Race type - Flat
Ripon
Course details
Ripon is one of the more pleasant racecourses to visit set as it is in the beautiful countryside of the Yorkshire Dales and it's known known as the 'Garden Racecourse' for good reason.
GUIDE - For Racecourse
Right-handed, flattened oval circuit of about 1m5f.
Ripon is one of the more pleasant racecourses to visit set as it is in the beautiful countryside of the Yorkshire Dales and it's known known as the 'Garden Racecourse' for good reason. As with many of the Yorkshire courses, there is a rich tradition with racing in the area traced back to as early as 1664 and this continued in various locations until 1900, when the current site on Boroughbridge Road first came into use. In 2011, it was voted the 'Best Small Racecourse in the North' by the Racegoers Club and they ought to be a good judge of that.
Track / Draw Bias:
The draw is often the sole deciding factor here in big-field sprints but there's no hard and fast rule and watering can make a huge difference. As a general rule, high numbers are best when the ground is riding good or faster, while the far side (low numbers) are best on softer going. The best guide, though, is often the most recent meeting or even races earlier on the card, as this will highlight what effect (if any) the watering of the track has had. Front runners, particularly from low draws over 1m, have an excellent record with those horses coming late and wide finding it difficult to make up the ground.
Principal Races:
St Wilfrid was Bishop of Ripon in the 7th century and he is commemorated with the running of the Great St Wilfrid Handicap over 6f in August. The decent prize money on offer (£43k in 2011) ensures a big field of sprinters and the race is always highly competitive. Favourites have a poor record with just one obliging in the past nine runnings. The 'Ripon Champion Two-Year-Old Trophy, run later on in the same month, is a Listed contest and attracts some of the best juveniles trained in the north.
Course Characteristics:
The track is in effect a flattened oval which makes for some sharp bends and long straights. Front runners have traditionally done well here and those horses running hard against the rail can steal valuable lengths out of the rest of the field as they turn into the home straight, which at 5f in length is one of the longest in the country. The perception that you need to be up with the pace can result in jockeys competing for the lead and a suicidal pace can develop, which in effect hands the advantage back to the hold-up horses. The more tactically astute jockeys when riding a confirmed front runner will dictate their own pace from the front and they can make all. There's still a certain degree of stamina required, though, as the last furlong is all uphill
Top Trainers:
The Malton-based Tim Easterby runs a lot of his horses here and while he's the top trainer over the past five seasons with 27 winners on the board, these have come a poor strike rate of 10%. He's clearly not a trainer to follow blind and the same applies to some extent to Richard Fahey, Kevin Ryan and David Nicholls, with a selective approach required to profit from their winners. On the other hand, anything trained by Tom Tate should be given close consideration as he's operating at a strike rate of 21%.
Top Jockeys:
This has been a happy ground for both Paul Hanagan and Silvestre De Sousa in recent seasons (22 and 16 winners respectively since 2007) and while both will be riding more in the south in 2012, they should continue to be amongst the winners when visiting. Neil Callan has a fantastic strike rate of 28% and as there is no better judge of pace when riding from the front, so it's time to bet big when he's on a confirmed front runner. Both P.J. McDonald and David Allan are also very effective around here when on the right horses.