Racecourse Guide

Ffos Las
Flat Turf

Trimsaran, Carmarthenshire · Britain’s newest racecourse

⬤ Flat Turf
Left-Handed
Galloping, Purpose-Built
Round Course
~1m4f oval
Straight Course
5f & 6f extension off the home straight
Direction
Left-handed
Surface
Turf
Character
Flat, Galloping, Wide
Key Race
None — no Flat black-type contest
Also at Ffos Las

Ffos Las also stages National Hunt racing. Read the National Hunt racecourse guide →

How does Ffos Las ride?

Track Character

Ffos Las is Britain’s newest racecourse: the first meeting was held on 18 June 2009, with an official opening on 28 August 2009. It was built on the site of a reclaimed opencast coal mine — worked until 1997, at points around 500 feet deep — and its name, “Ffos Las,” is that of the farm that once occupied the site; it translates as “blue ditch.” The project was driven by Dai Walters, a local civil engineering entrepreneur who built the course using his own firm before selling the venue to Arena Racing Company (ARC) in 2018. He stayed on as honorary chairman at the sale, but that description has since been superseded by the racecourse itself: a column by its general manager on 7 November 2022 refers to him as "our founder and former chairman."

Being purpose-built gives Ffos Las a character shared by almost no other British course: a left-handed oval of about a mile and a half, wide and sweeping throughout, with none of the kinks, ridges, or camber changes that define most of Britain’s older tracks.

Two figures on the layout are easy to run together, and this page used to run them together. The home straight itself is just over four furlongs. An extension off it creates a straight five and six furlongs, so sprints here are run on a straight strip and everything from seven furlongs upwards goes round a bend. Timeform and Racing TV both describe that extension — in near-identical words, so treat them as one source rather than two — and the course’s opening Flat card corroborates it: the Guardian’s report of 21 July 2009 has the six-furlong maiden launching the meeting, then Louis-Philippe Beuzelin taking "the first race on the round course" two races later over ten furlongs.

What that long finish buys is time. A horse that gets outpaced here can still be picked up and brought back, which is the honest version of "galloping" at Ffos Las — it is not a promise that the strongest stayer wins every race, and over the straight sprint trips it plainly is not one at all.

The ground swings a long way across a season, and the reason is rainfall and engineering rather than anything left under the turf by the mine. Ffos Las takes about two metres of rain a year, and the track was drained for it from the start: the original contractor’s case study records 25,000 linear metres of 80mm lateral pipework at seven-metre centres, 3,500 metres of mainlines and 80,000 linear metres of sand slitting around the entire track, all of it feeding the on-site irrigation lake.

That system has since been rebuilt, and it matters to every long-run figure on this page. The contractor who did the replacement records that after seven years and some 11,000 horses the original drains’ effectiveness was substantially reduced, and that the racecourse renewed them in the summer of 2016 — sand slits across the whole track, every lateral drain re-excavated, surfaces compacted, refilled and reseeded — with further drainage work since. Our since-2010 tables therefore straddle a significant change to the racing surface, and the honest reading is that older going form here is not automatically comparable with recent going form. One reassurance on the draw work below: the FlatStats sample it is checked against begins in August 2016 and is entirely post-renewal, while ours straddles the work, and the two still agree about a mile.

One caveat for Flat punters on the season: the racecourse runs its Flat programme through the summer, so the genuinely testing midwinter ground this place is known for is a jumps question, not a Flat one.

I’ve never ridden at Ffos Las, but all the current jocks tell me it’s a good, fair, honest course, with no kinks or ridges. There don’t seem to be any obvious quirks about it, viewed from the stands at least, and I’ve not spotted any great bias, either regarding the draw or across-the-track pace. They always seem to go a sensible gallop there, which suggests the configuration is straightforward enough, but I have noticed they tend to race up the middle, rather than stick to the rails, when the going gets soft.Jason Weaver, former jockey — At The Races

Weaver is describing what a rider sees, and on the across-the-track question nothing on this page contradicts him: no persistent rail-side advantage has been demonstrated here. That is not the same as proving no part of the course can ever ride faster — rain, wear and where the rail is set on the day all still decide where the best ground is, which is why watching the earlier races is worth more than any of it. The stalls-level figures further down this page part company with him on one specific point — the draw at a mile — and the published run-style data parts company with the day-one view that this looked a track for front-runners. Both are worth having. A rider tells you what the surface does; a decade of results tells you what the shape of the race does.

