Racecourse Guide

Ascot
National Hunt

Ascot, Berkshire · the Christmas Racing Weekend and the Long Walk Hurdle

⬤ National Hunt
Turf
Right-Handed
Undulating

Shape

Triangular ~1m5f

Track Type

Stiff, Uphill Finish

Fences

10 per circuit

Hurdles

6 per circuit

Home Straight

2 fences

Run-in

~2f uphill

Direction

Right-handed

Course Highlight

Long Walk Hurdle Gr.1

Course Overview

Track Breakdown

Ascot’s jumps course is laid out inside its famous Flat circuit — right-handed, triangular, and roughly a mile and five to six furlongs round, with ten fences a circuit (two of them open ditches, plus a water jump) and six hurdle flights. It’s a track built around one defining feature: horses descend into Swinley Bottom, the lowest point of the course, then climb around 73 feet from there to the winning post — one of the toughest finishes anywhere in British jump racing.

The run-in itself is short — commonly given as around two furlongs — and uphill the whole way, so position matters enormously. At The Races’ course guide puts it plainly: “because the run-in on Ascot’s round course is relatively short, positioning is key… whatever the pace, you can get into trouble trying to come through rivals late on.” That edge is sharpest in small novice fields, where front-runners are especially hard to peg back; in bigger handicaps, the effect is real but harder to exploit outright, since a truly-run pace still gets reeled in more often than at a smaller-field novice event.

Ascot’s own NH history is comparatively young — jumps racing began there in 1965, with the new course’s turf originally relaid using material from Hurst Park Racecourse, which closed in 1962. The course’s major 2004–2006 redevelopment reshaped the Flat side extensively, but the jumps course itself reopened in 2006/07 with a more sweeping turn into the straight and improved drainage, meaning the ground rarely gets as testing now as it once did.

The Jumps Course

Circuit Right-handed, triangular, ~1m5f–1m6f, laid out inside the Flat track
Fences 10 per circuit (2 in the home straight) — 2 open ditches, 1 water jump
Hurdles 6 flights per circuit
The finish Descend into Swinley Bottom, then climb roughly 73 feet to the line — among the toughest finishes in NH racing
Run style Short, uphill run-in favours prominent racers and front-runners, especially in small novice fields; harder to exploit in big-field handicaps

Track & History

Jumps founded 1965 — turf relaid using material from the closed Hurst Park Racecourse
Redevelopment Major rebuild 2004–2006; the jumps course itself reopened 2006/07 with a sweeping turn and better drainage
NH season Around 8 jumps racedays a year, late October to March
Signature meeting The Howden Christmas Racing Weekend, the most valuable fixture of the jumps season
Grade 1 races Three run at Ascot: the Long Walk Hurdle, Ascot Chase and Clarence House Chase

Notable Races

The Racing Calendar

Grade 1 · December

Long Walk Hurdle

Run over 3 miles and 102 yards as the showpiece of the Christmas Racing Weekend. Baracouda’s 4 wins (2000–2004) is the race record; François Doumen and Richard Johnson share the training and riding records with 4 wins apiece.

Grade 1 · February

Ascot Chase

Run over 2m5f85y, an important trial for the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Ryanair Chase. First run 1995 as the Comet Chase. Paul Nicholls has won it 5 times, most recently with Pic D’Orhy in 2024 and 2025.

Grade 1 · January

Clarence House Chase

Run over 2 miles 1 furlong as a leading trial for the Cheltenham Champion Chase. First run 1989. Recent winners include Jonbon (2025, 2026) and Shishkin (2022) for Nicky Henderson.

Grade 2 · November

1965 Chase

Named for the year jumps racing began at Ascot, run over 2m5f18y as part of the November Racing Weekend that opens the jumps season proper.

Grade 2 · February

Reynoldstown Novices’ Chase

Run over roughly 3 miles on Ascot Chase raceday. Past winners include future Champion Chase winner One Man and two-time Ryanair Chase winner Albertas Run.

