Bellewstown racecourse is situated on the Hills of Crockafotha in County Meath. It’s within 35km of Dublin which makes it a popular racecourse and with racing having been recorded there as far back as 1726 it is also one of the oldest and most historic racecourses in all of Ireland.

Bellewstown only hosts five days of racing each year and those race meetings are split into two summer festivals, showcasing both flat and hurdle races. The Crockafotha Handicap Hurdle and the Mullacurry Cup Handicap Hurdle are two of the best contested and most popular races that Bellewstown hosts.

Bellewstown Course Characteristics

Bellewstown is a left handed course that is fairly sharp. A complete circuit of the course is around 9f in distance. It is an undulating course and the final two furlongs have a slight uphill finish.

Given the tight nature of the track as well as the undulations and cambers this is a course that is suited to horses with good balance as well as speed.

Bellewstown Top Flat Trainers

Ger Lyons is the most successful flat trainer at Bellewstown, comfortably ahead of Michael Mulvany and Harry Rogers who have around half of the wins here that Lyons has.

In terms of win percentages, looking at trainers who have had five or more runners here in the past decade, John Nicholson has an impressive 60% strike rate with three wins from five runners. Unfortunately he quit training in the summer of 2020. That leaves Charles Byrnes out in front with a 50% strike rate from his six runners.

Of those with more consistent runners here at Bellewstown, Patrick Prendergast has had seven wins from twenty runners which is a 35% strike rate and Ken Condon has eight wins from twenty-eight runners which is a win strike rate of 28.57%.

Bellewstown Top Jumps Trainers

Gordon Elliott is the outstanding trainer at Bellewstown based on win figures. He’s trained 21 jumps winners here which is around double the wins of his nearest rivals. They would be Willie Mullins and Tony Martin who have 11 and 10 Bellewstown wins respectively.

As for win percentages, Charles Byrnes who was noted for his flat runners here, also has an excellent jumps win strike rate of 33% but he’s only had nine jumps runners at Bellewstown. Tony Martin and Willie Mullins are much more frequent visitors to Bellewstown and their win strike rates of 27.78% and 23.4% stand out. They are certainly two trainers to pay close attention to over obstacles at Bellewstown.

Bellewstown Top Flat Jockeys

There are several jockeys who have a similar number of flat wins at Bellewstown. Colin Keane leads the way but only just with 21 wins. Shane Foley and Declan McDonogh are breathing down his neck though with 20 win and 19 wins apiece.

Patrick Mullins is very much a jockey to note here on the flat. He’s had just five rides but he’s won a pretty amazing four of those giving him an 80% strike rate. Donnacha O’Brien has had five times as many rides here and he boasts an impressive 32% win strike rate.

Bellewstown Top Jumps Jockeys

Davy Russell is the most successful jumps jockey still riding here with 12 wins. Now retired pair Ruby Walsh and Paul Carberry have had their fair share of winners here too with 16 and 12 wins respectively.

Darragh O’Keeffe is a jockey to note at Bellewstown as he has a 25% win strike rate from twenty rides here.

Bellewstown Draw Bias

There seems to be a pretty strong high draw bias over 5f at Bellestown.

All metrics improve from low to middle and then again from middle to high when looking at all 5f races. A low draw PRB (Percentage of Rivals Beaten) of 0.46 is pretty low whilst the high drawn PRB of 0.55 is relatively high.

Over a mile the draw bias seems to favour those drawn lower. The win percentage and place percentage both drop the higher you are drawn and the PRB figures for low, middle and high over this distance are 0.53, 0.51 and 0.46 respectively.

Bellewstown Pace Bias

There is a very strong pace bias over the minimum trip here at Bellewstown with front runners very profitable to back blind and producing a win strike rate that is almost three times as high as prominent racers.

Hold up performers have just a 2.08% strike rate and those that race in mid division have a win strike rate of only 1.45%.

At a mile the pace bias remains fairly strong but not nearly as strong as over 5f. Front runners are still profitable to back blind at this distance though whilst hold up performers are the worst financial investment if backing blind.

At middle distances here the pace bias weakens significantly and if anything marginally favours those that race either prominently or in mid division but the data is far less conclusive.

Over hurdles the pace bias is once again slightly inconclusive although data suggests prominent is the place to be with a win profit of 59.25 and an IV 1.35.

*All stats and data provided above were taken on 13/01/21.