Course Facts

  • Opened First meeting 18 June 2009; official opening 28 August 2009
  • Site Built on a reclaimed opencast coal mine, worked until 1997
  • Founder Dai Walters, using his own civil engineering firm; sold to ARC in 2018
  • First Flat race 21 July 2009 — the six-furlong EBF/Jamie Yeates Memorial Maiden, won by Our Dream Queen under Michael Hills
  • Ownership Arena Racing Company (ARC)

The Round Course

  • Shape Left-handed oval, about 1m4f, wide and sweeping
  • Character No kinks or ridges — a genuinely fair, purpose-built galloping track
  • Home straight Just over 4f — one of the longer run-ins in Britain
  • Straight course An extension off the home straight gives a straight 5f and 6f; 7f 80y and upwards go round a bend

Calendar & Notable Races

  • Status No Listed or Group Flat race yet confirmed at the course
  • Character A young track still building its black-type pedigree
  • Season Flat through the summer months and into September; National Hunt for the rest of the year
  • Biggest Flat day Ladies Day in August
  • Course record Zambezi Magic, trained by Bernard Llewellyn, has won more races here than any other horse — seven

When are the big meetings at Ffos Las?

As Wales’s flagship modern Flat circuit, Ffos Las has yet to stage a Group or Listed race — its black-type pedigree is still being written — but the fair, galloping bowl draws strong yards south and shares its calendar with a busy jumps programme. Its best-known jumps race, the Welsh Champion Hurdle, moved to Chepstow after October 2024. The Flat side of the calendar is a summer one: the racecourse’s own history page says it "stages Flat meetings throughout the summer months, with National Hunt meetings taking place for the rest of the year," and the published 2026 calendar runs into late September. Ladies Day in August is the course’s headline summer raceday, and the racing on it is core stuff — the August cards carry Class 3 to Class 6 handicaps, maidens, nurseries and classified stakes from five furlongs to two miles, and no black type anywhere on them. Its youth is the thing to keep in mind as a punter: with seventeen seasons of racing behind it, samples are thin and an apparent “trend” can rest on very few runnings, so confident-sounding angles deserve more caution here than at long-established tracks.

Does the draw matter at Ffos Las?

The short answer is that it depends entirely on the trip, and that the usual summary of Ffos Las — wide, sweeping, fair, no draw to speak of — holds up at six furlongs and does not hold up at a mile. Five furlongs is a third answer again: the qualifying sample there is below the threshold this page will publish a call on, so it is unresolved rather than neutral, and nothing below claims otherwise.

Every figure below comes from our own HRB pull of Ffos Las Flat handicaps since 2010, restricted to fields of eight or more, and read with two complementary cuts of that same sample: winners by stall and field size cut into thirds of the draw (impact value, where 1.00 is exactly as often as chance allows), and HRB’s own per-race draw quarters with their A/E. Those two are not independent evidence — they are two views of the same races, so their agreeing is a consistency check, not corroboration. The genuinely separate dataset on this page is FlatStats, and even that is an overlapping period rather than a different one. Where any of them disagree, this page says so rather than picking the one it likes.

Draw Bias Strength by Distance
Stars rate the strength of a directional bias — ★ mild, ★★ moderate, ★★★ strong. Non-directional reads (Broadly Fair, No Clear Bias, Conflicting, Unstable) carry no stars.
Based on stalls-position draw data. Higher bar = stronger draw bias. Race counts are handicaps of eight or more runners, started from stalls, since 2010.
5f (straight)
21 races
Sample Too Thin
6f (straight)
51 races
No Clear Bias
7f 80y
28 races
No Clear Bias (middle sags)
1m
39 races
Low Draws Penalised ★★
1m1f–1m2f
41 races
High Draw ★
1m3f and beyond
69 races
No Clear Bias

