About Us

LEICESTER RACECOURSE The Course

It is an oval shaped course of about 1 mile 6 furlongs, with a straight 7 furlong course which joins the round course 4½ furlongs from the winning post. The 7 furlong course runs downhill to half-way, uphill for 2 furlongs before levelling out for the last 1½ furlongs. Races are run over distances between 5 furlongs and 1 mile 3 furlongs 183 yards.

Our most valuable flat race is the Listed King Richard III Stakes, run in April over 7 furlongs. The steeplechase course, which is also about 1 mile 5 furlongs, has ten fences. There are six fences, including the water jump and an open ditch, down the back straight, which runs inside the flat course. On the turn to the home straight the steeplechase course switches to the outside. Prior to the 2009/10 National Hunt season, the open ditch, which was jumped as the fourth last fence on the turn from the back straight, was moved to the home straight. The home straight now consists of four fences, with the open ditch taken as the third last fence. Hurdle races are run on the flat course. The last 3 furlongs are uphill, so Leicester presents a stiff test of stamina.

We hold approximately 30 race meetings a year; 19 Flat (a race over a course with no jumps) and 11 Jumps (this involves the horse and jockey to jump fences and ditches). The Jumps are split into 2 major branches – Hurdles and Steeplechases.

We have a whopping 106 stables on the racecourse including 6 special security stables for those high profile horses!

The magnificent Racecourse grounds cover 220 acres of beautiful greenery. On the Racecourse 1 lap equates to 1.75 miles; the longest Flat race: 1mile and 4f and the longest jump race: 2miles,6 1/2f. The course consists of 10 fences with 2 open ditches and 1 water jump.

Since July 2014 Leicester Racecourse has expanded with the 700sq metre event space; ‘The Kube.’ This spectacular space can hold up to 600 delegates cabaret style and a further 1000 theatre style. This venue is perfect for conferences, meetings, events, exhibitions, weddings and many more…