Carlisle Racecourse

A right-handed and very undulating track where you are generally either climbing or descending quickly. Whilst the fences are generally quite forgiving, there are a couple which are trickily placed for a novice. They are mainly the first at the bottom of the hill, when heading away from the stands, and down into the first (open ditch) in the home straight, where a novice has to be pretty agile as the pace quickens off the bend. Many trainers like the chase course as an introduction for a novice chaser, probably because the ground is often soft, and the fences teach a horse plenty on his first start. A long pull up the home straight can be very testing, and it pays to be well positioned turning into the straight for the final circuit.