Strong bias — material handicapping factor

Moderate lean — worth noting

Broadly fair — not a primary factor

Source: our own stalls-level HRB pull of Ffos Las Flat handicaps since 2010 — winners by stall and field size, fields of eight or more, cut into thirds of the draw — with HRB’s own per-race draw quarters and their A/E as a second cut of the same races — a consistency check, not independent corroboration. Cross-checked against FlatStats’ published course table (26 August 2016 to 21 August 2026, fields of ten or more, all goings, read 21 August 2026), which is a separate dataset over an overlapping period and carries 7½f and a mile. Figures pulled 13 August 2026.
5f · Straight
Sample Too Thin
Only 21 handicaps of eight or more runners since 2010 — below the 25 this site requires before it will publish a call, so it does not publish one.
6f · Straight
No Clear Bias
51 races. Thirds 0.98 low / 0.92 middle / 1.09 high; the draw quarters put the lowest at A/E 1.03 and the other three between 0.76 and 0.83. Nothing here is worth a stall preference.
7f 80y · Round
No Clear Bias
28 races. Both cuts of our sample sag in the middle rather than leaning either way, which is a shape and not a directional bias, so it carries no call: thirds 1.15 / 0.57 / 1.25, quarters 0.87 / 0.74 / 0.55 / 1.21. FlatStats’ ten-year 7½f sample has the same middle sag (0.81 / 0.70 / 0.94) and not one band above 1.00.
1m · Round
Low Draws Penalised ★★
39 races, and the clearest read on the page — though it is worth saying that Dave Renham, who does this for a living, will not call a course-and-distance draw bias on fewer than 40 qualifying races, and we are one short of his bar. The lowest quarter of the draw has won 4 of 95 for an A/E of 0.39; the low third measures 0.68 against 1.11 middle and 1.21 high. FlatStats, a separate dataset over an overlapping period with a ten-runner minimum, makes the low third 0.28 from 68. Two datasets, one conclusion.
1m1f–1m2f · Round
High Draw ★
41 races. Thirds 0.78 / 0.95 / 1.27, and the quarters climb in order — 0.69, 0.73, 0.94, 1.02. A real lean, on a sample small enough to earn one star and no more.
1m3f and beyond · Round
No Clear Bias
69 races. The thirds put both ends ahead of a hollow middle (1.11 / 0.63 / 1.24) while the quarters point the other way from 1m5f. The two instruments disagree, so this page makes no call.

Read the stalls position off the racecard before you apply any of this. A draw study cuts the field into low, middle and high by stall number; where the stalls are physically sited is printed race by race, so "high" is not automatically "nearest the stands’ rail." And the mechanism is not always in use. On 29 June 2025 every race here bar the opening 7f 80y fillies’ novice — six races on a seven-race card — was started by tape after the stalls were damaged. That matters to a draw study, so we checked the card race by race rather than leaving it open. Five of the six meet the eight-runner handicap filter used on this page: a 9-runner handicap over 1m3f209y, an 8-runner over 1m6f, a 12-runner over 7f 80y and two at a mile, of 8 and 10 runners. The sixth was a six-runner maiden and never qualified.

Our own figures then show that at least two of them are not in the sample. The ten-runner mile handicap that day was won from stall 10, and across every ten-runner mile field since 2010 our pull records no winner from stall 10 at all — so that race cannot be in it. The 12-runner sprint handicap is a second sign of the same thing — it was won from stall 13, a number that only exists because of a non-runner and has no place in a twelve-runner row. The other three sit in cells that already hold winners, so for those the evidence is silent — uniform exclusion is the natural reading, not a proven one. Either way it does not rescue a low draw. Both mile races were won from the top of the draw (7 of 8 and 10 of 10), and only one of the two could still be in the sample. Take that race out and the mile runs on 38 races instead of 39, with the low third moving from 0.68 to 0.70 and the lowest quarter’s A/E from 0.39 to about 0.40. It shifts, very slightly, in the low draw’s favour — and it comes nowhere near explaining away a record of four winners from ninety-five runners.

Do front-runners win at Ffos Las?

In the one published study that measures it, Ffos Las is the only British turf course where the lead over five furlongs is worth less than par.

David Renham’s run-style study for On Course Profits (24 April 2025) takes geegeez run-style data back to 2009 and covers every five-furlong handicap with seven or more runners at all thirty-one British turf tracks. It scores each run style by PRB — percentage of rivals beaten, where 0.50 is par. At Ffos Las the four styles come out at led 0.46, prominent 0.52, mid-division 0.51, held up 0.51. In his own words: "only one course, Ffos Las, has a ‘led’ figure below 0.50. Meanwhile 18 courses had a ‘led’ figure of 0.60 or above."

That is worth reading carefully, because it is easy to over-claim in either direction. It does not say hold-up horses are favoured here: 0.51 is par. What it says is that the front-running edge which exists nearly everywhere else over the minimum trip does not exist at Ffos Las. And run styles are assigned from the race-reading comment after the race, so the figure measures the value of having got the lead, not the return on backing a horse you expect to lead.