Grade 3 · November

Sodexo Gold Cup

The feature of the season-opening Fireworks Spectacular Family Raceday, run over 2m7f185y. First run 2006 as the United House Gold Cup.

Pace Bias

The Number That Matters

Ascot’s jumps course has a well-documented reputation for favouring prominent racers and front-runners — driven directly by the short, uphill run-in and the sweeping turn out of Swinley Bottom that makes it hard to switch off and still get involved late. At The Races’ own course guide calls it “a front-runners’ track… especially in small fields of novices,” while cautioning that “it’s very difficult to win from the front in a big-field handicap.”

Worth being direct about a genuine data gap here: unlike Ascot’s Flat course, which has a published pace-bias percentage table via specialist sites, no equivalent strike-rate breakdown exists anywhere for the jumps course — every source treats the front-running edge as a qualitative, race-shape-dependent read rather than a hard statistic. The bias-box below reflects that reasoned qualitative judgement, not a data-backed percentage.

Run Style Bias — Chases (qualitative)

Handy / Prominent

▲ Strong

Mid-Division

─ Moderate

Hold-up

▼ Weak

Large-field handicaps

─ Bias Narrows

The front-running edge is strongest in small novice fields, where there’s less pace on to collapse the leader’s advantage. In bigger, more competitive handicaps the same edge exists but narrows — a genuinely strong gallop can still be reeled in on the run to the line, even on a course this demanding of position.

Statistics · Since 2010

Top Trainers & Jockeys

Trainer	Runs	Wins	Win%	Places	Place%	A/E	P/L
1 Henderson, N J	465	103	22.15%	203	43.66%	0.89	-83.17
2 Nicholls, P F	524	101	19.27%	201	38.36%	0.95	-21.93
3 Williams, Miss Venetia	198	35	17.68%	64	32.32%	1.20	+38.96
4 Hobbs, P J / White, J	239	31	12.97%	83	34.73%	0.81	-77.19
5 Fry, Harry	131	31	23.66%	60	45.80%	1.37	+20.98
6 King, A	235	29	12.34%	75	31.91%	0.88	+4.92
7 Moore, Gary and Josh	318	27	8.49%	76	23.90%	0.78	-141.02
8 Pipe, D E	169	26	15.38%	62	36.69%	1.22	-6.52
9 Skelton, Daniel	244	25	10.25%	70	28.69%	0.87	-33.34
10 Pauling, Ben	118	20	16.95%	44	37.29%	1.15	+50.13
11 Tizzard, C L	149	18	12.08%	44	29.53%	0.96	-32.75
12 Bailey, K C	109	18	16.51%	42	38.53%	1.13	-15.30
13 Twiston-Davies, N A	214	17	7.94%	50	23.36%	0.65	-101.59
14 O’Neill, Jonjo and AJ	180	14	7.78%	53	29.44%	0.58	-71.00
15 Tizzard, Joe	52	13	25.00%	25	48.08%	1.35	-0.05
16 O’Brien, Fergal	91	12	13.19%	23	25.27%	0.98	-14.59
17 Newland, Dr R D P	81	12	14.81%	28	34.57%	1.17	+28.75
18 Lavelle, Miss E C	128	10	7.81%	44	34.38%	0.54	-69.25
19 Honeyball, A J	75	10	13.33%	24	32.00%	0.90	+10.58
20 Thomas, Sam	29	10	34.48%	16	55.17%	1.44	+14.66

Ascot NH, since 2010. N J Henderson leads the page on volume (103 wins from 465, 22.1% SR, A/E 0.89), though the market prices that in. The real value signals are Ben Pauling (A/E 1.15, +£50.13), Miss Venetia Williams (A/E 1.20, +£38.96) and Dr R D P Newland (A/E 1.17, +£28.75). Oppose the over-bet Miss E C Lavelle (A/E 0.54), Jonjo and AJ O’Neill (A/E 0.58) and N A Twiston-Davies (A/E 0.65).

