Chepstow Racecourse

I’m a girl from the Czech Republic, so I just heard stories about this racetrack from my experienced friends. No chaotic, badly-​kept hell as in Chuchle or Pardubice, but grass like a carpet, enough space everywhere around, simply a great thing for a family attraction/​sensational event.
Jsem holka z Česka, takže o takovém dostihovém závodišti jsem jen slýchala z pohádek zkušených kamarádů :) Žádné chaotické, neopečovávané peklo jako Chuchle nebo Pardubice — tráva jako koberec, všude prostor, prostě výborná věc pro rodinnou atrakci/​senzaci :)

Been to Chepstow on a number of occasions for purely horse-​racing day out. If you’re into the occasional alcoholic beverage too, it is easy to get to from the Railway Station and Chepstow itself is rather nice (should have taken down some of the pub names I guess)
It is a rather picturesque course and quite quaint — as I was going as an owner I went into the owners and trainers bar — which is spartan by other racesdourse standards but adequate.
Agree with a lot of Louise’s comments BUT I used to bet on horses professionally for a living back in the days (2 ½ years with no other source of income except gambling) … and then it snowed for about 3 months or so, anf time to get a «proper» job”. Anyway I digress — if you want to put on £100 or more withthe rail bookies its a hard task — pretty much to a man (and woman) they copy each others prices, and then when you want to put a reasonable amount of cash on they accommodate some of the bet at the odds advertised while offering the remainder at lower odds. I had to rever to the technically illegal backing on course with betfair and account bookmakers via the mobile,
Nevertheless it’s a pretty course and welcoming, and does mixed (NH and flat) as well as both codes.
Apart from finding it difficult to hace a serious bet, a good experience — there again I like my horse racing!

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to review Chepstow Races after visiting there many moons ago. A family friend of the other half’s was lucky enough to have a box there that would normally be reserved for clients, and so we really did get the luxury version of the experience. Whether or not you’re into racing (and I’d never seen a horse race in my life before this day, save for on TV by accident when I’d forgotten to switch the channels), this is certainly an eye-​opener. Horses? Going fast? Only interesting if you’re seeing it live really. However here, even if your focus is away from the horses and upon the nearby goings on, there’s plenty to get your teeth into.
For example, the box next door was set up like some kind of geek hacker type operation. Plentiful laptops, headsets, the whole she-​bang — they were basically in the business of placing bets. Eavesdropping was all too tempting. And you do get all sorts of interesting characters there. But in terms of placing bets, it’s easy even for a number dummy like me. You just pick your horse (you get leaflets all about its age, agility, personality and what kind of ground it’s used to dealing with), pick your betting booth and pop a little moolah on. Again, I’m not used to having a flutter but once you have, it’s quite exhilarating experience watching the horses afterwards, especially with the view from the box.
If you choose to be catered, the food really is lovely. We were there on a grey, miserable day and yet this didn’t ruin the visual impact, and parking’s plentiful and easy. If you’re into this sort of thing, it’s certainly an interesting day out for all age groups.

I went to this racecourse at the beginning of october as part of a works day out. The weather was really nice that day unlike a lot of this year which helped it being a good day out. The racecourse is much smaller than the likes of cheltenham with only a stand, paddock and pub mostly. It was quite a busy day we went and the toilets and especially the pub had long queues which could get annoying when you are trying to get back to watch your race. Also I could only see one food stall selling burgers etc. so the choice was a bit limited. Overall a nice racecourse and a good day out but small and limited compared to some of the more popular racecourses in the UK.