Cartmel Course Guide

Left handed, tight. Only six fences to a circuit places little emphasis on jumping, though they are fairly stiff for a minor course and result in a disproportionate number of unseats to falls, particularly over the last few fences which come in quick succession as the field are quickening. Run-in of half a mile from the last fence is longest in the country and, unsurprisingly, the lead changes hands from the last more than would normally be expected, be it due to idling or tiring after being sent for home too soon.

Cartmel is not a place you should be going to if you don’t like the smell of barbecues! It’s amazing how many times on the way round you get a flash of something cooking in your nostrils and that, above all else, is my defining memory of riding there. Being as it’s such a tight track, you need a horse that travels, because they go very quick, and if your mount is under pressure early at Cartmel, it can be a long, long way round. That said, the obstacles - both the hurdles and fences - are very fair.

View from the saddle: Mick Fitzgerald