Race type - Jump
Bangor
Course details
First-time racegoers to Bangor-on-Dee are sure to fall in love with the place as the course is set in beautiful countryside and the grassy banks which run around the outside of the track provide a natural amphitheatre to watch the action.
You won't find any Grade 1 races being staged here but prize money in general is decent and most meetings have a Class 2 or 3 race on the card. As a general rule, it pays to oppose the longer-striding galloping types as they struggle to find a good rhythm on this sharpish circuit.
GUIDE - For Racecourse
Left-handed, five-sided, sharp circuit of about 1m4f
First-time racegoers to Bangor-on-Dee are sure to fall in love with the place as the course is set in beautiful countryside and the grassy banks which run around the outside of the track provide a natural amphitheatre to watch the action. Who needs a grandstand?! The course celebrated it's 150 year anniversary in 2009 and is able to stage National Hunt racing all year round thanks to it's proximity to the River Dee (as the name suggests), which ensures the racing surface is well-watered in the drier summer months. Decent ground and road links encourage runners from all the big National Hunt stables and the action is nearly always competitive. If visiting, just remember to use the sat nav or else you might end up going to the other Bangor in North Wales, as a fair few trainers and jockeys have done in the past!
Principal Races
You won't find any Grade 1 races being staged here but prize money in general is decent and most meetings have a Class 2 or 3 race on the card. The track's richest race in 2011 was the Anne Duchess of Westminster Memorial Handicap Chase, which carried total prize money in excess of £8k, while the novice chase won by Peddlers Cross in November of that year was worth over £7k.
Course Characteristics
The course combines three long sections with two smaller sections, but none are what you'd call straight and this means that horses are on the turn all the way round. As a result, it's important to be up with the pace from the start and horses frequently make all here, especially on the sharper inner hurdles track. The nine fences that make up the chase course are relatively fair but you still need a good jumper as a single mistake can leave jockeys with too much to do. As a general rule, it pays to oppose the longer-striding galloping types as they struggle to find a good rhythm on this sharpish circuit.
Top Trainers
The yard of Donald McCain is located not too far from the track and he comfortably leads the top trainers table with 61 runners and counting over the past five seasons, the vast majority ridden by Maguire. Of course, that is often reflected in the prices of his runners and he's not a trainer to follow blind, although an 18% strike rate is far from shabby. Jonjo O'Neil is second best here with 28 winners, many of which tend to be short prices, which explains his big level stakes loss of nearly £90 (a theoretical £1 stake on all his runners). Alan King and Tim Vaughan are frequently on the scoresheet at the Welsh track, with the latter's 24% strike rate and healthy level stakes profit particularly noteworthy.
Total Jockeys
You won't go far wrong backing Jason Maguire's fancied runners as he leads the way with 46 winners over the past five seasons, and at a very healthy strike rate of 23%. He's closely followed by Tony McCoy on 45 winners, although you would have made a considerable loss backing all his runners as they tend to be overbet. Richard Johnson and Robert Thornton invariably send their followers home happy as they make the most of their opportunities, and the former's association with Welsh trainer Tim Vaughan is proving to be a huge success.