Yarmouth Racecourse
Yarmouth is a flat racing course located one mile north of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. Road travellers from the North and the Midlands should follow signs for Yarmouth on the A47. Those travelling up from the South should join the A47 from the A11 south of Norwich or the A12 via Colchester, Ipswich and Lowestoft. Great Yarmouth Railway Station is just one mile from the racecourse and is on mainline routes via Norwich.
Yarmouth Tips
Yarmouth is a left handed track of a mile and three-quarters with a long home straight of five furlongs. It also has a straight mile course. It is important to note that there is a draw bias when considering your Yarmouth tips for today. It only comes into effect in five furlong sprint races but it alters with the going. On good or fast ground, high numbers have the advantage. When the track rides soft, low numbers fare better statistically. There is no discernible draw bias at any other distance at Yarmouth.
Yarmouth Horse Racing History
The earliest records of racing taking place at Great Yarmouth date back to 1715. A group of innkeepers leased an area of land from the Yarmouth Corporation specifically for race meetings. The first official thoroughbred race meeting here was in 1810 on the South Denes. The venue was changed again to the North Denes after the First World War with the two grandstands being carefully dismantled and rebuilt.
Yarmouth Racecourse changed hands from the local authority to Northern Racing in 2001. The new owners, a private company formed by Sir Stanley Clarke, invested in the construction of a third grandstand. In 2012 the course went under the Arena Racing Company banner after a merger with Northern Racing. In 2015 the straight course was levelled and resurfaced to provide one of the best straight mile courses in the UK.
Yarmouth Races
Yarmouth currently stages 23 days’ racing from April through to October. The John Musker Fillies’ Stakes takes place on a Wednesday in September. It is the feature race of Yarmouth’s popular three-day eastern meeting. The Season Opener is towards the end of April and there are four summer evening meetings including three with live music events.
The ten furlong John Musker Fillies’ Stakes is the most valuable race staged at Yarmouth. It was first run in 1993 and is confined to fillies and mares aged three years or over. The powerful Newmarket stables of John Gosden and Sir Michael Stoute have each won it three times.
Stoute’s first success came with Flame Valley (Kieren Fallon) in 1996. Asawer (Richard Hills) won in 2005 with Nouriya (Ryan Moore) taking his tally to three in 2010. Gosden’s three victories came with Saafeya (Gary Hind) in 1998, Dance Partner (Philip Robinson) in 2006 and So Mi Dar (Frankie Dettori) in 2016.
So Mi Dar was a beautifully-bred daughter of Dubawi out of the successful mare Dar Re Mi. She had been made favourite for the Epsom Oaks in June after winning the Musidora Stakes at York but missed the race due to a poor blood test result. Beautiful Morning became the first Irish-trained winner of the John Musker Stakes for Jessica Harrington in 2017.
There may be a dearth of significant races at Yarmouth but the maiden races often attract high class juveniles. In 1998 Dubai Millennium made his racecourse debut, winning comfortably for Frankie Dettori. The colt had originally been named Yaazer but was quickly identified as the best of the Sheikh’s juveniles and his name was changed with Weatherbys.
He was trained by David Loder and featured among many Yarmouth betting tips for his debut. He started 4-9 favourite and beat Tabareeh by five lengths. Dubai Millennium suffered his only defeat in eight races when failing to stay the Derby distance. He went on to become one of the best horses owned by Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin operation, winning the Dubai World Cup. He tragically succumbed to grass sickness at the age of five.
Ouija Board also won her maiden race at Yarmouth in the colours of Lord Derby. She popular among Yarmouth racing tips after finishing third on her debut in a large field at Newmarket. Jamie Spencer pushed her out to win by four lengths as the even money favourite. Ed Dunlop’s globetrotting mare went on to win the Epsom Oaks, Irish Oaks and the Breeders Cup Filly & Mare Turf in 2004.
She was kept in training for two further seasons, adding a second Breeders’ Cup in 2006 as well as a memorable short-head victory in the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood. Many observers felt that she had dead-heated with Alexander Goldrun but the photograph went in her favour by the smallest possible margin.
Other Breeders’ Cup winners to win at Yarmouth include Wilko, Raven’s Pass and Donativum. Wilko won two novice stakes races here when trained by Jeremy Noseda. In August 2004 he was one of the shortest priced Yarmouth horse racing tips of the season when winning at 1-6 favourite. The colt started at 20-1 under Frankie Dettori in America but surged through late to beat Afleet Alex by three-quarters of a length.
Raven’s Pass and Donativum were both trained by John Gosden for HRH Princess Haya of Jordan. Raven’s Pass was one of three runners for the stable on his racecourse debut at Yarmouth in July 2007. He started at 20-1 and stayed on too strongly for Always Ready and Centennial. He proved to be a top class three-year-old, beating 2000 Guineas winner Henrythenavigator at Ascot and at Santa Anita.
Donativum did not appear to be anything out of the ordinary after his first three races as a two-year-old. He got off the mark at the fourth attempt at Yarmouth before springing a 33-1 surprise in a valuable sales race at Newmarket. His next race was the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf which he won by half a length from Super Pistachio.
Yarmouth Betting Tips
Trainer David Simcock features at the top of our best horse racing tips for Yarmouth today. He has maintained a 25% strike rate and a level stake profit here over the past three seasons. Only William Haggas has more Yarmouth winners to his credit during that period while John Gosden’s runners are always worth noting at this venue. He has achieved a 35% strike rate, albeit with his horses starting at shorter odds.
Jamie Spencer is the jockey to follow in our Yarmouth races tips. Only he and Frankie Dettori have yielded a level stakes profit during the past three years. Dettori’s visits are infrequent but he makes them pay with an impressive 50% strike rate.