If you have never been to a horse racing track, then chances are you are unsure what types of races are available for punters in the UK, who go to the horse races. When you are trying to figure out what categories of races are available, you will learn that there are basically two different categories. The first category is Flat and the second is called jump, which may often be referred to as the “National Hunt Racing.”
The first and possibly the most popular category of racing are called Flat Racing. These races are run for 5 furlongs or as much as 2 ½ miles. For many races in this category 5 or 6 furlongs are usually referred to as sprints. Another of these races are called middle distance and are usually one mile and two furlongs and may be as much as one mile and four furlongs. A longer race called the staying race is any of this type at one mile and six furlongs or more. For the most part the horses used for Flat racing are two years old and up. For this race the starting point for the horses is usually in a stall.
The next category of race are called jump race which usually means that there are some kind of obstacles for the horses to jump over. This race may either be 2 miles and may be all the way up to 4 ½ miles. This race usually features older horses that are 4 or 5 years old, however there are some times when a 3 year old may be a part of these races. There are some races that include an obstacle course and are usually called hurdles while others are chases and called steeplechases which use a much larger obstacle.
The next category of race is called point to point which is an amateur race in which hunting horses jump fences. The UK require this race to be over 3 miles and most times they are located on private property or farms, but may occur on one of the 116 professional point to point course located all over the UK.
Now that you have the basic categories you may want to know what kind of races are available. There is the handicap race which is when weights are added to the horse to make the race equal. This is based on the horse’s abilities, the more ability the horse has the more weight that horse is required to carry. Then there is Nursery which is a Flat race run with 2 year old horses. The next is the Group races where all the horses carry the same amount of weight. There are usually three groups with group one consisting of the best horses running. Also in this area are the listed races that are weighted by their age instead of ability.
The next group of races starts with the conditions race. In these types of races a horse is required to meet certain types of conditions in order to be able to participate in these races. One such race is the Classics which features only the most valuable horses. Then there is the Maiden race for a new horse who has not been the winner in any other races. There is also the Novice where the horse has not won any hurtles or chase category races. Last but not least, there is also bumper which is for the younger type of flat race, jump horse.
