Racecourse Guide

Market Rasen
National Hunt

Lincolnshire · the county’s only racecourse, and a launchpad for future legends

⬤ National Hunt
Turf
Right-Handed
Sharp, Tight Oval

Shape

Right-Handed, Tight Oval ~1m2f

Track Type

Sharp, Mild Undulation

Fences

~8 per circuit, incl. water jump

Hurdles

5 per circuit

Run-in

~250-350yd estimates vary

Direction

Right-handed

Course Highlight

AP McCoy’s 4,192nd Winner 2014, record

Ownership

Jockey Club Racecourses

Course Overview

What is Market Rasen like as a jumps track?

Market Rasen is right-handed, a tight, roughly rectangular circuit of about 1¼ miles with four sharp bends, fairly long straights, and mild undulation throughout. The turn into the home straight is the trickiest part of the track — slightly downhill, it catches out long-striding horses and rewards nippy, balanced types. The exact run-in length is genuinely disputed across sources, with estimates for the hurdle course ranging from just over a furlong to 350 yards, and the chase course shorter still; jockey Mick Fitzgerald has described the home straight as deceptively long. Around 8 fences a circuit is the most commonly cited figure, including a water jump in front of the stands, though at least one source gives a different 7-fence breakdown — treat the exact count as approximate rather than settled fact. The hurdle course has 5 flights a circuit. The course sits near the meeting point of three local hunts — Brocklesby, Southwold and Burton — which is where the founding company’s original name, Market Rasen United Hunts Steeplechases Limited, came from.

Racing near Market Rasen dates to the early 1800s, with Feast Week meetings held on other sites around the town from 1828, and a spring steeplechase fixture added in 1871 that has continued ever since. The course moved to its current site in 1924, with the founding company incorporated that May. Victor Lucas managed the track from 1945 to 1971 and designed much of the layout still in use today — the paddock, parade ring, stands and weighing room — while expanding the fixture list from 3 meetings a year to 12 by 1967. The course was sold to the Racecourse Holding Trust, a Jockey Club subsidiary, in 1967, and remains part of Jockey Club Racecourses today, one of 15 tracks in that group — not Arena Racing Company. No closures, scandals, or major incidents turned up in research on this course — a genuinely clean history.

Not many courses put such a premium on the ability to travel through a race as Market Rasen. Even though it’s relatively flat, it’s a hard place to make up a lot of ground. You can turn into the straight thinking you’ve loads of time to make a challenge but, if others quicken away from you at that point, you struggle to get back to them. If you kick from the turn in, though, it’s a fair way home and you almost look up with a furlong left and ask yourself ‘am I not there yet’. The home straight really is l-o-n-g.Mick Fitzgerald, former top jump jockey — At The Races

Course Facts

Founded Current site opened 1924; racing in the area dates to the early 1800s
Ownership Jockey Club Racecourses, one of 15 tracks in the group — not Arena Racing Company
Local identity Lincolnshire’s only racecourse

The Circuit

Shape Right-handed, tight, roughly rectangular, ~1¼ miles, mild undulation
Fences Around 8 per circuit including a water jump, though exact counts vary by source
Quirk The turn into the home straight is slightly downhill and the trickiest part of the track

Notable Races

When does Market Rasen race?

Listed

Summer Plate

Run over ~2m5½f, held in Third Saturday in July. Market Rasen’s richest race. AP McCoy rode his record-breaking 4,192nd domestic winner in this race in 2014, aboard It’s A Gimme, surpassing Martin Pipe’s training-era record of 4,191.

Listed

Summer Hurdle

Run over ~2m1f, held in Third Saturday in July. Run on the same big summer fixture as the Summer Plate, both regarded as stepping stones toward bigger festival targets later in the season.

Pace Bias

Do front-runners win at Market Rasen?

