Horse Racing - National Hunt Courses - Newcastle

Located at Gosforth Park to the north of the city, Newcastle Racecourse has staged racing since 1882 and hosts major races both on the flat and over jumps. Over the autumn and winter of 2015/16 the course underwent an £11m redevelopment which saw a new all-weather surface replace the Flat turf track.

Over jumps Newcastle stages a Grade 1 contest in the shape of the Fighting Fifth Hurdle – a race which, along with the Christmas and Champion Hurdles forms a ‘Triple Crown’ of top two-mile hurdle races in the UK. Certainly, past winners of the Fighting Fifth are a who’s who of hurdling champions including Comedy Of Errors, Night Nurse, Sea Pigeon, Kribensis, Beech Road, Punjabi and Buveur D'Air plus the aforementioned Overturn, who figures on the roll of honour for both of Gosforth Park’s famous races having won the ‘Plate’ in 2010 and the ‘Fighting Fifth’ the following year.

Characteristics

Left handed, galloping with a steady uphill rise from the home turn. Stiff nature often results in steadily-run affairs, especially on the hurdles course, many races really beginning in earnest only once in line for home. As such, races often fail to represent the test of stamina they might, whilst this probably also explains a lower-than-expected casualty rate over fences. A position towards the stand rail can be an advantage in the home straight, and it's no coincidence that's where the senior northern jockeys usually head.

Left handed
Stiff
Galloping
Uphill
Big Fences

None