Bellewstown Racecourse
Bellewstown Racecourse is a sharp, undulating, left handed track. The circuit is oval in shape and has a circumference of around nine furlongs with a downhill run until you reach the final bend and join up onto the sprint course and into the home straight, from there, there is run in of around three furlongs with an uphill finish. Bellewstown is a dual purpose course hosting both Flat and Jump Racing.
The venue is considered a summer course as all their racing takes place from the month of June to August, with evening racing but their two main festival meetings actually take place in the month of July (Over 3 days) and August (Over 2 days).
It is one of the more scenic courses to visit with some breathtaking views as you are close to the Mountains of Mourne and the Irish Sea both adjacent to the course at opposing spectrums.
One strange aspect that has occurred from my analysis is how nonbeneficial a low draw when racing over the minimum trip of five furlongs. Being a sharp left handed track, you would not be at fault to assume that those drawn low would have some sort of an advantage but that is not borne out by the results.
All runners posted in stalls from one to eight have shown a significant loss to level stakes over this distance with a poor win strike rate to boot, yet the win percentage does increase for those drawn middle to high.
Remarkably, given the overall sample size over the last fifteen years some number gates have proven profitable to level stakes they are; stalls 8 ,11, and 15, the latter incredibly producing a 26% win strike rate over this distance when in operation, yet at the same time bookmakers still tend to create “their betting markets” favouring those drawn low to this very day.
This fact should be considered when assessing the likely contenders and of course if there is any advantage by taking the opposing view in relation to price on offer.
However, this draw bias then reverts back to type in races run over a mile where low drawn horses are favoured.
It is also worth mentioning regardless of distance, those that can race prominently tend to fare better than those who like to come from off the pace, this is just a general principle that is not set in stone, we all know if a horse has a clear ability advantage over its competitors then those factors become less prevalent.
With very little flat racing taking place each year at the venue there are no meaningful trainer stats to report for consumption.