Market Rasen carries a genuine reputation for rewarding prominent, front-running tactics, driven by its sharp bends and tricky downhill turn into the home straight. The clearest quantified evidence comes from 3m-plus handicap chases specifically, where prominent runners and leaders have provided 55% of winners and 53.8% of placed horses from just 47.1% of runners — a real edge. No course-wide A/E index or comprehensive win-rate table has been published beyond this specific race type, and the data’s own source cautions against treating pace bias as a sole selection factor, particularly in small fields.

Run Style Bias — 3m+ Handicap Chases

▲ Prominent/Front-runners

55% of winners from just 47.1% of runners

─ Held-up

Under-represented relative to runner share

Statistics · Since 2010

Which trainers and jockeys win most at Market Rasen?

Trainer	Runs	Wins	Win%	Places	Place%	A/E	P/L
1 Skelton, Daniel	480	105	21.88%	225	46.88%	0.87	-91.95
2 Murphy, Olly	379	84	22.16%	169	44.59%	0.94	-60.26
3 O’Neill, Jonjo and AJ	528	76	14.39%	181	34.28%	0.84	-134.80
4 O’Brien, Fergal	388	75	19.33%	170	43.81%	0.98	-7.98
5 Henderson, N J	207	59	28.50%	96	46.38%	0.98	-8.27
6 Bowen, Peter / Michael	284	56	19.72%	109	38.38%	1.19	+29.48
7 Longsdon, C E	281	47	16.73%	104	37.01%	0.88	-103.12
8 Newland, Dr R D P	233	46	19.74%	97	41.63%	0.95	-16.57
9 Ellison, B	300	44	14.67%	101	33.67%	0.98	-11.92
10 Twiston-Davies, N A	217	41	18.89%	77	35.48%	0.97	-22.75
11 Hammond, Micky	295	38	12.88%	81	27.46%	1.06	+15.64
12 King, A	279	38	13.62%	106	37.99%	0.69	-93.67
13 McCain Jnr, D	308	30	9.74%	91	29.55%	0.59	-109.52
14 Smith, Mrs S J	286	30	10.49%	85	29.72%	0.71	-36.50
15 Pipe, D E	165	28	16.97%	72	43.64%	0.87	-28.94
16 Vaughan, Tim	236	26	11.02%	63	26.69%	0.72	-108.13
17 Kirby, P A	223	24	10.76%	68	30.49%	0.88	-32.37
18 Hales, A M	213	24	11.27%	78	36.62%	0.81	-64.27
19 Williams, Ian	162	24	14.81%	65	40.12%	0.82	-49.88
20 Richards, N G	138	24	17.39%	52	37.68%	1.09	-5.41

Market Rasen NH, since 2010. Dan Skelton leads on winners (105 from 480) at A/E 0.87, and Fergal O’Brien is the closest of the big yards to fair value at 0.98. Nicky Henderson strikes hardest at 28.50% but only A/E 0.98. No yard in the visible table turns a profit. The standout sits below it: J S Smith has returned +£62.13 from 41 runners at A/E 2.49, the sharpest trainer figure in this batch, with J P Owen 1.34 from 53. Oppose M E Sowersby (260 runners, A/E 0.51, £181.87 down) and M C Chapman (312, A/E 0.58) — two of the weakest sustained trainer records in the library.
market-rasen NH · Current trainers, since 2010

