Location | Ffos Las, Carmarthenshire, Wales, United Kingdom |
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Coordinates | 51°43′52″N4°14′24″W / 51.73112°N 4.23998°W Coordinates: 51°43′52″N4°14′24″W / 51.73112°N 4.23998°W |
Owned by | Arena Racing Company |
Date opened | 18 June 2009 |
Screened on | Sky Sports Racing |
Course type | Flat and National Hunt |
Official website |
The Ffos Las racecourse (strictly: Ffos Las Racecourse & Conference Centre) is a Welsh horse racing, equestrian sports and conferencing venue situated in Ffos Las, Wales. The Ffos Las racecourse was built at the site of an open cast coal mine after mining operations ceased.
After the completion of the first phase of construction for a first race meeting in June 2009, the Ffos Las racecourse became the first new National Hunt racecourse to be built in the United Kingdom for 80 years, and Wales's third racecourse. Ffos Las Racecourse was built at a cost of £20 million. The racecourse development site is about 600 acres (2.4 km2) in size [1] and is located in a natural amphitheatre setting. The racetrack itself is an oval which is 12 furlongs in length [1] and has a flat topography.
The initial phase of the development was completed in 2009 and features:
The British Horseracing Board initially confirmed a programme of eight race meetings for 2009. [2] An extra fixture was added to the schedule later on creating a two-day flat event in September. [3]
The Ffos Las Racecourse opened on 18 June 2009 when it held its first race meeting to a sell-out crowd of 10,000. [4] It was an evening National Hunt meeting which included a Ladies Night. [5] The first ever race at Ffos Las was won by 15-8 second favourite Plunkett ridden by Donal Fahy, trained by Evan Williams, and owned by Hywel Jones. [6] The first race at Ffos Las to feature Arabians was held on 27 June 2009. [7]
The first ever flat race at Ffos Las, the EBF/Jamie Yeates Memorial Maiden Stakes, was held on 21 July 2009. [3] The race was dedicated to schoolboy and aspiring jockey Jamie Yeates from nearby Llanelli, who died under tragic circumstances the previous January. [8] The winner of the race was Dream Queen ridden by Michael Hills. [9] Dream Queen was trained by Barry Hills. [10]
The official opening ceremony, conducted by racing commentator Sir Peter O'Sullevan, was held on 28 August 2009, with an audience of over 12,000. [11] Following the final race of the day, there was concert with Cerys Matthews performing. [12]
The first ever race meeting featuring harness racing was held on 9 May 2010. [13]
Month | DOW | Race Name | Type | Grade | Distance | Age/Sex |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
October | Saturday | Welsh Champion Hurdle | Hurdle | Handicap | 2m | 4yo + |
The racecourse owners intend to introduce a new Celtic Festival in future years to be held around St. David's Day. [14] The racecourse developers plan for the venue to have a capacity for 20,000 people and there will be 120 horse boxes. [1]
Future developments at the racecourse will include:
The racecourse management intend to stage other types of equestrian events at Ffos Las including Show jumping, hunter chase meetings, pony racing and harness racing. [15]
First Cymru Buses operate a bus between Llanelli and Carmarthen, number 197 from Monday to Saturday, which stops at the racecourse entrance. The Ffos Las racecourse offers a dedicated shuttle bus service on race days between Llanelli railway station and the racecourse.
By sea, Pembroke Dock is about 1 hour away to the west and Fishguard is about 1 hour 15 minutes away to the west. Ferries from both Pembroke Dock and Fishguard sail to and from Rosslare in the Republic of Ireland.
Pembrey Airport, which handles private, charter flights and fueling facilities 24/7. It is a 10-minute drive away from the racecourse with a restaurant and seven miles of blue ribbon beach. Helicopters can land at the racecourse by arrangement with the racecourse management and refuel at the airport if required.
Ffos Las is approximately 12 miles (25 minutes) from Junction 48 of the M4 motorway.
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic premise – to identify which of two or more horses is the fastest over a set course or distance – has been mostly unchanged since at least classical antiquity.
Horse racing is the second largest spectator sport in Great Britain, and one of the longest established, with a history dating back many centuries. According to a report by the British Horseracing Authority it generates £3.39 billion total direct and indirect expenditure in the British economy, of which £1.05 Billion is from core racing industry expenditure and the major horse racing events such as Royal Ascot and Cheltenham Festival are important dates in the British and international sporting and society calendar.
In horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Republic of Ireland, National Hunt racing requires horses to jump fences and ditches. National Hunt racing in the UK is informally known as "jumps" and is divided into two major distinct branches: hurdles and steeplechases. Alongside these there are "bumpers", which are National Hunt flat races. In a hurdles race, the horses jump over obstacles called hurdles; in a steeplechase the horses jump over a variety of obstacles that can include plain fences, water jump or an open ditch. In the UK, the biggest National Hunt events of the year are generally considered to be the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
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A steeplechase is a distance horse race in which competitors are required to jump diverse fence and ditch obstacles. Steeplechasing is primarily conducted in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Australia, and France. The name is derived from early races in which orientation of the course was by reference to a church steeple, jumping fences and ditches and generally traversing the many intervening obstacles in the countryside.
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Trimsaran is a community and former mining village which lies on the B4308 between Llanelli and Kidwelly, in the Welsh county of Carmarthenshire.
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Musselburgh Racecourse is a horse racing venue located in the Millhill area of Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland, UK, close to the River Esk. It is the second biggest racecourse in Scotland and is the fourteenth biggest in the UK. In 2016, Musselburgh staged 28 fixtures. It was officially known as "Edinburgh Racecourse", and referred to as such in the English press, until the beginning of 1996 but was widely referred to as "Musselburgh" in Scotland long before that and was widely referred to as Musselburgh in the racing pages of Scottish newspapers.
Taunton Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Orchard Portman, two miles south of Taunton, Somerset, England. Opened in 1927, Taunton is the youngest National Hunt course in England, and the last racecourse to be opened in Britain until Great Leighs in 2008.
Ffos Las is a rural area between the villages of Carway and Trimsaran, north of the town of Llanelli in the Gwendraeth Valley in Carmarthenshire, Wales.
Tabcorp Park, Menangle, is a harness racing track operating in Menangle Park, New South Wales, Australia. The New South Wales Harness Racing Club conducts meetings at the Paceway. The New South Wales Harness Racing Club trading as Club Menangle Trackside is located within the Paceway grounds. Major extensions to the club at the licensed historic premises previously known as the Horse and Jockey Inn just outside the paceway grounds, opened in September 2019.
Horse racing in Wales has a long tradition dating back to the 18th century. Wales has held flat racing, National Hunt and harness racing, and presently has three racecourses, at Chepstow, Bangor-on-Dee and Ffos Las. The Welsh Grand National is held annually at Chepstow between Christmas and New Year and is the highlight of the Welsh racing calendar.
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