Foreign racecourses that you've visited

Happy Valley when i used to go it was 'sand' however nowadays I understand it's turf. A tight track with excellent viewing from the stands.

Shatin I went to the first meeting in 1978

I went to Plumpton one day.

Monmouth racetrack new jersey

breeders cup

curlin paid for trip

p^shed down for two days

hoppegarten berlin 95 .over there for the boom ,happy times.

Calder, Keeneland, Churchill Downs, Gulfstream, Aqueduct, Belmont, Santa Anita. Most Breeders' Cups and KY Derbies over the past 30 years.

Flemington.

Deauville, Longchamp, Clairefontaine.

Goodwood my favourite of all. Never been to Plumpton.

Goodwood spoilt by greed.

garrison savannah

I OFTEN ASK MYSELF
WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG

johnny,not many id doff my cap to,so fair play.

you are however,leaving yourself wide open to kidnap and ransom demands

Hamilton Park,Europe's best wee racecourse bar none.(Goodwood is sometimes referred to as and is better known as the Hamilton of the South)

Garrison Savannah- Barbados
Klampenborg - Copenhagen
Jagersro -Sweden
Meydan Dubai
Hamilton,Ayr,Musselburgh
Clonmel

Santa Anita. Stay at the motel just across the road from the track (Santa Anita Inn) - easy to book, even on race days (though probably not the breeders cup meeting). Track has great views of San Gabrial mountains. Facilities great. About a fiver to get in.

Golden Gate Fields - ok, near the bay.

Bay Meadows - was ok, easy to get there by train from SF, shut now.

http://www.renbaanduindigt.nl/

xmoneyx, I was also at Monmouth that day, went on the train, got wet

Meydan, Del Mar, Happy Valley,Royal Bangkok Sports Club (in the cheap seats!)

Trentham Gardens, NZ. Easy train ride from Wellington. Station (Little Hut) right by racetrack. Big races in January. Get one or two Aussie jocks come across the ditch for a ride or 2.

Pompadour in the Correze, France. An absolute gem.

....can get a ticket from Wellington station that will give you return rail fare plus entry to the track for about £20, maybe less, even on their G1 day. Easy access to parade ring. Relaxed atmosphere.

Tres bon

yeah I was on train--police guided you across tracks

some beautiful houses on the way

i prefer money in the bank

Jarnac by the banks of the Charente river is fun. The Martell distillery is on the other bank and post race comments like

Led early, soon lost place and hard driven ; finished intoxicated are pretty common.

Trentham, Te Aroha and Hastings in NZ, Rosehill in Aus.
Cologne in Germany, Hoppegarten and Hannover in September.
Ovrevoll and Taby (now closed in favour of Bro Park)
Dieppe, Argentan, Craon (brilliant), Auteuil, Longchamp, Enghien, Compiegne, Les Sables d'Olonne, St Cloud, Maisons-Lafitte, Chantilly, Vichy in September.
Arlington in US and Kenilworth in SA.
All tracks in UK and Ireland plus Les Landes in Jersey.

Recently did Greyville for a Friday night...pretty awesome for a night out followed by the Casino over at the Sun Coast.

Btw...Summerhill Stud in the East Midlands is pretty awesome with a lovely boutique hotel on site...they got some old favs from Coolmore...ever wondered what became of Await The Dawn?

If you're going to SA then this is a must imo...

Pound vs rand makes it quite affordable...

Other than this...Nad Al Sheba, Belmont, Woodbine, Longchamp and Leopardstown...

