Hamilton and the surrounding area

Hamilton is a town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland. It is situated about 12 miles from Glasgow, 35 miles from Edinburgh and 75 miles from Carlisle. The town is served by three railways stations, Hamilton central, Hamilton West and Chatelherault which between them all have pretty good services to both Edinburgh and Glasgow as well as much further.

If you are visiting the area and have some time to explore then the following websites look well worth a visit:

https://www.visitlanarkshire.com/explore/hamilton/

https://www.visitscotland.com/info/towns-villages/hamilton-p237121

It seems there is one place definitely worth visiting:

Chatelherault Country Park  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatelherault_Country_Park

The local football team are Hamilton Academicals FC who currently play in the Scottish Premiership

I didn’t get to Hamilton early enough to explore in any detail. I can see from Trip Advisor that there are plenty of eateries and watering holes in the town if you are around

The Racecourse

Hamilton Park is a right-handed, sharp and undulating course. Races of 5f and 6f are run on a straight course while races over longer are facilitated by a loop off the straight. Given the turning nature of the loop, horses racing prominently tend to hold an advantage. There is a fairly steep gradient into a hollow 3f out and a fairly testing hill up to the finish.

The course stages Flat racing only.

The Clerk Of The Course is currently Sulekha Varma.

The telephone number of the course is 01698 283806.

Racecourse Facilities

The course is easy to get to (Postcode – ML3 0ZD) and when you arrive, parking is free and includes designated disabled parking. 

Hamilton West railway station is the nearest and is a few minutes taxi ride from the course.

The course seems very well set up with bars and eateries and I was quite taken with the sight of a Gin Bar near the parade ring though didn’t sample.

The racegoer is well catered for with bars and food and all seems of a good quality. The racecourse website advertises a relatively new eating experience called ‘The Hill’ which is located on the ground floor of the grandstand. I didn’t try it but a lady I chatted told me her and her husband had some stuff from there and enjoyed it.

Racecourse viewing was very good and plenty of space behind the grandstand and near the parade ring. Being a midweek meeting, there are less people making viewing very comfortable.

Website: https://hamilton-park.co.uk/

My Day

Today was my first experience of racing in lovely Scotland and was further enhanced by more beautiful weather.

I had the good fortune to meet a new pal, Graham on the train journey out. He was kind enough to get me on the right connection at Motherwell, bought me a pint at the pub outside the station and shared his taxi with me. He was great company and made sure that this visitor to his country was ok. I’ll always be grateful and look forward to racing with Graham again when I return to do Ayr and Kelso in September. A proper Scottish welcome, thank you Graham.

I liked this course lots, it was a very friendly atmosphere in pleasant surroundings.

What wasn’t so good is that I had a (small) losing day which breaks an 8 meeting winning run. Can’t be greedy eh? I managed one winner and that was just after I left (backed online) to rush back to watch England play in the World Cup.

Staying in Edinburgh again tonight, the last night of three. I’ve absolutely loved it, it’s a gorgeous place and well worthy of the title ‘Capital City’

Lets see what Musselburgh brings tomorrow.