No prizes for guessing that the fastest five-furlong course in Britain – in fact, the fastest in the world – is to be found at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey, South East England. Starting from a chute, which joins the round course at the top of the home straight, 3½ furlongs from the finish, the straight five-furlong is downhill throughout, bar the final hundred yards, so favours well-balanced, handy types. On June 2, 2012, on good to firm going, the four-year-old Stone Of Folca belied odds of 50/1 to win the ‘Dash’ Handicap at Epsom in a time of 53.69 seconds, thereby setting a new world record for five furlongs.
The five-furlong course at Brighton Racecourse in East Sussex is not unlike that at Epsom, insofar that it features a sharp, downhill descent before climbing again in the final furlong. According to Timeform standard times, adjusted for slight variations in distance, the five-furlong course at the seaside track ranks second, by a second or so, behind Epsom.
Elsewhere in Britain, the five-furlong courses at Ffos Las Racecourse in Carmarthenshire, South West Wales, Redcar Racecourse in North Yorkshire and Lingfield Racecourse in Surrey rank third, fourth and fifth as tests of speed, according to Timeform. The courses at Ffos Las and Redcar are both perfectly flat, while that at Lingfield features a steep descent for the first three furlongs and continues downhill all the way to the winning post.
Of course, the only five-furlong Group 1 races in Britain are the King’s Stand Stakes, run at Royal Ascot in June, and the Nunthorpe Stakes, run at York in August. The standard time for five furlongs at York, where the course is largely flat, is significantly faster than that at Ascot, where the course runs uphill from halfway until well inside the final furlong. Even so, York still only ranks eleventh of the 36 British racecourses that stage Flat racing, by standard time.