Catterick: The Yorkshire racecourse that is 'quietly indispensable to horse racing in the North'

With its first recorded meeting dating back to 1783, the dual purpose track close to the A1(M) hosts 27 fixtures a year, 17 of which are flat and ten over jumps.

As such, Catterick can boast a variety of programme no other Yorkshire course can match, but for a while this year’s lack of rain put that under pressure.

Speaking ahead of this season’s first jumps fixture at the track which has operated under National Hunt rules since the 19th century, Catterick’s clerk of the course, Fiona Needham, said following a dry summer, the ground team breathed a sigh of relief when rain finally came in late September.

She said: “The grass cover is very good, but while we’re not particularly geared up for watering, we’re having to put a bit of water on, which is quite unusual for us.

“It’s putting more pressure on the ground staff. It’s been a very tricky year for them.”

Fiona said although the jumps meetings over the festive season attracted the largest crowds, the course’s feature race, the North Yorkshire Grand National, which will be staged on January 15, was one she particularly looked forward to.

Contested over three and three-quarter miles, it is Catterick’s longest and most prestigious National Hunt race. The season concludes with the Countryside Ladies’ Day on March 10.

Despite its enduring popularity among racing fans, animal activists targeted the track for criticism a decade ago over a number of jumps racing fatalities.

Fiona, who won the Cheltenham Hunters' Chase as a jockey in 2002 and struck again there as a trainer when Sine Nomine triumphed under John Dawson in 2024, responded to the controversy saying she respected campaign group Animal Aid’s right to protest outside the venue.

She added the course was leaving no stone unturned to protect horses and that the racetrack, fences and hurdles were carefully prepared ahead of meetings, with the course regularly inspected by the British Horseracing Authority to ensure it complied with stringent standards.

According to Animal Aid the last decade has seen 23 horses killed after racing over jumps at the course, which remains particularly popular with northern-based trainers.

The local crowd “quite like it when southern trainers go back with their tails between their legs!” said Fiona.

“We have acknowledged that when horses have made their name they might not possibly be coming back to us,” she said.

“Quite a few start their journey with us as novices. Playing a vital role in establishing horses is where we see our strengths.”

Three-time Grand National winner Red Rum notched up a victory at Catterick on his rise to legendary status, as did Lester Piggott, at the age of 12, Willie Carson and Cheltenham Gold Cup-winner Ridley Lamb.

James Maxwell, editor at Stablebet, said while Catterick is not known for producing the elite racehorses, it had been “quietly indispensable to the sport in the North for generation after generation”.

He described the Catterick Bridge crowd as one “that turns out because they like racing rather than because they want to be seen”.

Menston-based trainer Jo Foster, who has trained more than 120 winners, both over National Hunt and pointing fences, said Catterick remained among her favourite courses.

She said: “It’s a really friendly track and horses always seem to run well there. It’s a proper northern local jumps track. You get a lot of owners that don’t have runners going because they just love the track. We do our best to have runners at every meeting.”

Catterick’s gravel drainage means the course never gets particularly soft.

She said: “It’s great through the winter when there’s lots of rain. It’s a jumpers track with good, decent fences. You’ve got to have a pretty accurate jumper, you can’t afford to make mistakes round there.

Jo added the course suited less genuine horses “as they are running towards home”. She said: “It’s deceiving, because it’s pretty sharp, but it’s a reasonably easy finish because they sweep round the bend at the top then it’s a long run in. It’s a very fair track.”

Tickets for all 2026/27 National Hunt fixtures are on sale at catterickbridge.co.uk