Jockey	Runs	Wins	Win%	Places	Place%	A/E	P/L
1 Geraghty, B J	202	57	28.22%	95	47.03%	1.02	+8.05
2 Boinville, Nico	185	46	24.86%	77	41.62%	0.99	-31.96
3 Cobden, Harry	225	40	17.78%	82	36.44%	0.91	-28.36
4 Twiston-Davies, Sam	251	28	11.16%	89	35.46%	0.71	-105.55
5 Johnson, Richard	211	25	11.85%	77	36.49%	0.70	-92.10
6 Coleman, A	164	25	15.24%	51	31.10%	0.99	+22.32
7 Deutsch, Charlie	89	24	26.97%	32	35.96%	1.68	+55.53
8 Moore, Jamie	172	23	13.37%	54	31.40%	1.14	-1.35
9 Fehily, Noel	138	22	15.94%	53	38.41%	1.00	-14.19
10 Hutchinson, Wayne	112	20	17.86%	46	41.07%	1.27	+78.54
11 Walsh, R	52	20	38.46%	30	57.69%	1.23	-3.30
12 Scudamore, Tom	141	19	13.48%	42	29.79%	1.09	-21.15
13 Skelton, Harry	156	18	11.54%	52	33.33%	0.81	-14.34
14 Bass, David	132	17	12.88%	51	38.64%	0.93	-19.51
15 Powell, Brendan	114	17	14.91%	38	33.33%	1.17	-6.05
16 Burke, Jonathan	88	17	19.32%	32	36.36%	1.51	+14.21
17 Jones, Ben R	57	15	26.32%	23	40.35%	1.43	+41.05
18 Jacob, Daryl	139	13	9.35%	40	28.78%	0.65	-89.17
19 O’Brien, T J	109	11	10.09%	34	31.19%	0.88	-13.17
20 O’Neill, Jonjo (Jr)	86	11	12.79%	30	34.88%	0.82	-14.00

Ascot NH, since 2010. B J Geraghty leads the riders on volume (57 wins from 202, 28.2% SR, A/E 1.02). The real value signals are Wayne Hutchinson (A/E 1.27, +£78.54), Charlie Deutsch (A/E 1.68, +£55.53) and Ben R Jones (A/E 1.43, +£41.05). Oppose the over-bet Daryl Jacob (A/E 0.65), Richard Johnson (A/E 0.70) and Sam Twiston-Davies (A/E 0.71).

Sire Statistics · Since 2010

Top Sires

Sire	Runs	Wins	Win%	Places	Place%	A/E	P/L
1 King’s Theatre (IRE)	174	25	14.37%	67	38.51%	0.99	+28.03
2 Flemensfirth (USA)	130	24	18.46%	46	35.38%	1.36	+36.22
3 Presenting	176	23	13.07%	52	29.55%	0.90	-22.84
4 Kayf Tara	191	19	9.95%	50	26.18%	0.74	-29.54
5 Milan	137	19	13.87%	40	29.20%	0.99	-28.75
6 Shantou (USA)	80	18	22.50%	38	47.50%	1.25	+51.01
7 Midnight Legend	114	16	14.04%	40	35.09%	1.14	-0.56
8 Beneficial	123	13	10.57%	36	29.27%	0.78	-42.95
9 Walk In The Park (IRE)	67	13	19.40%	28	41.79%	1.06	+0.31
10 Westerner	104	12	11.54%	32	30.77%	0.90	+8.13
11 Shirocco (GER)	61	12	19.67%	21	34.43%	1.38	+2.95
12 Oscar (IRE)	110	11	10.00%	29	26.36%	0.65	-52.96
13 Yeats (IRE)	65	11	16.92%	16	24.62%	1.10	-6.53
14 Turgeon (USA)	32	10	31.25%	15	46.88%	1.35	-3.25
15 Getaway (GER)	116	9	7.76%	33	28.45%	0.59	-69.24
16 Martaline	84	9	10.71%	29	34.52%	0.75	-13.49
17 Gold Well	60	9	15.00%	22	36.67%	1.16	-13.29
18 Authorized (IRE)	56	9	16.07%	16	28.57%	1.05	-7.97
19 Poliglote	45	9	20.00%	18	40.00%	1.07	-19.12
20 Voix Du Nord (FR)	36	9	25.00%	12	33.33%	1.45	+23.52

