HAYDOCK PARK

Left handed, flat. Oval-shaped, about thirteen furlongs round, with a run-in of four and a half furlongs which rises slightly throughout. Runners in races of seven furlongs and further tend to stick towards the far rail in the straight, though often switch nearer the stand side when the ground is testing. Sprints take place on the straight six-furlong course, with runners usually racing down the centre of the track.

Left handed, flat. Conditions are often gruelling during winter, placing emphasis on stamina. Conversely, conditions at the Swinton Meeting in May usually place the emphasis on speed, with a tendency to favour those ridden prominently as a result. Formerly held an undeserved reputation as one of the hardest courses to jump around, something not backed up by statistics, though perversely the data suggests that the chase course nowadays is a more demanding test, that possibly on account of more races being well run.