The same author’s handicap-chase work puts Ffos Las on the same side of the ledger over jumps, and that is covered on our Ffos Las National Hunt guide. That is interesting supporting context rather than proof of a single course-wide law: the Flat finding covers five-furlong handicaps and the jumps one covers handicap chases, which are different populations run under different rules. Two studies pointing the same way is worth knowing. It is not the same as a rule that holds at every trip in both codes.

It looks a sharpish track, which will suit front runners. I think the sprinters will be able to ping off and go.Willie Carson at the first Flat meeting, 21 July 2009 — the Guardian

That was the view from the stands on day one, and it was the obvious read: a wide, flat, purpose-built track with a long straight ought to let a sprinter bowl along. Seventeen seasons of five-furlong handicaps have gone the other way. It is a useful reminder that how a track looks is not what its data says.

Run Style — 5f handicaps, 7+ runners, since 2009 (PRB)

─ Led

0.46 — lowest of 31

─ Prominent

0.52

─ Mid-division

0.51

─ Held up

0.51 — level with par

Source: David Renham, Using PRBs to Analyse Run Style Bias, On Course Profits, published 24 April 2025 and last updated 22 April 2026 — geegeez run-style data from 2009, five-furlong handicaps of seven or more runners, all thirty-one British turf courses. The figures above are the current version, read in August 2026. PRB is percentage of rivals beaten and 0.50 is par. The "led" column in that table runs from Ffos Las at 0.46 up to 0.66 at Lingfield, Pontefract and Ripon. ⚠ This is one trip and one race type. Nothing comparable has been published for Ffos Las over six furlongs or the round-course distances, and this page will not invent it.

Run Style by Trip — What Is Actually Published

The five-furlong figures above are the only course-level run-style numbers we have been able to find published anywhere for Ffos Las. Rather than leave that implied, here is the whole card, with the gaps shown as gaps.

─ 5f straight

Led 0.46 · Prom 0.52 · Mid 0.51 · Held 0.51

─ 6f straight

No published data

─ 7f 80y

No published data

─ 1m

No published data

─ 1m1f–1m2f

No published data

─ 1m3f and beyond

No published data

⚠ Five of these six rows are empty because we have not found published figures for them, not because the trips are neutral. We hold no first-party run-style pull for Ffos Las, and the author of the five-furlong study has said he intends to extend it to six furlongs but had not done so when this page was last checked. An empty row here means unknown. It does not mean fair. Until those numbers exist, build the pace map for these trips off the runners in front of you, not off a course reputation.

Draw and Pace Together at a Mile

Read this section as race-reading, not as measurement. Everything above it is counted; this is not. Our draw pull records which stall won, and carries no run-style dimension to cross against it, so what follows is the set of explanations for the mile figures rather than a demonstration of any one of them.

The mile start sits close enough to the bend that early position has to be taken or given up quickly, and the honest list of reasons a low stall might have under-performed is short. A low-drawn horse that is ridden with restraint can end up on the inside with runners outside and in front of it, which is the hardest place on any galloping track to be when the pace lifts off the turn. A low-drawn horse with genuine early speed has the opposite problem to solve and may be able to solve it by taking position before the bend. And in the small fields this course often stages, one uncontested leader can make the stall number a good deal less important.

What would settle it is a run-style split of the same mile handicaps — low-drawn front-runners against low-drawn hold-up horses. We have not run it and have not found it published anywhere, so the practical instruction is the conservative one: at a mile, treat a low stall as a question rather than a penalty, and answer it by asking whether the horse can use its early speed from there.

Race-Day Checklist

  • Straight or round? Five and six furlongs are straight; 7f 80y and beyond go round a bend. That decides which figures on this page apply at all.
  • Read the declared stalls position off the card. A draw study splits the field by stall number; where the stalls physically sit is a race-by-race decision.
  • Check the field size against the sample. Everything measured here is fields of eight or more. In a six-runner handicap the draw is usually the least of it.
  • Build the pace map from the runners. Outside five furlongs there is no published course run-style bias to lean on.
  • Check the rain and watch the earlier races — where the field drifts, and whether anything is making all.
  • Confirm the stalls were actually used. They have been out of action here before.
  • Check the day’s rail position and any added distance. Where a rail is set changes the effective trip and the shape of the bend, and a race run over an added distance is not the same course-and-distance as the historical sample on this page. We have found no first-party source saying Ffos Las moves its running rail — this is a check to make, not a habit of the track we are asserting.
  • At a mile, treat a low stall as a question. Both samples we hold say the inside has under-run its prices; neither says why.

Which trainers and jockeys win most at Ffos Las?

