12 3 £48K 25% £0.66 Henry Brooke 14 3 £32K 21.43% £0.60 Charlie Maggs 7 3 £89K 42.86% £14.50 Toby Wynne 8 3 £12K 37.5% £5.50 Jonathan England 6 3 £26K 50% £15.50 Jockey Runners Wins Prize Money Strike-Rate P/L B S Hughes 59 11 £137K 18.64% -£5.32 James Bowen 39 11 £101K 28.21% £0.32 Henry Brooke 29 7 £35K 24.14% £14.94 Ben Jones 18 5 £55K 27.78% -£3.95 J M Quinlan 37 4 £19K 10.81% -£16.47 Thomas Bellamy 27 4 £18K 14.81% -£16.13 Tom Cannon 22 4 £21K 18.18% -£5.13 Charlie Maggs 15 4 £59K 26.67% £38.00 Paul O'Brien 22 3 £13K 13.64% -£15.88 Kielan Woods 28 3 £14K 10.71% -£18.50 Jockey Runners Wins Prize Money Strike-Rate P/L Ben Jones 4 2 £5K 50% £0.45 B S Hughes 7 1 £3K 14.29% £10.00 Thomas Bellamy 5 1 £2K 20% -£1.00 Tom Cannon 4 1 £2K 25% £25.00 Jonjo O'Neill Jr. 4 1 £3K 25% -£2.47 Tristan Durrell 4 1 £2K 25% -£0.50 James Turner 3 1 £3K 33.33% £4.50 J M Quinlan 3 1 £3K 33.33% £23.00 Danny McMenamin 2 1 £4K 50% £4.50 Harry Skelton 2 1 £2K 50% £12.00 Jockey Runners Wins Prize Money Strike-Rate P/L Callum Rodriguez 81 20 £280K 24.69% £32.95 Oisin Murphy 101 19 £544K 18.81% £0.63 D Tudhope 112 14 £141K 12.5% -£58.87 Billy Loughnane 92 14 £212K 15.22% -£43.02 James Doyle 57 14 £410K 24.56% -£10.39 S M Levey 63 13 £628K 20.63% £3.35 W Buick 46 13 £639K 28.26% £26.00 D Nolan 98 11 £58K 11.22% -£54.63 Cieren Fallon 78 11 £180K 14.1% £9.88 Daniel Muscutt 77 11 £125K 14.29% £18.33
Future Fixtures
Address & Contact
Doncaster Racecourse
The Grandstand
Leger Way
Doncaster
DN2 6BB
01302 304200
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