Race type - Jump
Wincanton
Course details
Most jumps fans will agree that Wincanton racecourse is the West Country’s premier National Hunt venue and it’s not unusual to see genuine Grade 1 horses in action. Being rectangular in shape, the racing circuit has four sharpish bends favouring the smaller more agile type of horses. The course is relative flat making stamina less of an issue here. Front-runners and prominent racers are worth a second look at Wincanton.
GUIDE - For Racecourse
Right-handed, rectangular circuit of about 1m3f.
There's a real countryside feel to Wincanton set as it is in rural Somersetshire, deep in the heart of cider country. They've been making that alcoholic beverage in the region for centuries and the horse racing has a long tradition too with local huntsman choosing to stage their traditional Easter meetings here since the middle of the 18th century. The current site at Kingwell Farm, however, is relatively modern having opened its doors in 1927 when Lord Stalbridge, a local businessman, was the driving force behind it. The track changed hands after the war when the Lord fell into ill health and the present owner, the Racecourse Holdings Trust, took over in 1966. Most jumps fans would agree that it's now the West Country's premier National Hunt venue and it's not unusual to see genuine Grade 1 horses in action. The iconic grey Desert Orchid was a standing dish here back in the late 1980's and the race he made his own is now named in his honour.
Principal Races
The meetings held here in early November and mid-February standout from the rest. The November meeting features the Grade 2 Rising Stars Novices' Chase and two valuable handicaps: the Badger Ales Trophy over 3m and the 2m Elite Hurdle. Fast forward to February and the Kingwell Hurdle over 2m is a recognised trial for the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival with around £40k going to the winner. The last horse to do 'the double' in the same season was Katchit in 2088.
Course Characteristics
Being rectangular in shape, the racing circuit has four sharpish bends and this tends to suit the smaller more agile type of horse. It's also relatively flat and that combined with the fact the going rarely gets too testing, makes stamina less of an issue here. Front runners and prominent racers win more races than they are entitled to and that particularly applies to the chases, with the horse leading over the third last - the first of three fences in the home straight - tending to stay in front all the way to the line. The fences were once of a stiff brush variety but were replaced by portable ones a few seasons back and consequently they now place less of a demand on a horse's jumping ability. Course winners are always worth a second look
Top Trainers
This is Paul Nicholls' local track and he's comfortably the top trainer with a mammoth 60 winners in the past five seasons at an impressive strike rate of 26%. Six of these came on the same card in January 2006 but he didn't quite 'go through the card' as he was out of luck in the seventh and final race. Unfortunately, the majority of his horses tend to be overbet and go off at short prices, and that explains why his supporters would have made a level stakes loss backing all his runners. Still, if you are looking to land a short-priced double or treble, then Nicholls is your man. His fellow West Country trainers Philip Hobbs and David Pipe come next in the table with 31 and 25 winners respectively, closely followed by Alan King and Colin Tizzard, with the latter's runners often going off at value prices.
Top Jockeys
The Nicholls' winners tend to be shared out with Nick Scholfield and Daryl Jacob being the main beneficiaries - they have ridden 42 winners between them since 2007. For sheer number of winners, though, it's Richard Johnson who leads the way with 29 in that time, and he's a real punters pal as these have come at a very respectable strike rate of 22%. Robert (Choc) Thornton rides the majority of Alan King-trained winners and he's passed the post in front 22 times, which would have been more but for injury. Joe Tizzard and Sam Thomas also make the most of their opportunities here.