Newton Le Willows

Haydock Park Racecourse is in Newton-Le-Willows in Merseyside. It’s a market town which sits roughly half way between Manchester and Liverpool.

This is a good website to view the heritage of the town, most particularly it’s links with the railways

https://newton-le-willows.com/

Haydock Park Racecourse

Haydock Park Racecourse stages both Flat Racing and National Hunt Racing on turf.

The Flat racing course is left-handed, flat, oval and galloping in nature. The circuit is about a mile and five furlongs with a run-in of four and a half furlongs which rises slightly. There is separate straight six furlong course for sprints.

There is a big advantage in being drawn high on the sprint course as that is the quicker ground. Over 7 furlongs on the round course and around a tight bend, there seems to be an advantage in being drawn low.

The Jumps track is also left-handed, flat and galloping. There are two chase courses; The Lancashire Course and The Inner Course. The fences are of the portable variety these days and are not hugely difficult to jump. Conditions here can become quite gruelling in testing ground placing a huge emphasis on stamina.

There are a lot of meetings her throughout the year and a fair few prestigious races are run here under both codes.

Clerk of the course: Kirkland Tellwright

Course telephone number: 01942 725963

Full address: Haydock Park Racecourse, Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, WA12 0HQ.

Getting Here

Haydock Park is 208 miles from Central London, 85 miles from Birmingham, 187 miles from Cardiff, 22 miles from Manchester and 209 miles from Edinburgh.

Haydock Park is located just one mile from junction 23 of the M6 in Newton-Le-Willows and is well signposted.

The course post code is WA3 3QP (advised for Sat Nav on the course website).

http://haydock.thejockeyclub.co.uk/plan-your-race-day/visitor-information/directions-parking

Course parking is free.

The nearest railway station is Newton-le-Willows Station which is 2 miles or so away. On some race days, the racecourse run complementary buses. It’s probably best to consult their website to make sure before travelling.

Racecourse facilities

Course website: http://haydock.thejockeyclub.co.uk/

Disabled access: http://haydock.thejockeyclub.co.uk/plan-your-race-day/visitor-information/disabled-access

There are four enclosures at Haydock Park. They are the Premier Enclosure, the County Enclosure, Grandstand and Paddock and the Be Friendly Enclosure. The dress code for the Premier Enclosure is ‘Smart’. This is also encouraged in the County Enclosure. There is no dress code in the other two. http://haydock.thejockeyclub.co.uk/plan-your-race-day/visitor-information/dress-code

The racecourse advertise three restaurants on their website, namely, Kauto Star Restaurant, Harry’s Bistro and Park Suite Restaurant. There are of course other food stands and bars around the different enclosures.

  Any many many more!!

There is a pretty good view of the track from around the course. One caveat though is that there are a couple of pillars supporting the stands at the front, so you might get a slightly restricted view but in fairness its not too bad.

My Day

Last meeting for me this year but I’ve done plenty.

There was a very sad side to then day when a horse suffered a fatal injury in the 3rd race. Not sure what happened but it was when jumping the first and the jockey immediately pulled up. The race was subsequently voided as it couldn’t be completed. Thankfully such incidences are rare enough but to the fair, the few that do happen are the same few too many. These horses and jockeys are incredibly brave and give it all for us, the racing fans. Very sad.

Theres a fair bit of history about this course. A  lot of prestigious races are run here under both codes and a lot of very good horses have run here.

I just had a couple of bets today resulting in one winner and one loser and a small profit.

The second race was a Beginners Chase and I really liked the look of the Rose Dobbin trained Slanelough and had a few quid last night at 2/1. He was joint favourite at the time and 2/1 seemed more than fair as I could only see one danger in the field, that being Scorpion Sid and it was he who ended up clear favourite on the day and a clear winner also. Slanelough was beaten a fair way out though tried to stay on all the way. He looked booked for third until the second placed horse fell at the last and hampered him in the process and he unseated his jockey. Neither were catching the winner.

I had to wait until the final race, a bumper for my second bet which thankfully was successful, though I had already left the course and had backed it online the previous night. Mr Grey Sky from the in form Kim Bailey yard had comfortably won his debut in a bumper also here at Haydock on heavy ground (today good to soft, heavy in places). I fancied that even with the 7lb penalty, he was likely to follow up and 13/8 0n offer last night seemed reasonable. My twitter buddy @genuinetriers quite fancied Gaelik Coast who was also likely to show a bit of improvement and had already beaten one of todays rivals, Highway Companion in a Point Race in April. I had a little bit on Betfair for him to finish in first three (of seven). I can’t comment on the race as I didn’t see it but was glad to find later that my selection had indeed won and a small profit made for the day.

That’s it for 2018. I have eight more courses (including Towcester) to visit before the end of April to complete my ambition of doing the lot within twelve months. Unfortunately, there is nothing at Newton Abbot until end of April as I really wanted to finish at Cheltenham in March. But that’s how it is!

Next stop is Catterick Bridge on New Years Day