Has any track changed its running direction ?

Not in the last 50 years.

Though Epsom used to have an 18f course which had right-hand bends but that wasn't really part of the main course till the last mile or so.

Apparently all US tracks go LH and always have ...and interestingly, all Athletics racing is LH.
I think having the RH + LH variation is good overall though -for variety and versatility.

As far as I know the only suspicion of a right-hand bend in the US is a slight one in the 6f chute at Santa Anita.
There is a majority of left hand tracks in GB but percentage-wise an even higher number of right-hand tracks in Ireland.
The two biggest flat courses in France are right-handed.
Not sure about Australia. Don't think I've seen a right-handed one there but have never taken that much interest.

This has got my little brain buzzing. With flat racing, LH or RH has never been a factor for me. Anyone got any thoughts on this?

Record of US breds on R-H courses might be interesting,though the bloodlines are so mixed up now it probably wouldn't be significant.

just back emm e/w

Calder racecourse in the US used to have a right handed race once a year. It was a special meeting for some reason, although I wouldn't know if they still run it.

No your right its not deemed necessary or desirable, its a lot like sectional timing on our courses where there are hills and dales, rail movements, extremes of going,  different grass lengths on different days and jockeyship that requires brains and bravery and hundreds of thousands of fans who like it that way and great trainers who laugh at the very notion.
Of course I do realise I know nothing, I have never owned a horse, trained a horse, sat on a horse and only rode a race in a very rare dream, so would never tell anyone that had done all those things, or even those that never have, that they are backward, unworthy, unsophisticated.
Great britain can rightly claim to have the most varied and best racing in the world and thats a fact.
We have bookmakers, Betfair and largely a reputation that the rest of the world can only envy so---
Oh dear. I feel another ban coming on

Dick Frances rode his 1st winner at Bangor 3/5/1947

have you noticed that in all parade rings bar one the horses go around clockwise.....

There are R & Left handed horses...........U cant get away from that

Alexandra Palace in North London, aka the Frying Pan, was the first track I ever attended and in the 60's, I'm almost certain that they went round the loop right handed - i.e in a one mile race they would start against the stand side rail, bear left where the course split and return up the far side rail. This is exactly the same as what happens in longer races today at Hamilton and Salisbury.

But if you take a look at pre war newsreel film of Ally Pally on the www.britishpathe.com website, there's no question that the horses are running the loop in the opposite direction, starting down the far rail in the straight and returning up the stand side rail.

So I think the answer is that at least one track did, although I've no idea when this happened.

it could look like that at Brighton...........as they go to the start

IF Folkestone reopens it will become a left handed track.

posy

which one are you thinking off ?

I think if you changed the tradition at any track you could end up with more horses planting themselves at the start, all the "real stable talk" would be about rebellion and how their mums and dads used to do it. Just a mad morning after the night before thought.

Iffley Road (where Roger Bannister broke the 4 min mile) used to be right-handed.

Athletes on tracks throughout the world run in an anti-clockwise direction. ‘Left hand inside’ was adopted at the first London Olympics in 1908 and it has been used ever since. However the UK Amateur Athletic Association left open the choice of direction and as late as 1948, Oxford University athletes still ran clockwise. Some of the reasons advanced for this are, firstly, that with the majority of humans being right-handed, the same applies to your feet, so you push off with your right foot, and you are automatically steered in an anti-clockwise direction. Secondly, with the heart being on the left-hand side of our bodies, running anti-clockwise is more comfortable and reduces the stress on the heart.

One study though showed that statistically people tend to turn left more easily than right, although the variability is large. This may suggest that running in a left-hand turn (anti-clockwise) is easier than in a right-hand turn (clockwise). But why? Well the study concluded that ‘veering is related to a sense of straight ahead that could be shaped by vestibular inputs’. Whatever that means, it suggests that the two reasons given earlier are incorrect.

I should say.....caus most people are Right Handed with the right leg doing most work (on the outside)

also horses lead wiv 1 leg or the other

""Not sure about Australia. Don't think I've seen a right-handed one there...""

Hi Salmon Spray, the last time I was in Oz (2006/7)the Gold Coast track (where they hold the Magic Millions) was right handed.

" in Australia and New Zealand, there are both clockwise and counter-clockwise tracks. All "Spring Gland Slam" races in Melbourne are raced counter-clockwise, so horses domiciled in areas with predominantly clockwise tracks can be disoriented and not perform to potential."

If Towcester changed the direction it would become the 2nd downhill all the way round track(Brighton being the other) in the country

Ah! Interesting. I must admit I take a lot more interest in US racing than Australian. My only images from the latter are the Melbourne Cup and Black Caviar winning the odd one,which happened to be all left-handed.
Odd that the US which tends to have State bodies running it should be the only major racing country that is uniformly one way. Don't anybody say Dubai please.

nearly..............they climb the last fur Brighton..........

salmon, do calder still run that right handed race?

According to its website, Market Rasen racecourse stages PTP racing in a counter-clockwise direction. I've never been, but I did have an argument a few years ago at a New Years party with a woman who was convinced that Market Rasen was a left-handed track. I was of course sure that she was wrong. But in hindsight, she had perhaps been to a PTP meeting.