TrainerRunsWinsWin%PlacesPlace%A/EP/L
1 Evans, P D3594211.70%9727.02%0.85-31.91
2 Balding, A M1553522.58%7246.45%1.01+16.41
3 Millman, B R2143114.49%7032.71%0.94-58.38
4 Beckett, R M1062725.47%5450.94%0.95+20.13
5 Charlton, Roger/Harry1022322.55%4443.14%0.86-4.64
6 Muir, W R1432215.38%5236.36%1.00-2.39
7 Llewellyn, B J217209.22%5625.81%0.81-75.27
8 Morrison, H912021.98%4145.05%1.13+27.70
9 Simcock, D M691623.19%3652.17%0.94+6.79
10 Walker, Ed821518.29%3643.90%0.97-10.97
11 Watson, Archie771418.18%2431.17%1.05-11.09
12 Haggas, W J331442.42%2163.64%1.19+2.53
13 Harris, R A1231310.57%3427.64%0.78-40.50
14 Hannon (Jnr), Richard1081312.04%3734.26%0.64-44.43
15 Osborne, J A721318.06%2331.94%1.08+18.00
16 Meehan, B J571322.81%2340.35%1.14-0.02
17 Carroll, A W1101210.91%2421.82%0.86-46.57
18 Loughnane, Daniel Mark961212.50%3334.38%1.13-6.25
19 Kittow, W S701217.14%2332.86%1.21+17.28
20 Hills, Charles671014.93%2334.33%0.79-16.99

Ffos Las Flat, since 2010; figures pulled 26 July 2026. David Evans has the most winners (42 from 359) but at A/E 0.85 and £31.91 down, and the next two biggest books tell the same story — B J Llewellyn A/E 0.81 and £75.27 down from 217, B R Millman A/E 0.94 and £58.38 down from 214. Volume at this track has not turned into value. Seven of the twenty rows are in level-stakes profit: Andrew Balding (35 from 155, 22.58%, A/E 1.01, +£16.41), Ralph Beckett (25.47% from 106, +£20.13), Hughie Morrison (21.98% from 91, A/E 1.13, +£27.70), David Simcock, William Haggas, Jamie Osborne and W S Kittow (A/E 1.21, +£17.28). Haggas has had only 33 runners here and won 14 of them — 42.42%, A/E 1.19 — a small book worth respecting when he is represented. Below the table, Hugo Palmer has struck at 27.27% from 33 runners at A/E 1.23 for +£17.67. Two rows are yard records that span a change of licence rather than one person’s: Roger Charlton took his son Harry onto a joint licence in 2022 and handed him sole charge at Beckhampton for the 2024 season, and — after this pull was taken — Robert Williams joined his grandfather Bernard Llewellyn on the Llewellyn licence in the summer of 2026, the racecourse reporting their first Ffos Las winner together on 10 August. The figures are the yard’s across the whole period either way. Samples across this page are modest; treat the strike rates as pointers, not certainties.
Ffos Las Flat · Current trainers, since 2010
JockeyRunsWinsWin%PlacesPlace%A/EP/L
1 Probert, David2474819.43%9337.65%1.05+0.92
2 Murphy, Oisin1192621.85%5747.90%0.89-24.14
3 Ryan, Rossa942627.66%4750.00%1.32+41.81
4 Shoemark, Kieran1082018.52%3633.33%1.09+12.32
5 Morris, Luke1201915.83%4235.00%0.89-0.92
6 Hornby, Rob971919.59%3435.05%1.22+147.71
7 Keniry, L P1331813.53%4433.08%1.11+58.50
8 Edmunds, Lewis771722.08%3241.56%1.09+5.44
9 Doyle, Hollie991414.14%3636.36%0.71-30.99
10 Marquand, Tom671217.91%2638.81%0.91-6.20
11 Greatrex, Edward621117.74%2337.10%1.06+8.58
12 Loughnane, Billy511121.57%2039.22%0.97-18.64
13 Osborne, Saffie621016.13%2337.10%0.87-4.92
14 Hutchinson, Callum561017.86%1628.57%1.39+35.31
15 Bates, Mr D J431023.26%1841.86%1.48+20.43
16 Fallon, Cieren261038.46%1350.00%1.55+29.43
17 Marsh, Finley10498.65%2826.92%0.61-63.02
18 Egan, David60915.00%2033.33%0.82-24.22
19 Whelan, Trevor8489.52%1517.86%0.81-22.45