Jockey	Runs	Wins	Win%	Places	Place%	A/E	P/L
1 Skelton, Harry	361	85	23.55%	185	51.25%	0.84	-63.56
2 Hughes, Brian	609	83	13.63%	194	31.86%	0.87	-138.40
3 Bowen, Sean P	342	79	23.10%	137	40.06%	1.03	-26.97
4 Twiston-Davies, Sam	318	72	22.64%	135	42.45%	1.07	-6.62
5 Sheehan, Gavin	220	37	16.82%	97	44.09%	0.94	-48.61
6 Bowen, James C	155	30	19.35%	65	41.94%	1.16	+14.13
7 Woods, K K	252	28	11.11%	89	35.32%	0.80	-84.01
8 Burke, Jonathan	138	26	18.84%	55	39.86%	1.05	-4.44
9 Quinlan, Sean	194	25	12.89%	61	31.44%	0.96	-47.37
10 Bass, David	146	25	17.12%	48	32.88%	0.98	-33.08
11 Boinville, Nico	111	25	22.52%	44	39.64%	0.93	-17.22
12 Hamilton, Jamie	237	23	9.70%	63	26.58%	0.79	-64.75
13 Quinlan, Jack	219	23	10.50%	62	28.31%	0.92	-47.14
14 Wedge, Adam	177	22	12.43%	48	27.12%	0.97	-47.01
15 Hammond, Charlie	199	21	10.55%	59	29.65%	0.86	-76.92
16 Cannon, Tom J	152	20	13.16%	44	28.95%	0.75	-62.67
17 Gregory, Fergus	65	20	30.77%	31	47.69%	1.55	+21.83
18 McLernon, R P	213	19	8.92%	58	27.23%	0.82	-22.26
19 O’Regan, Denis	140	19	13.57%	51	36.43%	0.84	-35.90
20 McMenamin, Daniel	95	19	20.00%	37	38.95%	1.17	+20.34

Market Rasen NH, since 2010. Sam Twiston-Davies is the best of the visible table at A/E 1.07 and near break-even, with Sean Bowen at 1.03. Harry Skelton has the most winners (85) but at A/E 0.84 and £63.56 down, and Brian Hughes is £138.40 down at 0.87. The standout is Fergus Gregory — 20 winners from 65 rides at A/E 1.55 and +£21.83. ⚠ Note: no retirement has been announced for him but his last traced ride was July 2024, so treat that figure as a record rather than a live booking angle. Oppose Dougie Costello (150 rides, A/E 0.62) and Harry Bannister (181, A/E 0.70).
market-rasen NH · Current riders, since 2010

Sire Statistics · Since 2010

Which sires do best at Market Rasen?

Sire	Runs	Wins	Win%	Places	Place%	A/E	P/L
1 Presenting	355	57	16.06%	118	33.24%	0.97	-96.99
2 Kayf Tara	343	52	15.16%	124	36.15%	0.89	-41.51
3 Flemensfirth (USA)	244	51	20.90%	96	39.34%	1.13	+62.84
4 Westerner	274	48	17.52%	103	37.59%	1.00	-45.52
5 Beneficial	274	45	16.42%	85	31.02%	1.06	-38.18
6 Oscar (IRE)	257	40	15.56%	93	36.19%	0.96	-35.85
7 Milan	278	38	13.67%	96	34.53%	0.84	-89.99
8 Getaway (GER)	258	35	13.57%	84	32.56%	0.84	-95.45
9 King’s Theatre (IRE)	215	33	15.35%	81	37.67%	0.85	-48.72
10 Midnight Legend	238	31	13.03%	81	34.03%	0.80	-62.76
11 Mahler	163	27	16.56%	57	34.97%	1.05	-33.64
12 Shirocco (GER)	158	25	15.82%	60	37.97%	1.17	+16.74
13 Yeats (IRE)	173	23	13.29%	59	34.10%	0.73	-56.26
14 Sulamani (IRE)	130	20	15.38%	47	36.15%	1.07	-19.94
15 Shantou (USA)	121	20	16.53%	41	33.88%	0.94	+8.96
16 Overbury (IRE)	99	20	20.20%	32	32.32%	1.51	+45.27
17 Fame And Glory	106	19	17.92%	37	34.91%	1.07	-4.84
18 Scorpion (IRE)	144	18	12.50%	52	36.11%	0.88	-52.96
19 Stowaway	103	18	17.48%	34	33.01%	1.09	-27.23
20 Cloudings (IRE)	67	17	25.37%	26	38.81%	1.53	+33.38

Market Rasen NH, since 2010. Flemensfirth is the pick of the volume sires — 51 winners from 244 at 20.90%, A/E 1.13 and +£62.84 — with Beneficial (A/E 1.06) and Westerner (1.00) around fair. Presenting has the most winners (57) but at A/E 0.97 and £96.99 down. The value below the table is consistent: Cloudings has returned +£33.38 from 67 runners at A/E 1.53, Cape Cross 1.52 from 51 and Overbury +£45.27 from 99 at 1.51. Oppose Yeats (173 runners, A/E 0.73) and Midnight Legend (238, A/E 0.80).
market-rasen NH · 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.

