X-Nico

5 unusual facts about National Hunt racing


Kelso, Scottish Borders

The town has much sport and recreation, the River Tweed at Kelso is renowned for its salmon fishing, there are two eighteen-hole golf courses as well as a National Hunt (jumping) horse racing track, the course is known as "Britain's Friendliest Racecourse", racing first took place in Kelso in 1822.

National Hunt racing

The capital of National Hunt racing in the UK is Cheltenham Racecourse, in the Cotswolds, which hosts the Cheltenham Festival in the third week of March each year, as well as other important fixtures during the NH calendar.

Other important festivals are the Galway Races - a hugely popular mixed (NH and flat) meeting in Ireland, Punchestown Festival - the Irish equivalent of the Cheltenham Festival, The Tingle Creek at Sandown Park Racecourse, the Scottish Grand National at Ayr Racecourse, King George VI Chase at Kempton Park Racecourse, the Welsh National at Chepstow Racecourse, and the Irish National at Fairyhouse Racecourse.

Sam Ricketts

Ricketts' family is highly involved in equestrian: His father is the 1978 world showjumping champion Derek Ricketts, now performance manager of the UK show jumping team, and his uncle is the former National Hunt champion jockey John Francome.

Taunton Racecourse

Opened in 1927, Taunton is the youngest National Hunt course in England, and the last racecourse to be opened in Britain until Great Leighs in 2008.


H. Ryan Price

Henry Ryan Price 16 August 1912 – 16 August 1986) was a British Thoroughbred horse trainer in both flat and National Hunt racing.

National Hunt flat race

National Hunt Flat races, informally known as Bumper races, are flat races run under National Hunt racing rules in Britain and Ireland.

Straw Bear

His first notable win came in April 2006 at Aintree Racecourse in Aintree, Liverpool, England where he won the John Smith's Imagine Appeal Top Novices' Hurdle, a Grade 2 National Hunt race.


see also

Biddlecombe

Terry Biddlecombe (1941–2014), English National Hunt racing jockey in the 1960s and 1970s

Huntingdon Racecourse

Part of The Jockey Club, Huntingdon Racecourse is an intimate National Hunt racing venue with an atmosphere all of its own, it was voted Best Small Racecourse in the South Midlands and East Anglia by the Racegoers Club.