Ffos Las Flat, since 2010; figures pulled 26 July 2026. David Probert rides the most winners (48 from 247) at A/E 1.05, and he is one of ten riders in the table below showing a level-stakes profit, not one of a few. The biggest of those profits needs its health warning printed next to it: Rob Hornby’s +£147.71 from 97 rides is very largely one afternoon. He rode Once More For Luck to win a Class 5 six-furlong maiden here on 5 July 2022 at 125/1 — a thirteen-runner two-year-old maiden, the kind of race where an unexposed horse can land at any price; take that single ride out and the other 96 return +£22.71. His A/E of 1.22 barely moves for it, and it is worth being exact about why, because the two columns behave in opposite ways. Level-stakes profit pays out at the odds, so a 125/1 winner is worth +£125 in that column on its own. A/E counts every winner as exactly one, whatever its price — the price enters only through the expected-wins figure underneath, where a 125/1 shot contributes about 0.008 of an expected win. Take that ride out of the published totals and Hornby’s A/E moves from 1.22 to roughly 1.16 while his profit falls by 85 per cent. That is the whole reason one shock result can carry a rider’s line in one column and barely touch the other. Rossa Ryan is the sharpest converter, 27.66% from 94 at A/E 1.32 for +£41.81, with L P Keniry (+£58.50, A/E 1.11), Kieran Shoemark and Lewis Edmunds (both A/E 1.09) also in credit. Two smaller books worth knowing: Callum Hutchinson (A/E 1.39 from 56) and Cieren Fallon, 10 wins from 26 rides — striking, and far too small a sample to bet blind.
Ffos Las Flat · Current riders, since 2010

Which sires do best at Ffos Las?

SireRunsWinsWin%PlacesPlace%A/EP/L
1 Invincible Spirit (IRE)751824.00%3445.33%1.18+41.37
2 Kodiac1111614.41%3430.63%1.02+123.05
3 Dansili381334.21%2257.89%1.25+29.16
4 Acclamation751216.00%2736.00%0.91-8.15
5 Footstepsinthesand471225.53%2348.94%1.14+0.49
6 Nathaniel (IRE)441125.00%2147.73%1.03-1.99
7 Frankel311135.48%1548.39%1.31+24.78
8 Bahamian Bounty401025.00%1435.00%1.53+48.59
9 Dubawi (IRE)42921.43%1945.24%0.88-17.93
10 Mayson41921.95%1741.46%1.26-0.79
11 Pivotal40922.50%2050.00%0.96+2.49
12 Dark Angel (IRE)74810.81%1722.97%0.74-32.58
13 Showcasing64812.50%2132.81%0.81-13.27
14 Oasis Dream52815.38%1426.92%0.94+13.00
15 Zoffany (IRE)44818.18%1431.82%1.03-2.27
16 Sixties Icon40820.00%1230.00%1.53+35.00
17 Fast Company (IRE)36822.22%1952.78%0.99+3.69
18 Camelot30826.67%1550.00%1.04-0.59
19 Compton Place51713.73%1937.25%0.99-10.75
20 Dandy Man (IRE)45715.56%1226.67%0.85-9.75

Ffos Las Flat, since 2010; figures pulled 26 July 2026. This is a thin sire page — the leader, Invincible Spirit, has 18 winners from 75 runners and most of the rest sit on books of 30 to 50 — so every figure here is a pointer rather than a signal. On those samples the better records belong to Invincible Spirit himself (24.00%, A/E 1.18, +£41.37), Bahamian Bounty (25.00% from 40, A/E 1.53, +£48.59), Frankel (35.48% from 31, A/E 1.31) and Dansili (34.21% from 38, A/E 1.25). Kodiac’s +£123.05 is not a Kodiac angle. It is one horse: Once More For Luck, a Kodiac colt, won here at 125/1 on 5 July 2022 in a two-year-old maiden, and without him the line reads £1.95 down from the other 110 runners. The same removal takes his A/E from 1.02 to roughly 0.96, which is the honest summary — not level with the market but a shade under it. Nothing on this page carries enough runs to bet on the sire alone, and what a sire says about today’s trip and ground matters more than an all-distance course total.
Ffos Las Flat · Since 2010
How to read these tables. The figures are a first-party pull for this course and code covering runs since 1 January 2010, taken as a snapshot rather than updated live. A/E compares actual wins with the wins implied by starting price, so a figure above 1.00 means the group has won more often than its SP suggested. P/L is profit or loss to £1 win stakes at starting price.

