Bath Racecourse

Bath racecourse is well known for officially being Britain’s highest flat racecourse - two national hunt tracks are higher - situated 780ft above sea level. Located on Lansdown Hill overlooking the city centre, Bath racecourse provides a beautiful view for spectators, which provides an unforgettable experience to anyone who attends one of their 19 flat races every year between April and October. Racing from Bath was first recorded in 1728 and during WWII the RAF used the course as a landing field.

Just two miles north of Bath city centre, the racecourse is well connected with transport links and easy to get to by car via the M4, with free parking available on site for all visitors. Alternatively, Bath Spa train station has direct access from London Paddington and various stations across South Wales and is just four miles from the track. On race days the number 22 bus regularly takes spectators to and from the course with a journey time of less than 15 minutes.

Ticket Prices

Bath racecourse offers two types of ticket – entry to the grandstand or entry to the centre course picnic enclosure. Prices for the grandstand entry range from between £15 and £23, whilst the centre course is slightly cheaper, generally about £10 per person. Entry is free for all under-18s who are accompanied by a full paying adult.

The Course

Situated on a hill, you’d expect the course at Bath to be fairly undulating and that’s exactly what the horses face – a left-handed galloping struggle for 1m4f. The rises and falls aren’t the steepest horses and jockeys will ever face, but they go on for a long time and this aspect is what can catch plenty of horses out.

Uniquely shaped, the kidney-like course features several sharp bends and has a long run-in of nearly half a mile. Bath has two straight chutes at each end of the course as a means of extending the track and making it easier to accommodate more direct races.

Lead from the Front

The back straight at Bath features a long steady decline and it is here where horses tend to put their foot down. It’s very easy to over exert at this stage though as around the final bend there is a lengthy climb to the finish. Sometimes that will be faced running into a gusty headwind due to Bath’s high altitude so it is vital to leave something in the tank. Horses with the lead are often vulnerable as a result but that said, Bath remains a front-runners’ track. Finding a prominent position around the bends can be a huge help and there’s often no catching runners when they get going due to the speed of the course.

As Bath is situated so high up, rainfall doesn’t linger for long, instead flowing down towards the leafy suburb of Landsown. This combined with an absence of watering facilities means that the going at Bath can get very fast indeed with readings of firm not at all uncommon. In such conditions, attempting to make up distance from deep can prove near impossible and Bath is absolutely a course that favours speed.

Draw Bias Only in Longer Races

Races of either 5f 11y or 5f 161y take place from the chute connected to the start of the run-in. While you may refer to it as the straight course, it’s anything but as it turns gradually to the left for much of its duration.

With this in mind you’d immediately think a spot near the rail is the prime place to be but for years results have shown otherwise. Much to even our own surprise, data from the last 10 years featuring races with at least eight runners shows virtually no draw bias to speak of on the sprint track.

There are some more interesting findings when looking at races greater in distance. In both seven furlong and one mile events, those drawn low are in the ideal place to take the long sweeping bend into the home straight but this has not led them being any more successful. Perhaps jockeys end up being overeager because we’ve seen nothing to indicate a low draw is of any advantage, if anything they’ve underperformed slightly compared to runners on their outside.

Major Meetings at Bath

The headline race each year used to be the Dick Hern Fillies’ Stakes, which is a 1m long thoroughbred race, but since 2011 that has been run at Haydock Park. The other major race run at Bath is the Lansdown Fillie’s Stakes, which is a 5f race for three to six-year-olds generally run in April or May.

As well as this, Bath hosts several annual themed and charity events, often aimed at children during school holidays as a way to make a day at the races more applicable to the younger generation, as well as being a family friendly experience.

Dining and Hospitality

Bath offers three different food and hospitality packages, as well as the option of a bespoke package should you wish to have a different menu to those initially provided. The Crescent package costs £110 per person and provides unrivalled service and comfort to all customers. The Lansdown package at £85 per person – and the Fillies and Colts package at £69 per person – offer slightly less in terms of what you receive for your money, but customers taking up these packages are still treated with the same high quality facilities and accessibility.

Bath racecourse is also available on non-race days for hire for private functions and business events, with the hiring of a conference room for a function coming at a price of just £32 per person. Similarly, Bath is very popular as a wedding venue, with many people choosing to celebrate their big day there, as they pride themselves on the quality you experience should you choose to offer them your custom.

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