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Course guides · Measured, not folklore

Draw bias, in lengths

Most draw commentary is folklore: low numbers good here, bad there. These pages measure it. Every Flat and all-weather race since 2014, every runner scored in lengths against its field average, credited to the part of the draw it started from. A positive figure means horses drawn there finish closer to the winner than the field does; a negative one means they give lengths away before the race starts.

Covering 59 UK and Irish courses. Figures rebuilt nightly; snapshot from 2026-09-10.

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The headline figure is the strongest measured edge at the course; the page behind it splits everything by trip, going and field size.

AscotRight-handed · Middle-high draw +2.43L over 20f to 23fAyrLeft-handed · High draw -1.90L over 12f to 15fBallinrobeRight-handed · Low draw +1.67L over 9f to 11fBathLeft-handed · Middle-high draw +0.99L over 12f to 15fBellewstownLeft-handed · Middle-high draw -2.03L over 12f to 15fBeverleyRight-handed · High draw -1.02L over 7f to 8fBrightonLeft-handed · Middle draw +2.24L over 12f to 15fCarlisleRight-handed · High draw -1.03L over 9f to 11fCatterickLeft-handed · High draw -5.51L over 16f to 19fChelmsfordLeft-handed · Low-middle draw +1.56L over 16f to 19fChepstowLeft-handed · Low-middle draw -3.06L over 9f to 11fChesterLeft-handed · High draw -2.43L over 12f to 15fClonmelRight-handedCorkRight-handed · Middle draw -0.98L over 12f to 15fCurraghRight-handed · Low draw +0.70L over 9f to 11fDoncasterLeft-handed · Low-middle draw -1.34L over 12f to 15fDown RoyalRight-handed · High draw -1.83L over 9f to 11fDundalkLeft-handed · Middle draw -1.43L over 16f to 19fEpsomLeft-handed · Low-middle draw -2.21L over 12f to 15fFairyhouseRight-handed · High draw -1.94L over 9f to 11fFfos LasLeft-handed · Low draw -2.94L over 9f to 11fGalwayRight-handed · Low-middle draw +0.93L over 9f to 11fGoodwoodRight-handed · Low draw -1.34L over 16f to 19fGowran ParkRight-handed · Low draw +1.19L over 7f to 8fHamiltonRight-handed · Low draw +1.22L over 9f to 11fHaydockLeft-handed · Low draw +1.29L over 12f to 15fKemptonRight-handed · High draw -2.64L over 16f to 19fKillarneyLeft-handed · Middle draw -1.10L over 12f to 15fLaytownStraight courseLeicesterRight-handed · High draw -1.23L over 7f to 8fLeopardstownLeft-handed · Middle-high draw -0.69L over 9f to 11fLimerickRight-handed · High draw +0.98L over 12f to 15fLingfieldLeft-handed · High draw +1.51L over 16f to 19fListowelLeft-handed · Middle draw +2.79L over 12f to 15fMusselburghRight-handed · Middle draw -1.39L over 12f to 15fNaasLeft-handed · Low draw +0.81L over 5f to 6fNavanLeft-handed · Low-middle draw -1.19L over 12f to 15fNewburyLeft-handed · High draw -1.48L over 7f to 8fNewcastleLeft-handed · Low draw -2.01L over 9f to 11fNewmarketRight-handed · High draw -4.32L over 16f to 19fNottinghamLeft-handed · Middle-high draw -0.79L over 12f to 15fPontefractLeft-handed · Middle-high draw -6.31L over 16f to 19fPunchestownRight-handedRedcarLeft-handed · High draw -2.30L over 12f to 15fRiponRight-handed · Middle-high draw -1.53L over 12f to 15fRoscommonRight-handed · Low draw +2.18L over 9f to 11fSalisburyRight-handed · Low draw -1.47L over 12f to 15fSandownRight-handed · Low draw +0.92L over 12f to 15fSligoRight-handed · Middle-high draw -1.48L over 9f to 11fSouthwellLeft-handed · Low draw -1.70L over 12f to 15fThirskLeft-handed · Low draw -2.81L over 12f to 15fThurlesRight-handedTipperaryLeft-handed · Low-middle draw -2.11L over 12f to 15fTramoreRight-handedWetherbyLeft-handed · Low draw -0.40L over 5f to 6fWindsorRight-handed · Low draw -1.24L over 12f to 15fWolverhamptonLeft-handed · Middle draw +1.49L over 16f to 19fYarmouthLeft-handed · High draw -0.98L over 9f to 11fYorkLeft-handed · Low-middle draw -1.10L over 16f to 19f

How the figures are measured

Lengths, not win percentages.Every completed runner is scored by how many lengths it finished ahead of or behind its own field’s average. The winner is 0 lengths beaten; a horse beaten 6 lengths in a field beaten 10 on average scores +4. Averaged over every runner from the same part of the draw, that number is what a stall has actually been worth, in the unit racing already thinks in.

Relative position, not the raw stall number.Stall 7 is the high side of an 8-runner field and the low side of a 20-runner one. So the draw is read as a rank among the stalls actually occupied on the day, cut into five bands from Low to High. A non-runner’s empty stall does not push everyone outward.

What counts.Flat and all-weather racing only: jumps races start from a tape, so there is nothing to measure. Races with fewer than 5 stalled runners are skipped. A faller or a horse pulled up has no beaten distance, so it is left out of that race’s average rather than being given an invented one. And a figure is only published where at least 100 runs sit behind it, roughly 20 races’ worth of one band at a single course and trip.

The splits. A bias that holds on fast ground can flip on soft: the low side of a track drains differently from the high. So each course and trip also carries the same curve per going group and per field size, shown beside the main figure, never in its place. Run style is the second question: a front runner drawn low and one drawn wide are not the same bet, so each course page also shows how each running style has fared from each part of the draw.

The same figures sit behind the Pace & Draw panel on every RatingTheRaces racecard, worked out fresh each night from the full run table.

See it on today’s racecards

Premium members get the draw read automatically on every Flat card: each stall’s record at the course and trip, the run styles it suits, and the shape of the race. Five days free, no card.

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