Betting Tips for Ffos Las Flat Turf

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Rider Value, With the Outlier Named

Rossa Ryan is the sharpest converter here — 27.66% from 94 rides at A/E 1.32 for +£41.81. Rob Hornby’s headline +£147.71 is a different animal: £125 of it is a single 125/1 winner in a two-year-old maiden in July 2022. His A/E is the steadier read and it eases from 1.22 to about 1.16 without that ride. David Probert rides the most winners (48 from 247) at A/E 1.05 and is one of ten riders in the table in profit. Oisin Murphy (0.89) and Hollie Doyle (0.71) have historically returned below their prices here — a reason not to shorten them on reputation, not a reason to oppose them whatever they ride.

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Purpose-Built, and Genuinely Fair

No kinks, ridges or camber quirks — a wide, sweeping mile-and-a-half oval. But "fair" is not the same as "a stamina test": five and six furlongs are run on a straight extension, and the long finish gives a horse time to come back rather than guaranteeing the best stayer wins.

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The Trainer Value Is in the Small Books

Since 2010, David Evans leads on winners (42 from 359) but at A/E 0.85 and £31.91 down, and the other big books here are no better. Seven of the twenty rows are in profit; the tightest are William Haggas (14 from 33, 42.42%, A/E 1.19), W S Kittow (A/E 1.21, +£17.28) and Hughie Morrison (A/E 1.13, +£27.70).

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Watch the Ground, Not the Calendar

The Flat programme runs through the summer and into September, so the testing midwinter going Ffos Las is known for belongs to the jumps guide. What moves the ground in a Flat month is rain: this is one of the wettest corners of Britain, on a track purpose-drained for it.

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The Mile Is Where the Draw Bites

Our own stalls-level pull of handicaps here since 2010, fields of eight or more, has the lowest quarter of the draw at a mile winning 4 of 95 for an A/E of 0.39, against 1.11 for the third quarter. FlatStats, a separate dataset over an overlapping period with a ten-runner minimum, makes the low third 0.28 from 68. Two datasets, one answer — and the straight-course sprints show nothing like it.

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Over Five Furlongs, the Front-Running Edge Is Missing

In Renham’s 2009-on study of five-furlong handicaps with seven or more runners, Ffos Las is the only British turf course whose front-runners beat fewer than half their rivals — PRB 0.46, against 0.60 or better at eighteen tracks. Held-up runners sit at par, 0.51. Read it as an argument against paying up for early speed over the minimum trip, not as one for backing closers.

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Kodiac’s Profit Is One Horse

+£123.05 across 111 runners since 2010 looks like a sire angle and is not. Once More For Luck, a Kodiac colt, won here at 125/1 in July 2022; without him the line is £1.95 down from the other 110 and the A/E drops from 1.02 to roughly 0.96 — a shade below the market, not level with it. Read a sire for today’s trip and ground, not for the course total.

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Check the Configuration Before the Form

Five and six furlongs are straight; 7f 80y and upwards go round a bend. That one fact decides which of the figures on this page applies — and the stalls position is printed race by race, so "high" is not automatically "nearest the stands’ rail."

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No Sign of a Softer Market Here

Counting how many rows on this page beat A/E 1.00 would prove nothing either way: the rows are picked by winner totals, and the same runners populate the trainer, jockey and sire tables. The test that does mean something is a whole-market one, and FlatStats’ ten-year course figures put both favourites and non-favourites at A/E 0.90. Nothing measured here says a young course is priced more loosely than an old one.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Assuming the draw never matters here. It does not at six furlongs. At five it is not that the draw is fair, it is that we have too few qualifying races to know either way. At a mile it does: our own pull and FlatStats’ both have the lowest stalls badly under-running their prices.
  • Expecting a sharp, tricky track. Purpose-built, wide and sweeping, with no kinks or ridges to catch a horse out — which does not make every race here a stamina test.
  • Paying up for early speed over five furlongs. Ffos Las is the one British turf course where the published run-style data has front-runners beating fewer than half their rivals.
  • Reading midwinter going into a Flat bet. The Flat programme here is a summer one. The heavy ground this place is famous for is jumps ground.
  • Taking a headline profit at face value. Rob Hornby’s +£147.71 and Kodiac’s +£123.05 are the same 125/1 winner.

Sources and Methodology

Every figure on this page and where it comes from, so the numbers can be checked rather than taken on trust.

