Race type - Jump
Worcester
Course details
Worcester's close proximity to the River Dee makes it an ideal venue for summer jumping but it's also been a curse of sorts with flooding a real problem.
Now under the management of Arena Leisure, Worcester is one of the busiest courses in Britain with 17 meetings being staged between May and October.
GUIDE - For Racecourse
Left-handed, oval circuit of 1m5f.
Worcester's close proximity to the River Dee makes it an ideal venue for summer jumping but it's also been a curse of sorts with flooding a real problem. The worst of it was back in 2007 when half the fixtures were wiped out and the problems continued into 2008. Fortunately, those freak years have not been repeated since, although some trainers remain unconvinced that the racing surface has fully recovered and are reluctant to have runners here. That's a shame as the course has a rich history dating back to 1718, which makes it one of the oldest consistent racing venues in Britain, and there was a time in the 19th century when it staged such prestigious races as the Worcester Gold Cup. It was a flat racing only venue then but fell out of favour with trainers when it was converted into a figure-of-eight circuit and while it was eventually converted back, National Hunt racing grew in popularity and became the sole code in 1966. Now under the management of Arena Leisure, Worcester is one of the busiest courses in Britain with 17 meetings being staged between May and October.
Principal Races
The 'Festival of Racing Weekend' in early June is heavily marketed but don't expect to see any jumping stars in action there, or at any of the other meetings for that matter, as the best jumps horses tend to be rested in the summer. Even the once prestigious 'Fred Rimell Memorial Novices' Chase' has been downgraded to a Class 4 and the winning cheque in 2011 was just over £3k.
Course Characteristics
The track is one of the fairest in the country with its flat terrain, easy bends (like semi circles) and evenly placed obstacles making it an ideal place to run an inexperienced horse. All the top jumps trainers used to introduce their best novices here and the decision to switch to summer jumps didn't go down well. However, in hindsight it was the right decision as the ground used to get really heavy in the winter and, floods permitting, the summer surface nearly always rides perfect. Horses can win from just about anywhere here, either from the front or from behind, and no one type of horse is favoured. The hurdles are of the fixed brush variety and horses need to give them plenty of respect as they don't knock flat like conventional ones.
Top Trainers
This has been a happy hunting ground for Jonjo O'Neill in the last five seasons with 45 winners on the board and counting. His strike rate dropped in the 2011-12 season but it's still a highly respectable 23% overall. As you'd expect, those trainers who keep plenty of horses on the go in the summer months regularly hit the target here, with Tim Vaughan and Evan Williams leading the way (24 and 19 winners respectively). Paul Nicholls likes to keep his yard ticking over and around one in three of his runners here find their way into the winner's enclosure. Most recently, it's the up-and-coming Charlie Longsdon that has been supplying punters with a steady stream of winners with eight of his 18 runners (44%) obliging in the current season.
Top Jockeys
The success of O'Neill is mirrored by that of his stable jockey Tony McCoy who has booted home an incredible 77 winners since 2007, with these coming at a strike rate of 28%. That's some going considering he takes plenty of rides too. Richard Johnson is on most of Tim Vaughan's runners and gets the job done more often than not, as does Daryl Jacob when riding for Paul Nicholls primarily. Punters backing all of rides in that time would have made a level stakes profit of over £20. Tom Scudamore (David Pipe) and Paul Moloney (Evan Williams) are also highly effective around here.