Ascot NH, since 2010. King’s Theatre (IRE) tops the sire list (25 wins from 174, 14.4% SR, A/E 0.99). The real value signals are Shantou (USA) (A/E 1.25, +£51.01), Flemensfirth (USA) (A/E 1.36, +£36.22) and Voix Du Nord (FR) (A/E 1.45, +£23.52). Oppose the over-bet Getaway (GER) (A/E 0.59), Oscar (IRE) (A/E 0.65) and Kayf Tara (A/E 0.74).

Insider Knowledge

Betting Angles

🐎

Back the pace in small novice fields

The front-running edge is strongest when there’s little pace on to challenge the leader — small novice chases and hurdles are where it’s most reliably exploitable.

⛰️

Respect the hill in big handicaps

In large-field, truly-run handicaps, the uphill finish still asks a real stamina question — don’t assume a lone front-runner walks it just because the course “favours the pace.”

📈

Grade 1 form here travels to the Festival

The Ascot Chase, Clarence House Chase and Long Walk Hurdle are all genuine trials for their Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Chase and Stayers’ Hurdle equivalents.

🌧️

Post-2006 drainage changed the going profile

Since the redevelopment, testing ground is less frequent than Ascot’s older reputation suggests — check the current going rather than assuming a bog.

🏆

Watch the leading yards

Venetia Williams and Charlie Deutsch have posted the strongest recent course strike rates — worth extra attention when they’re represented on a competitive card.

🎯

Course experience over Swinley Bottom is a real edge

A horse that’s already handled the descent-then-climb sequence without being caught out is a more reliable proposition than a track debutant, regardless of overall class.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Assuming the front-running bias applies as strongly in big-field handicaps as it does in small novice races — the effect narrows considerably.
Treating Ascot’s jumps course reputation as identical to its Flat course — the two have different pace dynamics entirely.
Assuming testing ground as often as pre-2006 form suggests — the redevelopment measurably improved drainage.
Overlooking that specific Grade 1 races here (Ascot Chase, Clarence House Chase, Long Walk Hurdle) are genuine Cheltenham trials, not just prestigious one-off prizes.

Common Questions

Ascot Racecourse FAQs

Is there a pace or front-running bias at Ascot over jumps?

Yes, and it’s one of the more reliable qualitative angles in NH racing — the short, uphill run-in and sweeping turn out of Swinley Bottom favour prominent racers and front-runners, especially in small novice fields. The edge narrows in bigger, more competitive handicaps, where a genuinely strong gallop can still be reeled in. No hard percentage table exists for this specifically, unlike Ascot’s Flat course.

How many fences and hurdles are there at Ascot?

Ten fences per circuit for chases — two of them open ditches, plus a water jump — and six hurdle flights. The run-in is short, roughly two furlongs, and uphill the whole way.

What is Swinley Bottom?

The lowest point of Ascot’s circuit. Horses descend into it before climbing roughly 73 feet from there to the winning post — a sequence widely regarded as one of the toughest finishes in British jump racing.

What are Ascot’s biggest jumps races?

Three Grade 1s: the Long Walk Hurdle (December, the Christmas Racing Weekend showpiece), the Ascot Chase (February, a Cheltenham Gold Cup trial) and the Clarence House Chase (January, a Champion Chase trial). Baracouda’s four Long Walk Hurdle wins and Paul Nicholls’ five Ascot Chase wins are the standout records.

Explore

Other Jumps Tracks

Aintree

Home of the Grand National — Mildmay and National courses.

Cheltenham

Old Course and New Course — the home of jump racing.

Kempton Park

Sharp, flat right-hander — home of the King George.

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