  • Trainer, jockey and sire tables A first-party pull for Ffos Las Flat covering runs from 1 January 2010, taken 26 July 2026 and held as a snapshot rather than updated live. A/E compares actual wins with the wins implied by starting price; P/L is profit or loss to £1 win stakes at SP. Riders and trainers no longer active are filtered out of the rows, which is why the rider table runs to nineteen.
  • Draw The same first-party source, restricted to handicaps of eight or more runners since 2010, cut two ways: winners by stall and field size expressed as thirds of the draw, and the provider’s own per-race draw quarters with their A/E. Those are two cuts of one sample, not two samples. Pulled 13 August 2026. No call is published on a band with fewer than 25 qualifying races.
  • Draw cross-check A separately published course table covering 26 August 2016 to 21 August 2026, fields of ten or more, all goings, read on 21 August 2026. It carries 7½f and a mile only. Its period overlaps ours rather than being independent of it.
  • Pace A published study of five-furlong handicaps with seven or more runners using run-style data from 2009 across all thirty-one British turf courses, published 24 April 2025 and last updated 22 April 2026. PRB is percentage of rivals beaten, where 0.50 is par. Run styles are assigned from the race-reading comment after the race.
  • Course layout and history Two published course guides (which carry near-identical wording and are treated here as one source, not two), the racecourse’s own history and news pages, contemporary national newspaper reporting of the first Flat meeting on 21 July 2009, and the case studies of the two drainage contractors. All read 21–22 August 2026.

What we cannot tell you. The exclusion rules behind the underlying pull are not published, so this page does not know how it treats dead heats, non-runners and the resulting draw renumbering, though the draw section shows on its own evidence that the six tape-started races of 29 June 2025 are not in it. Where an exclusion rule matters and we cannot establish it, we say so beside the figure rather than assuming. The tables are a dated snapshot and will drift; the draw and pace samples are not refreshed on a schedule.

Ffos Las Racecourse FAQs

Why is Ffos Las considered Britain’s newest racecourse?
Its first meeting was held on 18 June 2009, with an official opening that August — making it the most recently built racecourse in Britain, constructed on a reclaimed opencast coal mine.
Is there a draw bias on the Flat at Ffos Las?
It depends on the trip. At six furlongs, run on a straight course, there is no consistent stall advantage. Five furlongs is also straight but has too few qualifying races to call either way, so we treat it as unresolved rather than fair. At a mile there is: our own stalls-level pull of handicaps since 2010 has the lowest quarter of the draw winning 4 of 95 for an A/E of 0.39, and FlatStats’ separate ten-year sample, over an overlapping period, makes the low third 0.28 from 68. Between 1m1f and 1m2f the higher stalls hold a milder edge. From 1m3f the two instruments disagree, so we make no call.
Who owns Ffos Las Racecourse?
Arena Racing Company (ARC), since 2018. The course was built and originally run by local entrepreneur Dai Walters, who stayed on as honorary chairman at the sale; the racecourse itself has since described him as "our founder and former chairman."
Does Ffos Las have any Listed or Group Flat races?
Not currently. As one of Britain’s youngest tracks, Ffos Las has yet to be awarded black-type status on the Flat, and its jumps card no longer carries black type either — the Welsh Champion Hurdle, a Class 2 Limited Handicap rather than a Graded race, moved back to Chepstow after October 2024.
Are Ffos Las’s five- and six-furlong races run on a straight course?
Yes. An extension off the home straight gives a straight five and six furlongs. The home straight on the oval itself is just over four furlongs, which is why the two numbers so often get run together. Everything from 7f 80y upwards is run round a bend.
Does Ffos Las favour front-runners?
The published evidence says the opposite over the minimum trip. In David Renham’s study of five-furlong handicaps with seven or more runners since 2009, Ffos Las is the only British turf course where front-runners beat fewer than half their rivals — a PRB of 0.46, where 0.50 is par and eighteen courses return 0.60 or better. Held-up runners here sit at par rather than ahead, so it is a reason not to over-value early speed, not a reason to back closers blind. No comparable figures have been published for the longer trips.
How long is the circuit at Ffos Las?
About a mile and a half. Timeform and Racing TV both give "approximately a mile and a half in extent", Wikipedia has the oval at twelve furlongs, and our National Hunt guide publishes the same figure for the same track.

Nearby Tracks

Chepstow

Undulating left-hander with a separate downhill straight mile.

Newbury

Left-handed galloping track and a top-level Group fixture.

Bath

Britain’s highest racecourse, sharp and undulating.

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Official site. Fixtures, tickets and going updates: Ffos Las Racecourse.