Insider Knowledge

Betting Angles

📈

The Trainer Value Sits Below Skelton

Daniel Skelton leads the yard table on volume (A/E 0.88), but the market prices that in — J M Jefferson (A/E 1.15, +£39.03) and Bowen, Peter / Michael (A/E 1.19, +£29.48) are the real value, while D McCain Jnr (A/E 0.59), A King (A/E 0.69) and Mrs S J Smith (A/E 0.71) are the ones to oppose.

🏆

K K Woods Is the Jockey to Oppose

Harry Skelton leads the jockeys’ table on volume (A/E 0.85), and the market already prices him fairly; K K Woods (A/E 0.80) is the one to consistently oppose.

📉

A Deceptively Long Home Straight

Described by jockey Mick Fitzgerald as “l-o-n-g,” and the downhill turn into it is the track’s trickiest test.

🐎

The Value Sires Sit Below Presenting

Presenting tops the sire list on volume (A/E 0.97); Overbury (IRE) (A/E 1.51, +£45.27), Cloudings (IRE) (A/E 1.53, +£33.38) and Shirocco (GER) (A/E 1.17, +£16.74) are the real value, while Yeats (IRE) (A/E 0.73) and Midnight Legend (A/E 0.80) are the ones to oppose.

🏇

Olly Murphy and Sean Bowen Are the Names to Follow

The most consistently cited course specialists across independent data sources.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Assuming the top sire by winners is the sire to follow. Presenting heads the table on volume, but Overbury (IRE) (A/E 1.51), Cloudings (IRE) (A/E 1.53) and Shirocco (GER) (A/E 1.17) are the sires actually beating the market, while Yeats (IRE) (A/E 0.73) and Midnight Legend (A/E 0.80) are the ones to oppose.
Backing Harry Skelton purely for his winner count. He leads the jockeys’ table on volume, but the market already prices him fairly at A/E 0.85 — there’s no similar value name underneath him here, and K K Woods (A/E 0.80) is the one to consistently oppose.
Backing a hold-up horse to sweep home late. Market Rasen’s downhill turn for home catches long-striding, non-prominent types, and in 3m-plus handicap chases specifically, prominent runners and leaders have supplied 55% of winners from just 47.1% of runners.
Backing Daniel Skelton for the winners column alone. He leads the trainers’ table on volume, but the market already prices him in at A/E 0.88 — J M Jefferson (A/E 1.15) and Bowen, Peter/Michael (A/E 1.19) are the real value, while D McCain Jnr (A/E 0.59), A King (A/E 0.69) and Mrs S J Smith (A/E 0.71) are the ones to consistently oppose.

Common Questions

Market Rasen Racecourse FAQs

Is Market Rasen left-handed or right-handed?

Right-handed, over a tight, roughly rectangular circuit of about 1¼ miles.

Does Market Rasen have any Graded races?

No Grade 1-3 race, but the Summer Plate and Summer Hurdle both hold Listed status.

Who owns Market Rasen Racecourse?

Jockey Club Racecourses, one of 15 tracks in the group — not Arena Racing Company.

Which future stars debuted at Market Rasen?

Altior won his bumper debut here before a world-record unbeaten streak, and Tiger Roll’s racecourse debut came here before he went on to win two Grand Nationals.

Explore

Other Jumps Tracks

Southwell

Left-handed, honest jumps track, dual-code with its famous all-weather oval.

Newcastle

Left-handed, uphill finish, another Jockey Club-owned northern track.

Huntingdon

Right-handed, Jockey Club-owned, home of the Peterborough Chase.

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Market RasenNational Hunt