Essential Guide to Flat Racing

Flat racing in Britain dates back to the 16^th century and is associated with a significant amount of history. Newmarket in Suffolk is considered the birthplace of racing and is home to the largest racehorse training centre in Britain. The majority of British horse racing organizations also reside in Newmarket.

Flat racing is not exclusive to the UK and is truly international, with race meetings taking place through Europe, the Middle East, the US and Australia. For the purpose of clarity we will solely be focusing on flat racing in the UK in this short eBook.

Traditionally Flat racing in the UK takes place between late March and early November on the turf. There is also, all-weather racing on the artificial surfaces at Lingfield, Southwell, Wolverhampton and Kempton all year round. The main All Weather season begins when the flat turf season ends in November, running through to March ending with the finale of the Winter derby meeting at Lingfield  Park.

Flat races in the UK are run over various distances from 5 furlong sprints up to the maximum 2-3/4 of a mile. However races at the maximum distance are uncommon and mainly involve older horses.

The other major difference between flat and jumps racing is the fact that all flat races are started from stalls. Each horse is allotted a stall number and has to start the race from that stall. A horse’s stall position can make the difference between winning and losing a race, especially on straight courses when the trip is less than a mile.

Flat racing distances:

1 furlong = 220 yards

• Sprints: 5, 6 or 7 furlong races
• Middle distance: 1m to 1m 4f races
• Staying races: 1m 6f – 2mile races

Types of Flat race

Maiden races are for horses that have never won a race of any sort

Conditions races are for horses that have won a maiden race

Listed races are for horses that have won a conditions race and can be entered into a listed race

Group races are for the best horses in training they are categorized as GROUPS 1, 2 and 3. GROUP 1 races are for the very best horses in the UK and on occasions feature some of the best horses from Europe as well.

Claiming Races are for horses that can be bought for a fixed price based on the weight they have carried. Horses that are claimed change owner after the race. Claiming races are usually contested by horses with mediocre ability.

Auction Races are for horses that have been bought at auction, the weight a horse carries is set by the price it fetched at this auction. So the cheaper the horse was bought for the less weight it will carry. Two year olds usually contest these races.

Selling Races are usually contested by poor quality horses and the winner is sold by auction, after the race.

Handicap Races are contested by horse`s carrying different weights and are often very competitive. This makes them ideal races to lay favourites in.

Breakdown of the various distances:

1 furlong = 220 yards

• Sprints: 5, 6 or 7 furlong races
• Middle distance: 1m to 1m 4f races
• Staying races: 1m 6f – 2mile races

Flat racing is divided into three groups:

• Classics
• Class 1 or Conditions races
• Class 2-7 or Handicap races

Classic Races
There are 5 Classic races run in the UK. Each race is limited to three years old entrants only.

• 2,000 Guineas Stakes
• 1,000 Guineas Stakes
• Epsom Oaks
• Epsom Derby
• St. Leger Stakes

Class 1 or Conditions races
Are contested by the very best horses in the UK, often they include foreign horses

Class 1 races are further divided into the following categories:

• Pattern races

Pattern races are the best in flat racing. Pattern races are divided into the following sub categories:

Group 1 – Races of major international importance.
Group 2 – Less important than Group 1, but still major international races
Group 3 – Important domestic races

• Listed races

Have less prestige than the group races but are still recognised as high quality races and more important than Handicaps.

Class 2-7 or Handicap races
In Handicap races the BHB handicapper gives horses a rating according to their ability. This rating then translates to the weight that the horse has to carry in the race, in the interest of making it fair so that poorer horses still have a chance of competing against better horses.

Handicaps are divided up from Class 2-7 to make sure horses of similar ratings are racing against each other:

• Class 2 – Heritage Handicaps, Handicaps of rating 86-100, 91-105 and 96-110
• Class 3 – Handicaps of 76-90, and 81-95
• Class 4 – Handicaps of rating 66-80, and 71-85
• Class 5 – Handicaps of rating 56-70, and 61-75
• Class 6 – Handicaps of rating 46-60, and 51-65
• Class 7 – Handicaps of rating 46-50

You can download the official flat season planner from this link >

https://false-favourites.co.uk/blog/knowledge/course-guides/

Age

There are 3 main age categories within flat racing:

• 2 year olds
• 3year olds
• 4 year old +

PRO TIP As you can see there are many diffrent race types encompased withinn the flat racing code. Therefore it pays to be selective by becoming a Race-Specialist

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