I liked Garrison Savanna best. Different from any others I've been to and a very enthusiastic crowd of young race goers as well as older long time members. Great viewing as the stands close up to the track as no bookies area.
Very worst was Pimlico on Preakness Day, over crowded and full of drunks and quite difficult to get to without a car and in a dodgy area. 
Ovrevoll in Norway surprised me as it was free at the mixed meeting we went to and course was rather like Ally Pally with its frying pans.   
One that I regret never getting to is Deauville.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-1QdtGxgYk

I liked Ovrevoll too, Oldgit. Very pleasant walk from the station and a nice turf track in good condition although crowd very small. Did the no whip rule apply when you were there Oldgit. One horse I backed missed the break and, after a bit of pushing by the jockey he gave up after about a furlong!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYiwk77oUbU

a trotting track in malta...starts with an M?

Forgot to include also my favourite US track, Saratoga. I read a fantastic book about it once and there was a charming story about a man who asked directions to the racecourse. He was told to "Keep going for two miles, turn left then go back 100 years". Fantastic.

Meydan, Jebel Ali and Monchenglabach.
Plenty of visits to Meydan, huge grandstand, no atmosphere. Jebel Ali all weather track, you don't see much of the race from the cheap seats but quirky, free to go and multi cultural. Don't be expecting to see bookies in UAE, take your phone or internet connection to place bets, I was caught by a local placing a bet on my phone with will hill, he asked me if I was gambling and as I was thinking how to answer and if I was in trouble he asked me to put a bet on for him! As it happened it won and the celerbrations didn't go unnoticed! Went to Monchenglabach to watch trotting races only to see a mob try and get to the driver who appeared to take a pull on a long odds on shot! Not a great place.

Hastings Park in Vancouver.   With the mountains in the background it is spectacular.  Also free to get in.

Went to the trotting at Prestatyn many years ago (about 1964). Can't remember much about it. One of the pacers (Plus Eleven) broke into a canter. I think Carol Vorderman was clerking.

Marsa in Malta. Lovely place, nice bar up the road too. Best one I went to was Ostend. Had no idea of the form until I looked down and saw John Dunlop had one in the next. Easy!!

In time order:
Nairobi, Belmont, Finger Lakes, Athens, Deauville, Rio de Janeiro, Pompadour, Chantilly, Longchamp, Saint Cloud, Sao Paulo, Arlington and Santa Anita for the Breeders Cup when Ravens Pass won the Classic and paid for most of my trip. The latest was Florence which was a very small meeting but had UK racing live.

Cantthinkofaclevername
If there was a no whip rule I didn't notice. I do remember how expensive the beer was. I was speaking to a British Jump jockey (forgotten his name at the moment) who is now a trainer who said that he rode there frequently. I Have the race card buried away somewhere.
Fortunately it was a dry evening in a holiday that was marred by rain. Once we got to Trondheim the river was about to overflow and trains were not going beyond there.

Les Landes.  Adrian Maguire rode a winner that day. early 90s

kangaroo island, south australia in 1994

the other side of the world but i didnt pick a winner all day so it felt like home

Jollyswagman.
Is there still a racecourse on Kangaroo Island? I didn't see anything about it when I did my research before going in 2007.
My only racing there was listening to Cheltenham on line in the early hours.
In our case there was a distinct absence of Roos as well.
We were in Adelaide on Cup day but it was too darn hot to go racing.

Xmoney I was on that train as well ,Arranged for the Daughter to get married in New York ,then on to Monmouth then a cruise ,what a week . lashed down for the whole meeting ,still memories are made of this..

They still race at Kangaroo Island, but only around 3 times in Summer. 2 of which are 2 days apart for the Cup meeting.

Epsom
Newmarket
Doncaster
Belmont
Aqueduct
Flemington

Flemington and Caulfield,both with inexpensive entry and food and drink at very reasonable prices,very good facilites and viewing.

Conversely,Chepstow.

Joel.
Amazing that an island with a population of less than 5000 has a course. I hope that racing is not interrupted by Roo's, Wallabies or Little Penguins wandering over the course. 

http://www.kiracingclub.com.au/sites/kangaroo_island/racecourse_and_facilities

Jun 24, 2016 -- 11:45AM, equine flew wrote:

Hastings Park in Vancouver.

only saratoga for me, what a place. didnt go to race meeting but vsited racing museum at course, very interesting.
recommend staying there for a weekend even if no racing on.

