Ireland’s premier racecourse, the Curragh, can be quite confusing, but we’ll do our best to keep things simple.
Here you will find the Plate Course, the Derby Course, the Inner Course and the Sprint Course.
Generally speaking, the Curragh is a right-handed turf course which is mostly horseshoe shaped. It features a three-furlong run-in, mostly uphill.
Many punters have difficulty knowing which course is being used as the racing press doesn’t always make it easy, so do look carefully when making your selections.
Curragh Course Draw Bias Overview
The Curragh is noted by many a jockey as a great track to ride.
Pretty fair but with that stiff finish, the Curragh offers all horses a chance but runners will need to be the business and will need to get home.
Low numbers are usually seen as being a draw advantage at any turning track, but it doesn’t work out that way over sprint distances here.
5 Furlongs at the Curragh
Five-furlong sprints at the Curragh see runners face a very slight dogleg right. This does not however help those drawn low. High numbers are always best in sprints at the Curragh.
Generally speaking, sprint fields tend to tack over to the stands side rail early, meaning those drawn closest to it, in the high numbers have an advantage.
In Group races, in which a horse could be drawn on the far side but be far superior to the others, the bias may not be as stark. This is also the case with any races featuring small fields.
In large field handicaps however, very rarely indeed to horses drawn in single figures win. In fact, ability and form allowing, the higher the draw the better.
6 Furlongs at the Curragh
Up to 30 runners can take part in six-furlong races at the Curragh. Those drawn low have just about no chance in handicaps, with the high numbers once again much more fancied for the same reasons given above.
Fields will tend to all come across to the near side rail where the high-numbered horses were drawn, allowing them a big track advantage over such a short distance.
7 Furlongs at the Curragh
There is a seven-furlong start just behind the sprint starts, while there is also one on the inner. For differing reasons, there is little in the way of draw bias over this trip. If the field is a very big one then high numbers are best on the sprint course and low on the inner.
Longer Distances at the Curragh
The strange thing about the Curragh is that, while seven-furlong races tend to show up little in the way of bias, a number of 1m+ races do. There seems to be little in the way of reason for this.
What we’d say is, of the field is a large one then a lower draw would be no disadvantage round the bends, though the stats tell us high numbers do well.
In smaller fields over 1m, 1m 2f, 1m 4f and so on, there is no real draw bias to take note of.