Fontwell Park Racecourse

Fontwell Park Racecourse is a horse racing course located in the village of Fontwell in West Sussex, England, owned by ARC Racing. It features the only figure-of-eight chase course in the country and an oval hurdles course.

It was the course where Queen Elizabeth II, then Princess Elizabeth, had her first winner as an owner when Monaveen won the Chichester Handicap Chase there in October 1949.^[1] In 1984 John Francome rode his 1,036th career winner at Fontwell Park, passing Stan Mellor's record for a National Hunt jockey - Francome's record has subsequently been beaten.

The feature race of the season at Fontwell Park is the Grade Two National Spirit Hurdle run over a distance of two miles and four furlongs in February. It is a recognised Cheltenham Festival trial. My Way de Solzen, trained by Alan King, won the race in 2006 before winning the World Hurdle. Lough Derg, trained by David Pipe and owned by Bill Frewen, took the prize in 2008 and 2009. Trenchant (Alan King/Robert Thornton) took the prize in 2010 and Celestial Halo (Paul Nicholls/Harry Skelton) was the winner in 2011.

A new £6.5m Grandstand opened in the Premier Enclosure in August 2010. It has been sponsored by online betting operator 888sport. The new facility includes a panoramic hospitality lounge for 350 people on the middle floor, twelve boxes on the top floor and a ground floor suite with new catering and betting outlets. The stand has been designed to cater for weddings, conferences, meetings and public shows.

There are 24 race meetings at Fontwell Park each year, including the Boxing day meet.

Notable races

References

External links

• Official website
• Course guide on GG.COM
• Course guide on At The Races

Coordinates: 50°51′9″N 0°39′23″W / 50.85250°N 0.65639°W / 50.85250; -0.65639