Sageform - I've been to Nairobi races as well - Ngong I recall - at the foot of the hills of the same name.

Also

Del Mar
Tokyo

Velka Chuchle
Most
Karlovy Vary

All in Czech republik

Meydan, Monmouth Park, Santa Anita,Leopardstown and Ffos Las.

Hamburg last year for the German Derby. Like an English course in the Fifties. Everyone well-behaved but grandstands seen better days. The track itself was ok, 3 or 4 furlong run-in but the far side was entirely out of sight, as I recall /// Couple of courses in the Midwest, Prairie Meadows and Indiana Downs, both free entry. Very modern and not dissimilar to Wolverhampton but with extensive halls full of one-armed bandits and card games.

oldgit i  was there  in jan/feb 94, i think it was cup day but really am not sure. i looked at the website and laughed as i remember a distinct lack of grass on the course, i recall it being really dusty and red dust due to the clay!

i stayed on the island for a month working on a farm and loved it. the fishing there was amazing as its out of the way location meant it wasnt overfished.

good info joel and well done on all your big wins recently.

Jollyswagman:
It all seemed quite green when we were there that March. We stayed at the YHA Hostel. We asked for a double and got a cabin for six for the two of us. It was very quiet when we were there

Philadelphia Park
Punchestown, if Ireland counts?

oldgit

i was there in the summer and it was pretty dry. i did see pictures from other times of the year and was amazed just how green the island was. march i think is autumn so i presume there would have been more rain by then. two decades later there are two things that stick in my mind about our day at the races, the lack of winners and how dry the track was. i think that there were no stands and no starting stalls either but am really unsure. i had the racecard until quite recently but am not sure if i still have it or what i did with it.

it wasnt a great tourist destination but a few were there for the fishing, diving or wildlife. i worked on a farm and they also had a boat taking people diving or fishing. one day i came a bit close to a tiger snake and also saw a hammer headed shark when we took a group out fishing.

Jollyswagman.
We were in OZ for all of that March and the only rain we saw was when we arrived in Melbourne. It was tropical type rain and we sat in the station for about two hours until it stopped.
One day on the island we came close to a kangaroo! It was the only one we saw in the month apart from at a sanctuary. We were on a Safari type trip and spotted it ambling down a side road and shouted on the driver to stop. If you had put a baseball cap on it, it would have looked like the village idiot. It stood posing for pictures and stuck a paw out as if looking for a reward.
We took buses in stages all the way along the coast from Adelaide to Geelong and then the train to Melbourne without a single sighting. Same from Sydney up past Newcastle,

Nicosia, Cyprus. Big Turkish flag engraved in the hillside on the other side.

oldgit i hope you enjoyed it.

i was in aus for a year and didnt just want to do the backpacker type stuff so worked on a few farms in non tourist areas.

i love nature and the abundance of wildlife  was great, although sometimes a bit worring. the next time we went swimming in the sea after i had seen a hammer head shark i was a bit nervous. in queensland i was quite close to a big kangaroo, we might think they are cuddly but a big one is a sight. i'm not so keen on snakes but saw a few.

Jollyswagman
We loved it and have lots of good memories from that trip. You really do get a sense of space there and great night skies.
Our best one though for wild life was Zimbabwe and Botswana. They really are big and wild.

Often thought of going to the Palio di Siena. Has anyone been to it?

had a whistlestop tour of Dubai in January, visting meydan and jebel ali, something I wanted to do for years.

visited meydan,  on a thursday Native River won the 1000 guineas trail and steady pace the 2000 if anyone remembers the meeting, stayed in jumeriah beach residence known as JBR, a taxi to Meydan half an hour ride was around a tenner, eye opening views along the way passing the Burj Khaliffa.

