Wetherby

Wetherby is a market town sitting on the River Wharfe, just off the A1 in West Yorkshire.

Wetherby Bridge which crosses the River Wharfe is a Grade II listed structure. The market originates all the way back to when Henry III granted the Knights Templar a Royal Charter.

The towns proximity to the A1 makes access to and from the town very easy. Wetherby is very close to Leeds, York and Harrogate.

Wetherby is a relatively small town but there are places to stay and plenty of pubs.

Personally, I spent a lot of time around Wetherby in years gone by and I really like it around here.

Wetherby Racecourse

Wetherby Racecourse stages both Flat Racing and National Hunt Racing on turf.

The Flat Racing course is left-handed, flat and approximately a mile and a half around. Sprint races are run over 5½ furlongs and start from a chute near the end of the back straight. Given how the course is configured, in all probability, those drawn low will be favoured up to about a mile or so though being a relatively new addition the this racecourse, there isn’t yet a wealth of statistics.

The jumps course is both left handed, galloping. The fences here need jumping and inaccurate jumping is punished. The fences in the straight are now on the hurdle track due to problems caused by recent realigning of the nearby A1.

Clerk of the course: Jonjo Sanderson

Course telephone number: 01937 582035

Full address: The Racecourse, York Road, Wetherby, LS22 5EJ.

Getting Here

Wetherby is 201 miles from Central London, 124 miles from Birmingham, 234 miles from Cardiff, 64 miles from Manchester and 203 miles from Edinburgh.

The racecourse itself is east of the town, just off B1224 York road.

The course post code isLS22 5EJ.

Course parking is free.

https://www.wetherbyracing.co.uk/tother-stuff/how-to-find-us/

The nearest railway stations are Leeds City Stations and Harrogate Station. There are scheduled bus services running from both. On some race days, there is a courtesy bus running from Wetherby Bus Station to the racecourse, about a mile and three quarters away.

Racecourse facilities

Course website: https://www.wetherbyracing.co.uk/

Disabled access: 

There are three enclosures at Wetherby. They The Premier Enclosure, The Paddock Enclosure and The Course Enclosure. Of these, the first two have views across the course and are well provided for in terms of food and drink. The Course enclosure is in the centre of the course and really only has a view of the final furlong but is good value for the racegoer who doesn’t particularly want to spend too much.

I think the stands here are really good. I was in the Premier Enclosure  and was generally impressed with The Millennium Stand. The view from the stands in both The Premier and Grandstand Enclosure is very good.

Behind the stands is where the parade ring and winners enclosure are and also a few fast food stalls. It included a traditional sweet shop which is something I have seen a lot on the northern tracks and I like it.

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I was very impressed with the freshly cooked Pizza. I have paid more at other courses for something not as good as this so please, take a bow guys!!

My Day

Not been to Wetherby for a few years and it was nice to be back here. Once upon a time I used to spend a lot of time around here. I knew the pubs and they knew me. I used to like it here and the surrounding area. A little bit wet today but thankfully, any showers came when we were safe from them.

Just a couple of bets today

The fourth race was a Class 4 Novices Handicap Chase over three miles. Not the easiest of races buy when looking through the card last night, my eye was drawn to the Kim Bailey trained Mon Palois who was to be ridden by David Bass. He ran OK on his debut over fences at Market Rasen last month in a race certainly no worse than this one and seemed sure to come on for the run. He had won a bumper and two hurdle races, including one here. Of the opposition, just two had previous winning form over fences and some were making their debut over the larger obstacles. I got on each way the night before at 7/1 which looked very good value as he went off at 100/30 favourite. He was there with every chance coming to the 2nd last when he fell. I’m not convinced he would have won but would certainly have rewarded my place interest. Them’s the breaks.

I hadn’t planned on having another bet but just reading through the rest of the races from The Racing Post, I became quite keen on Movie Legend in the second last, a 0-140 Handicap Chase. A winner of three chases so far, including one here, he hadn’t finished last season particularly well being pulled up in similar races at Fakenham and Sandown. But he did start this season well with a comfortable win over two and a half miles at Fakenham and probably a better run in 2nd over two miles in a class 2 at Cheltenham finishing 2nd beaten 8 lengths by Bun Doran. I had no huge concerns about the rest of the field and at least any concerns I did have were covered by the 5/2 I got which was a bit of value I thought and I also manged to cover this in the 4TBP market on Betfair. There was one interesting (to me) runner in the field and that was the Ben Haslam trained Bouvreuil who was trained last season by Paul Nicholls and who I just got sick of losing money on.

Movie Legend was eventually sent off the 6/4 favourite and my cause was helped when the second favourite whipped around at the start and refused to race. Movie Legend tracked the leader and was sent on at the second last and although driven to stay in front, he did so until the last few yards when 16/1 shot Bouvreuil came past him winning just a shade cosily.

There it is!

Only got 9 more to do now and will probably go to Haydock Park next at the end of the month.