National Hunt racing, also known as Jump Racing, is a form of horse racing particular to France, Great Britain and Ireland, that requires horses to jump over fences and ditches.
Aintree Racecourse is a racecourse in Aintree, Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, bordering the city of Liverpool. The racecourse is the venue for the Grand National steeplechase, which takes place annually in April over three days. Aintree also holds meetings in May, October (Sunday), November and December.
Musselburgh is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, five miles east of Edinburgh city centre. It has a population of 21,100.
Leicester Racecourse is a horse racing course in Oadby, Leicestershire, about three miles south of the city centre.
Newmarket Racecourse is a British Thoroughbred horse racing venue in Newmarket, Suffolk, comprising two individual racecourses: the Rowley Mile and the July Course. Newmarket is often referred to as the headquarters of British horseracing and is home to the largest cluster of training yards in the country and many key horse racing organisations, including Tattersalls, the National Horseracing Museum and the National Stud. Newmarket hosts two of the country's five Classic Races – the 1,000 Guineas and 2,000 Guineas, and numerous other Group races. In total, it hosts 9 of British racing's 36 annual Group 1 races.
Kempton Park Racecourse is a horse racing track together with a licensed entertainment and conference venue in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, England, near the border with Greater London; it is 13 miles west of Charing Cross in central London. The site has 210 acres of flat grassland surrounded by woodland with two lakes in its centre. Its entrance borders Kempton Park railway station which was created for racegoers on a branch line from London Waterloo, via Clapham Junction.
Ayr Racecourse at Whitletts Road, Ayr, Scotland, was opened in 1907. There are courses for flat and for National Hunt racing.
Doncaster Racecourse is a racecourse in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It hosts two of Great Britain's 36 annual Group 1 flat races, the St Leger Stakes and the Racing Post Trophy.
Bath Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue on Lansdown Hill, about 3+1⁄4 miles (5.2 km) northeast of Bath, Somerset, England. It is owned and operated by Arena Racing Company.
Kelso Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Kelso, Scotland. It is frequently described as "Britain's Friendliest Racecourse". It was voted the Best Small Course in Scotland and the North of England in 2007, 2012 and 2014 by the Racegoers Club. In addition to staging Scotland's most valuable hurdle race, the Morebattle Hurdle, Kelso stages a comparatively high number of Class 1, 2 & 3 races over jumps.
Nottingham Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England. It is situated at Colwick Park, close to the River Trent and about 3 km east of the city centre.
Ripon Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Ripon, North Yorkshire, England and is nicknamed the Garden Racecourse.
Ian Balding is a British retired horse trainer. He is the son of the polo player and racehorse trainer Gerald Matthews Balding and the younger brother of trainer Toby Balding. Ian Balding was born in the US, but his family returned to the UK in 1945. He was educated at Marlborough College and Millfield school in Somerset. He went up to Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1959 to read Rural Estate Management, where he played Rugby for the university team, gaining his Blue in 1961 at full back. He started training in 1964. Kingsclere became his home at the age of 26 and it is here that earned his reputation as an internationally respected trainer.
Horseracing in Scotland is a popular spectator sport, with a history dating back over 900 years. There are currently five operating racecourses in Scotland - one exclusively for flat racing, two exclusively for jump racing and two mixed. Between them they held one hundred and three race meetings in 2014. The main National Hunt meeting held is the Scottish Grand National meeting at Ayr each April, and the main Flat meeting is the Ayr Gold Cup Festival, at the same course each September.
Bromford Bridge Racecourse was a horse racing course in the Bromford area of Birmingham, England. Its official name was 'Birmingham'. It staged flat and national hunt racing.
Bogside Racecourse was a horse racing track situated near the town of Irvine, Scotland, on the banks of the River Irvine, about 14 miles from Ayr.
Lanark Racecourse was a Scottish horse racing venue, situated in the small town of Lanark in Scotland's Central Belt, 25 miles (40 km) from Glasgow. It was reputedly founded by King William the Lion of Scotland (1165-1214).
Trip To Paris is an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. After showing modest form in his first two seasons he emerged as a top-class stayer as a four-year-old in 2015 after being gelded, winning the Chester Cup in May before recording his biggest win in the Ascot Gold Cup. He failed to win again after his Gold Cup success but was placed in a number of major races including a second in the Caulfield Cup. He was retired in July 2017 having won six of his twenty-seven races and earning over £800,000 in prize money.
Alpha Delphini is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. A specialist sprinter, he was unraced as a juvenile and did not win a race until the August of his four-year-old campaign. In 2016 he made steady progress, winning three handicap races before taking the Listed Beverley Bullet Sprint Stakes. He won two minor races in 2017 and in the following year he recorded his biggest success when he won the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes. He failed to win in four subsequent races and was retired from racing in 2020.
