Gowran Park Course Guide

A right-handed oval of around a mile and a half. While there are some undulations, it is essentially a galloping track and the final climb in the three-furlong straight is quite testing.

In general I’d consider Gowran Park a speed track. It is a trickier track to ride than most give it credit for and in general I’d much rather be on the front end than any further back. It can really suit a front runner if they are left any bit alone early on. A low draw is particularly important over seven furlongs as the bend comes up very quickly and getting caught wide on it is disastrous.

View from the saddle: Mick Kinane

A right-handed, oval track with a circuit of around a mile and a half. Although there are some undulations the track is essentially galloping in character and on soft ground can provide a thorough test of stamina. There are seven fences to a circuit of the chase course, which is on the outside of the hurdles track, with three situated in the three-furlong uphill home straight. The run-in is around a furlong.

This is a tricky enough track to ride. Very undulating, very up and down. The hill up the back straight is quite testing and you need to give them a chance going up that or you just won’t get home. The fences there were always quite nice, but the third-last was one that I remember as being tricky.

View from the saddle: Charlie Swan