Beautiful course, and stand, choose the silks restaurant package, balcony with excellent views and your own table @ around £75 per person pre booked online.

unlimted alcohlic drinks all brand names, served at your table and high class buffet, great value considering a beer is a tenner in the sports bars in hotels.  An excellent night, betfair and betting sites work on the free course wifi, would reccomend to anyone visiting Dubai.

It can get quite wet at KI even in Summer, I've never been to the island but actually attended the Kangaroo Island Cup as it was washed out a couple of years ago and they held it somewhere else a few weeks later.

gulfstream, portland meadows - US (cheap entrance, $1 beers, daily racing form impossible to read, no atmosphere even during a breeders cup when Sakhee won)

toulouse, auteuil, longchamp, mont de marsan - France (cheap entrance, good quality racing - especially auteuil, soul less)

nad al sheba, meydan - UAE (soul less on a grand scale)

pardubice - CZ (hard to see the horses but good day out)

fairyhouse - Ireland (went to see the mighty Danoli, plan to go over for Royal Bond weekend again)

joel i think 93/94 was bad in aus for bush fires so i might have been on kangaroo island on a drier than usual year?????

les landes in Jersey, where our club horse Khazari won, beating Wollboll the winner of the Jersey champion hurdle that year, great day  and drmactic setting on headland overlooking the sea.
Calder in Florida
Wyong in new south wales and Gold Coast for magic millions day in Queensland, both courses tight flat courses like Chester (and magic Millions day has atmosphere comparable with Chester.
Hyeres, Vichy, La Palmyre, Les Sables- d'olonne, Le Lion-d'Angers (attractive racecourse by river - reminds me a bit of Worcester), Auteuil (great racecourse, but about as many paying customers as you get at a typical Arab race meeting in UK), Dieppe and St Malo, France
Nicosia in Cyprus and Garrison Savannah in Brabados.
Some great memories

Mahalaxmi (Mumbai) went to their first evening meeting last April.All bookmakers in compound near parade ring

parispike, as my visit to Nairobi racecourse was in 1963, my memories are a bit hazy. The ones I enjoyed most were Longchamp for the Vermeille meeting, Arlington where I first set eyes on Black Tie Affair, the biggest horse I have ever seen on the flat. I resolved to back him for the Breeders Cup and he waltzed away with that as well. Santa Anita for the Breeders Cup was also memorable with Conduit and Ravens Pass winning for us among several others. Getting 14/1 on Ravens Pass on the US Tote was enough to pay for the trip.

We once had a three day stopover in Dubai before it was developed as it is now. I asked about racing at the hotel desk but all they could find was a camel racing meeting and they got us a taxi.
The driver had no idea where the place was and we drove out into the desert and we ended up at a modern horse training centre where he got instructions.
When we got to the track and an Army officer came over and spoke to us. I asked him how we would get back to the town from here. He said that he would tell our driver to wait for us. I was concerned about the cost of his time but the officer said that here you don't pay them for waiting and don't give him more than £5 for the whole trip.
We went in and there was quite a big crowd and only a few other tourists and immense security as Sheikh Mohammed was there with a big entourage. His group were in a section at the back of the stand with soldiers holding machine guns around it facing out.
I was taking pictures and video of the races. We went to the paddock area to take pictures of the camels and their boy riders who all wanted their pictures taken but soldiers said it was not allowed. Supposedly they are Pakistani kids who have been forcibly taken there to ride.
Our driver was morosely walking round all morning. He put in quite a few hours for his fiver. I can't remember what I added to it. From the airport to our hotel in the Creek the driver had charged a fiver. Going back to the airport when I asked the driver how much he said whatever you like to give me. So he got a fiver as well.
A bit like when we once went to Sicily. There were never taxis at small train stations that were always way out of town but we never lacked people willing to drive us for 5,000 lira with a leer on their faces as they asked for it. I don't think we were near any racecourses there as we concentrated on the centre and East of the Island with a few days on Vulcano and Stromboli.