Like many other sports, it’s always easy to find horse racing statistics. This is a sport absolutely full of numbers – on the racecard, the bookies’ boards, the saddlecloths and more.
So let’s take a look at UK horse racing numbers, incorporating some of our favourite horse racing records and horse racing facts.
- 1/100 – Starting price of Whatawit at Ffos Las in 2023, the shortest this century. Yes, he won.
- 0.05 – Of a length. A nose, the shortest distance by which a horse can win a race.
- 1 – Grand National winners ridden by AP Mccoy – Don’t Push It in 2010.
- 2 – Counties covered by the Cesarewitch at Newmarket. It starts in Cambridgeshire and finishes in Suffolk.
- 3 – Grand Nationals won by Red Rum in 1973, 1974 and 1977.
- 4 – Inches in a hand. How tall are racehorses? They are measured in hands, from the ground to the point where a horse’s back meets its neck.
- 5 – Fences in the long, gruelling home straight at Chepstow, home of the Welsh Grand National.
- 5 – Lengths, the winning distance for international superstar Dubai Millennium on his racecourse debut at Great Yarmouth in 1998.
- 6 – Consecutive victories by Quevega in the Mares Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival between 2009 and 2014.
- 7 – Winners ridden in a single day at Ascot in 1996 by Frankie Dettori.
- 8 – Fontwell Park’s chase course is the UK’s only figure-of-eight track.
- 8 – Furlongs in a mile.
- 9 – Record number of Derby winners ridden by Lester Piggott between 1957 and 1983.
- 10 – Lengths, the distance by which Shergar won the 1981 Derby, a record for the race.
- 11 – Record number of wins at Brighton by Pour La Victoire between 2013 and 2021.
- 14 – Races won by the unbeaten and incomparable Frankel between 2010 and 2012.
- 14 – Furlongs in the St Leger at Doncaster, the longest UK Classic.
- 16 – Racecourses owned and operated in the UK by ARC.
- 16 – Record number of winners trained in the St Leger, by John Scott between 1827 and 1862.
- 24 – Fences jumped in the Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter.
- 26 – Years between jump races at Royal Windsor, where it resumed in 2024.
- 30 – Fences in the Grand National at Aintree.
- 43.97mph – The fastest racehorse speed ever recorded, by Winning Brew in the USA in 2008. Frankel was once clocked at 42mph.
- 61 – Racecourses currently in operation in the UK.
- 80 – Years between jump racing courses opening in the UK before Ffos Las was launched in 2009.
- £162.79 – The riding fee per race for Flat jockeys in the UK in 2025. For jump jockeys, the fee is £227.92. Jockeys also receive a percentage of any winnings.
- 200/1 – Odds about Dandy Flame when winning at Wolverhampton in 2016 - the longest winning odds at the course.
- 212 – Arkle’s Timeform rating, an all-time high for a horse racing over jumps.
- 219 – Record number of runners in one day at Hereford in 1975.
- 220 – Yards in a furlong.
- 229 – Record number of runners in one day at Worcester – an eight-race card – in 1965.
- 525 – Yards, the previous run-in from the last fence at Sedgefield, which was the longest in the UK, before the course was altered in 1994.
- 780 – Feet above sea level – Bath is Britain’s highest Flat racecourse.
- 1776 – The year in which the St Leger, Britain’s oldest Classic, was first run at Doncaster. It was won by Allabaculia.
- 1952 – The year in which the Northumberland Plate at Newcastle switched from Wednesday to Saturday.
- 2021 – The year in which Rachael Blackmore became the first woman to ride the Grand National winner, on Minella Times.
- 4,358 – Record number of winners ridden by jump jockey AP McCoy between 1992 and 2015.
- 4,870 – Record number of winners ridden by flat jockey Gordon Richards, between 1921 and 1954.
- 65,000 – Bottles of Champagne emptied during the five days of Royal Ascot each year.
- £1 million – Total prize money available in the annual ARC All-Weather Bonus Scheme.
- 1.2 million – Racegoers each year at ARC courses.
- £4.1 billion – Amount generated each year by horse racing for the UK economy.
