Great Yarmouth Racecourse is known affectionately and simply as Yarmouth. It sits right on the coast in East Anglia and its position is what makes it so popular.
The track is only 20 miles from Norwich. Hence, it draws great support from punters. But the key point about the quality of horses at the track is that it also sits 70 miles from Newmarket. Thus, plenty of major trainers from world horse racing’s biggest training centre send runners there regularly.
This is real historic racing territory. The sport has existed in these parts in one form or another since 1715. Now, it is a permanent and busy fixture on the flat racing schedule. There are meetings from April right through to October.
Talent at Great Yarmouth Racecourse
Great Yarmouth Racecourse tends to attract the best horsemen. Thus, the top five names on the jockeys' list over the past few years are Jamie Spencer, Ryan Moore, Silvestre De Sousa, James Doyle, and Andrea Atzeni. In fact, they are all Group 1-winning jockeys and all world famous.
The training category reads very similarly and is equally impressive. Michael Bell and David Simcock have always done well here. They are joined on the list by genuinely esteemed trainers William Haggas, Roger Varian, and John Gosden. All five of these trainers are based in Newmarket.
Many top horses have made their mark here before going on to top the racing world. They include Ouija Board and Raven’s Pass. But names don’t come too much bigger than Dubai Millennium who destroyed his field here before going on to win five Group 1 races. He even topped the rankings and produced Dubawi at stud, himself now one of the world’s leading sires.
Ticket Prices at Great Yarmouth Racecourse
Ticket prices are fairly standard and reasonable in the main at Great Yarmouth. An advance Grandstand and Paddock ticket for a typical meeting cost just £14 and a Premier Enclosure ticket cost up to only £21. These, of course, will increase for major meetings. Also, restaurant and hospitality packages are of course available.
Yarmouth Track Details
The track is narrow, left-handed, relatively tight but fair. It is around one mile, five furlongs in length with a long, five-furlong run-in from the final bend and after some renovation work a few years ago is essentially perfectly flat now with no major undulations or ridges.
The renovators resurfaced it in 2015 to restore Great Yarmouth Racecourse to the track it used to be; one of the best galloping courses in the country and it has obviously worked given the feedback from jockeys.
The long home straight gives riders lots of time to sort themselves out after the rather tight final turn. Although, some hard-luck stories do develop on and after the bend here so it’s not always a good idea to be stuck on the rail.
With that in mind, don’t let the tightish nature of the course makes you handicap a race in such a way that you give a perceived advantage to horses drawn on the inside (low numbers), as they won’t always be saving ground around here and should they get trapped on the inner as the field turns their time could be up.
Instead, given the galloping nature of the course, one ridden by a top jockey who knows his way around Yarmouth and will keep himself out of trouble, on a horse who is also perhaps one who likes to be up on the front end will often serve you better as a punter at Yarmouth.
Great Yarmouth’s Biggest Events
Yarmouth attracts many good horses for the future in its maiden and novice races but doesn’t have a whole lot of pattern races or valuable handicaps on the schedule. Their main race is John Musker Fillies’ Stakes – Listed Race, Fillies and Mares, 1m2f, September.
Their most popular meetings are:
- Ladies Night – Wednesday evening racing in July
- Family Fun Day – Sunday, end of August
- Eastern Festival – 3 days racing in September including Ladies Day
If it’s that quality novice you’re looking for however, there is no way of knowing what sort of meeting they may turn up to. Because Newmarket trainers may send a good one for the future to any midweek meeting, even for low prize money.
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Yarmouth is a fantastic racecourse. And now, you know a little more about the track. So, you can place your bets there via our recommended online bookmakers with more confidence. Check out Roger.com now.