Clair Balding imo

Same size, but much older.

maisons-laffitte stages races both ways round

Doesnt Bangor race in a different direction for ptp ?

The old Phoenix Park sprint track was a different direction to the round track if I remember correctly

yes PTP is often different direction - I think Market Rasen is like that

Market Rasen hasn't had pointing on there for a number of years but yes it was the opposite way round to the N.H. course.
As for Bangor they still have points & they do also race the opposite way round to the N.H. course.

hi jimnast.....think goodwood go anti clockwise around parade ring

hi posy

I thought you meant goodwood Ludlow also goes the same way around.

That's interesting; didn't know about Ludlow

nice track good racing posy well worth a visit.

As per regvarney's post above - i've no idea why Bangor don't switch direction and move the winning post round the corner in front of the stands.

Possibly because if they did, they'd have to build a box for the judge plus photo finish equipment - and since it couldn't be as far back as the existing line of the buildings (i.e weighing room, bars etc), it would end up smack bang in the middle of the parade ring.

Anorak - re Ally Pally films - I think the explanation is that perhaps (at least part of) the Pathe film is reverse printed. It's impossible to say from looking at it unless you know the features of the layout and surroundings really well. But if you look at the Pathe film of the Le Mans disaster from 1955 ( http://www.britishpathe.com/video/le-mans-disaster ), and look at the film of the crash at about 1m30s in, you see all the advertising hoardings are back-to-front, though other parts of the film have them the right way round - so maybe the same is true of the Ally Pally films.

I think the Parham point to point course recently changed direction?

Bangor point to point races right handed on the inside of the left handed nh course.Market Rasen did, but dont have points anymore. Quite a few P2P courses have changed direction in recent years including Paxford, Didmarton,Sandon,and Weston Park before it closed.

Ged and Anorak - Everything I have on Ally Pally shows it as always being a right handed track. Various plans of the course show the shute back onto the straight (having completed one or two circuits of the loop depending on the race distance) and it seems very unlikely that this could ever have been used in the opposite direction.

salmon spray -

There are Lots of RIGHT-handed courses in Australia.

Alexandra Park - was, as already posted, predominantly  RIGHT-Handed - like Hamilton and Salisbury.

There were only 3 race distances ...

5 furlongs
1 Mile 160 yards
1 Mile 5 furlongs

Has there ever been a right handed greyhound track?

parham ptp course formerly rh now lh for sure

my re-collection was phoenix park was only a right handed track............with the track been quite close to the stabnds resulting in bad viewining as it was only at the two f pole u could see the field before that it was like watching a head on

The Phoenix Park could approach the straight from both sides so could be both left and right handed.

The point to point at Wexford racecourse is like Market Rasen run the wrong way round.

No argument that Alexandra Palace was always a right handed course in my lifetime, but if you look at this piece of vintage film, there seems little doubt that in 1927, they were taking the loop left handed:

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/at-dear-old-ally-pally/query/ally+pally

Anorak - did you see my post of 14:23 on that issue? (Perhaps you poo-pooed it!)

Chris Pitt's book is perhaps the best generally available reference to Ally Pally history, and he makes no mention of any change in orientation. That doesn't mean he's correct, of course. I did find a few references to some of the old London Cups (in online Glasgow Heralds, mainly), and the likes of Hawfinch (1899, ref'd in the Otago Witness), Auction Pool (who Chris Pitt mentions as a standing dish there from 1928 to 1932+), and Cider Apple, but none refer to track orientation - though you wouldn't expect them to - it perhaps wasn't considered as relevant 'in those days' as it is today.

Leopardstown has changed it's running direction.

Ged,

Apologies, I missed your earlier post somehow (bit caught up in the football yesterday afternoon!).

Whilst I accept your point, I have watched a lot of old racing films on that website, which is a delight for anyone with an interest in the history of the sport, and I haven't noticed that any of the other courses looked 'wrong' in the way you suggest.

Either way, it's all pretty irrelevant isn't it! Won't help us find any winners now ....

I will have to try again, later ...

www.britishpathe.co

Host
Error

Website is offline

The server may be down for maintenance, there may be a network problem, or the site may be experiencing excessive load.

Seen it now.

A - Your - "there seems little doubt that in 1927, they were taking the loop left handed:" is only partially correct.

The 'left-handed' (shown) is on leaving the straight (in the reverse direction) - and, therefore,  IS entering the Loop - BUT - at the point of the Loop nearest to the Winning Post, and Stands.

If you watch closely - at the end of the 'bend' part of the clip - before it reverts to showing the field coming BACK up the finishing straight - the body language of both the Jockeys, and the horses, CHANGES - as they prepare to THEN take the REST rest of the LOOP RIGHT-Handed

The Camera is positioned inside the Stands area - Silver Ring situ - and not inside the Loop.

Mystery solved.

Kempton Park has gone in the opposite direction since they dug up the flat turf track. DOWNHILLL!!!!!!!

Ally Pally map;
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mZKiTd_9Zfo/Th1md8fWJvI/AAAAAAAAAFo/38jFNtrl8dg/s1600/LAYOUT+TWIN+FINAL.jpg