Newmarket Racecourse Tips & Betting Predictions

Widely referred to as the ‘headquarters of British horse racing’, Newmarket racecourse is one of the most important racing venues in the world.

Home to a whole host of training yards and many other key horse racing organisations such as Tattersalls and the National Stud, Newmarket plays hosts to some of the biggest races in the sport, including two Classics and nine Group One races.

Located approximately 65 miles north of London, Newmarket is also a unique racecourse in that it hosts three completely different tracks.

The first being the Rowley Mile which is a one mile, two furlong straight course, the second is known as the July Course which is a one mile straight, and then the Round Course which is remarkably only used once a year for the Newmarket Town Plate.

It’s a racecourse that is bedded into horse racing history and is the perfect place to watch some of the world’s greatest thoroughbred strut their stuff.

You have to go back to the time of James I to find the first recorded instance of racing in Newmarket, with Charles II thought to have attended the Newmarket Heath was his brother, the future James II.

However, the first actual race that we know off was in 1622, when horses owned by Lord Salisbury and the Marquess of Buckingham battled it out in a £100 match.

Fourteen years later the racecourse was founded, but it wasn’t until 1665 that the first ever Newmarket Town Plate was run with Charles II riding the winner of that race in 1671 – a feat which makes made him the first and only reigning monarch to ride a winner.

The racecourse continued to rise in prominence for the next century, but as of 1744, the King’s Plate and the Town’s Plate were the two most valuable races held at the course, both worth 50 guineas.

By 1840 and the course had taken on a whole new fixture list and much more like to the one we associate with the track today with the season containing the likes of the Craven meeting, the July meeting and the October meeting.

A quarter of the Group One races run in the UK are held at Newmarket and that means it’s a venue for the very best Flat racing that Great Britain has got to offer.

The two most prominent races are the 1000 Guineas and the 2000 Guineas which are held on the Rowley Mile during the Guineas meeting each May.

As the first two Classics of the year in Britain, their rolls of honour are practically a who’s who of Flat racing over the centuries with practically all the famous names having tasted glory in one of the two races.

Names such as Frankel, Sea The Stars and Nijinksky were all 2000 Guineas winners at Newmarket, while the likes of Attraction, Miesque and Pebbles took glory in the 1000 Guineas.

Another big race held at Newmarket is the Group One Dewhurst Stakes which takes place each October.

Open exclusively to two-year-old colts and fillies it is often a great marker for the following year’s 2000 Guineas, and regularly cements the winner as one of, if not the best two-year-old in training.

Again, there have been plenty of superstars successful in the Dewhurst and you don’t have to go too far back in the history books to find Churchill, Dawn Approach and Frankel. All of who won the Dewhurst as two-year-olds before following up in the 2000 Guineas as three-year-olds.

2000 Guineas (Rowley Mile)

1000 Guineas (Rowley Mile)

Falmouth Stakes (July Course)

July Cup (July Course)

Fillies’ Mile (Rowley Mile)

Sun Chariot Stakes (Rowley Mile)

Cheveley Park Stakes (Rowley Mile)

Dewhurst Stakes (Rowley Mile)

Middle Park Stakes (Rowley Mile)

For many of the Group One races listed above, bookmakers like Bet365, regularly offer an ante-post market which allows you to place a bet well in advance of the actual race.

This is true of the 2000 Guineas and 1000 Guineas where an ante-post market is usual available all year round and is regularly updated as the season progresses.

Meaning a notable performance from a two-year-old can make drastic changes to the shape of the ante-post betting.

For other races, it is usual for bookmakers to wait until the declaration stage, which is when the field is confirmed and made official, with jockey bookings attached.

For flat races in the UK, the final declaration stage is 48 hours before the race, with bookmakers usually offering odds on the race a few hours later.

Many of the big races also draw bookmakers into offering special and enhanced odds on markets such as the length of the winning distance.

In a crowded online sports betting world, bookmakers are always trying to attract your custom, which is why punters can get their hands on some cracking offers for meetings like the Guineas Festival.

Bookies regularly throw up boosted doubles on the short-priced favourites and offer enhanced each-way terms on some of the big field handicaps. So, keep your eyes peeled.

With the action from Newmarket being of the highest order, the majority of the major races are shown live on TV in the UK, thanks to programs such as ITV Racing or Racing TV.

However, if you are on the go or want to catch the action from outside the UK then a live streaming service is the way to go.

Plenty of the bookies have them, but Bet365 is one of the better ones and they let you watch the race as long as you have a positive account or have placed a bet within the last 24 hours.

We are never far away from the action here at Freetips.com which means providing plenty of tips and betting predictions for all the featured races across the globe.

Newmarket is no different and you can be sure to find our fancies on all the main races at HQ, including tips on races ranging from the 2000 Guineas at the start of the season to the Dewhurst at the back end.