Which is the fastest sprint course in Britain?

Of course, the minimum distance for Flat racing in Britain is five furlongs. The fastest sprint course in Britain is the five-furlong course at Epsom Downs Racecourse, situated on the North Downs in Surrey. Races over five furlongs start on a chute at the top of the home straight and head downhill for all bar the last half a furlong or so, before climbing to the finish line.

Nowadays, the standard time for five furlongs at Epsom is just 54.00 seconds, but the world record for that distance was recorded in the Epsom ‘Dash’ – a five-furlong handicap run on Derby Day in early June – in 2012. On that occasion, the 4-year-old Stome Of Folca, trained by John Best and ridden by Luke Morris, belied odds of 50/1 to win the race in a time of 53.69 seconds, or 1.31 seconds faster than the standard time at the time, at an average speed of 41.67 miles per hour. Indeed, the winning time was not only the fastest recorded anywhere in Britain since the advent of electronic timing, but also a new world record, as sanctioned by Guinness World Records.