The City of Leicester

Leicester is a city in the county of Leicestershire in the East Midlands region of England. It is one of England oldest cities with a history back through Victorian times, The Industrial Revolution, The Civil War, Tudor times, Medieval times and going all the way back to Roman times and possibly before. Leicester is a university city.

There is plenty going on in Leicester in terms of shopping, culture and entertainment.

https://www.visitleicester.info/

A brief look at TripAdvisor displays a wealth of bars, restaurants and good places to stay.

The city is well placed for visitors being close to the M1 and M69 and close also to East Midlands Airport. The City is well served by rail links to London, Birmingham and to the north and Scotland.

The city of Leicester has a rich heritage in sport. It is the home to Leicester City Football Club, Leicestershire County Cricket Club and Leicester Tigers Rugby Union Club, all of whom compete at the highest level in their respective disciplines.

The Racecourse

Leicester racecourse hosts both flat and jumps racing.

The Flat course is a right-handed oval and undulating track of about 1m6f round and a 5f run-in. All races of up to 7f are run on a straight course which starts downhill for about 3f and then rises for a couple of furlongs before finishing flat. This is very much a galloping track placing emphasis on stamina. An ability to race prominently appears to be an advantage here.

There is a slight bias towards those drawn low in races of up to 7f.

Similarly, the Chase course is also right-handed and undulating and also placing emphasis on stamina. The circuit is 1m6f with an uphill finish of 3f. Hurdles races are run on the Flat course.

Clerk of the course: Jimmy S Stevenson

Course telephone number: 01162 716515

Getting Here

Leicester is about 100 miles from Central London, 43 miles from Birmingham, 130 miles from Bristol and 105 miles from Manchester. The course itself is 2.5 miles SE of city towards Oadby off A6 Market Harborough Road. From the M1, leave J21, with M69 and follow A563 outer ring road

The course post code is LE2 4AL.

Course parking is free.

The nearest railway station is Leicester Station, about 2.5 miles away.

Racecourse facilities

Course website: https://www.leicester-racecourse.co.uk/

Disabled access: https://www.leicester-racecourse.co.uk/info/faqs/details.aspx?positionId=123

There are two enclosures at Leicester, the Premier Enclosure and the Grandstand Enclosure though for midweek meetings, they are combined into one enclosure. The dress code is fairly relaxed though maybe check the website before going. The viewing from both stands is very good though there are supporting pillars in the Premier stand which might obscure your view a little. There is plenty of seating available too.

The course advertise a restaurant on their website which actually looks pretty good though I cannot claim to have tried it, having already eaten before getting there. There wasn’t too much by way of fast food available though this is to be expected on an overcast Monday afternoon when there aren’t so many people there. The bars look nice and are well stocked. The staff here are very friendly indeed.

My Day 

It’s been a while since I’ve been to Leicester, it’s a tidy little track. It took a while to get here too. Traffic near Worcester and then on the M5 and then on the M6 was just hellish! But once here, it was nice and quiet, a bit of drizzle but nothing serious and it was all quite laid back really. This afternoon was a flat meeting, it was £16 to get in, which isn’t bad and then six whole chances to lose my money.

My intention was just to have the one bet and that in the first race, a 0-80 Nursery. The filly in question called ‘Sabai Sabai’, trained by Ralph Beckett and ridden by Harry Bentley. She was fancied on her debut at Sandown Park over 5f but never really got into the race. Her next run at Newbury was better and her most recent at Goodwood better again. At Goodwood, she ran in a class 2 maiden, disputing the lead and nosing to the front 1/2 furlong out though found nothing extra and was beaten into fourth. That to me seemed a fair improvement on her previous two races. My main concern was the Archie Watson trained ‘Quiet Waters’ who last time out at Newmarket had squandered any chance when getting upset in the stalls. She was heavily eased inside the final furlong trailing in last. Prior to that she had won her first two races comfortably enough at Nottingham and then Lingfield.

In the race, ‘Sabai Sabai’ never seemed to be travelling and just never got in a blow, eventually finishing 9th and my money with her. Quiet Waters ran a better race staying on for 5th.

I did have another bet though and this was in the second. I had looked at the race last night and wasn’t really convinced by any of them. What did convince me though was some analysis by my twitter pal @genuinetriers and mainly on that basis alone backed ‘Floria Tosca, trained by Luca Cumani and masterfully ridden from the front by Jamie Spencer and winning at a nice 3/1 (7/2 taken).

Anyone reading this who does have a twitter account, please do give @genuinetriers a look. He’s not a tipster giving you lots of boasts about his so called contacts and all the winners her produces. He’s just a passionate racing man who from years of experience in horse racing has learned to analyse races very well indeed. You read the analysis and then you can back or not back. They don’t all win of course but he has pointed me in the right direction many times.

Anyway, ‘Floria Tosca’ paid for my losses on the first and for my expenses for the day and I decided to try and beat the traffic and cleared off home after the 4th race. I like it here and will happily return.