Newbury Races

Located in Berkshire, the Newbury Racecourse is a top horse racing venue, and home to the Newbury Races. In addition to this, it is also a first class venue for conferences and events. Races have been held at Newbury for over 200 years, with the first recorded Newbury Races taking place in 1805 - becoming an annual two day race meeting held at Enborne Heath. These meetings ran until 1811, before the Newbury Races were transferred to Woodhay Heath for four years. It wasn't until 90 years later that the Newbury Racecourse itself was built. The plans for the site were proposed by trainer of Kingsclere, John Porter. The Newbury Racecourse has won numerous awards for excellence during it's long racing history - it wont the coveted title of Racecourse of the Year in the ROA/Racing Post Horseracing Awards four times, an unprecedented amount, with it awarded in 2007. In addition to this, the Newbury Racecourse was the first racecourse located in the south of England to receive a national accolade from the racehorse owners in the country - this award, the "Gold Standard" plaque by the Racehorse Owners Association, was first presented to the Newbury Races in 2006 and then again in 2007.

Newbury Races Information

There are two courses available at Newbury, a National Hunt track and a Flat course. The Flat is a left-handed course, and is not quite completely flat - it has minor undulations throughout the course. In total, it covers 1 mile 7 furlongs with a 4 1/2 furlong run-in. The National Hunt course is also left-handed and offers flat galloping races, with challenging stiff fences. The circuit is around 1mile 7 furlongs in total. Notable races in the Newbury Races calendar include the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup. There are three enclosures available at the Newbury Races, all of them offering Tote betting facilities and a variety of food, drink and areas to watch the betting action. These enclosures are the Premier Enclosure, the Grandstand Enclosure and the Picnic Enclosure. All children under the age of 18 are permitted into the course for free when accompanied by an adult. For younger children, there is also a race day crèche provided at the Rocking Horse Nursery on-site, which is suitable for children between three months and 8 years. Children can be left at this crèche for up to two house, at a cost of £3 an hour. Cash machines can be found on the ground floors of the Berkshire Stand and Grandstand.

Getting There

The course at Newbury is conveniently situated in the centre of Southern England, in Berkshire, and can be found just minutes from Junction 13 off the M4, with it also being easy to access from the M3 as well. There are numerous signs to the course from the M4 as well as from the A134 south of Newbury. There is free car parking at the course. The racecourse itself adjoins its own railway station, which provides direct connections to the West and London Paddington. An airstrip and helicopter landing area is available at the course, but the use of these facilities is strictly by prior arrangement with the course staff. Airports close to the course include Heathrow and Southampton, both being around an hours drive away.