The jumps are back! Your comprehensive guide to Southwell!

For many, Wednesday July 1st cannot come soon enough, and it’s for one simple reason, the jumps! Summer jumping returns from Southwell, with the Nottinghamshire venue going off it’s perhaps more established All-Weather surface for the afternoon.

With seven races to look forward to, we’ve taken a deep dive into Southwell, to bring you all the key statistics to help you try and have a profitable afternoon over the jumps.

Track Characteristics

Being just ten furlongs in circumference, Southwell’s turf course is almost perfectly flat too, which lends itself to a speedier horse and puts less of an emphasis on stamina. With just a furlong run-in after the last, horses don’t have much of a chance to make up ground after the final fence.

Southwell Top Jockey

The man to follow at Southwell is unequivocally Sean Bowen, who can boast a remarkable £34.02 profit to a level stake, thanks to 20 wins from 88 rides at the venue in the past five seasons. That 23% strike-rate is eclipsed, in terms of the leading riders, only by Nico de Boinville and Harry Skelton, though those jockeys cannot boast anywhere near such a massive profit margin.

Bowen has a pair of chances on Wednesday, though perhaps his best is Get An Oscar in the competitive handicap at 4:10. He goes in the combination of cheekpieces and the tongue-tie for the first time, last seen winning at Market Rasen in August off a four-pound lower rating. He’s capable fresh and it would be no surprise to see him go well at a price.

Southwell Top Trainer

Of the training division, the man to follow is Alan King. With a 31% strike rate from 42 runners, he’s had plenty of success at Southwell in recent years.

He saddles the popular Dino Velvet in the two-mile class 3 hurdle, last seen finishing a fair sixth in a Listed handicap at Market Rasen in July. Four pounds above his last winning mark, he ran well off this mark at Ayr in a Grade 2 handicap back in April 2019 and was freshened up by a recent run on the flat.

Course Specialists

12.35 – Azzuri

Harry Skelton’s Azzuri is unbeaten in a pair of visits to Southwell, landing two 1m 7f novice races back in 2017. Struggling in Class 2 company earlier in the year, he drops in grade for his return to Southwell and he’s race-fit from a run on the flat in June. A five-time winner from sixteen chasing starts, he could easily have more to offer now his sights are lowered.

1.40 – Zamoyski

Racing six times in his career at Southwell, Zamoyski can boast of three victories at the venue, all over course and distance. He gained the latter success off six pounds higher than his current rating and has to be considered a danger to all.