Ludlow is a favourite venue of racing enthusiasts in the UK and the star-studded list of previous winners at the racecourse reads like a who’s who of jump racing royalty.

Contestants in Shropshire can often set a searing pace to blitz the circuit at Ludlow with the fences there posing a gentle challenge to most horses.

Plenty of speed is required to get to the post first at Ludlow and horse racing punters tend to scour bookmakers for rapid runners with the best odds in the ante-post markets as a consequence.

The fair nature of the course routinely makes for close finishers and if horses can avoid staying in the air too long, even non-stayers can taste success.

But at a track renowned for producing fast finishers, which horses have been setting records at Ludlow for speed? Keep reading to find out.

Which horses have been quickest over the past 5 years?

Steeplechases

• Capital Force (12 May 2019) – 3m 49.3s (1m 7f 212y)
• Runswick Bay (06 Oct 2021) – 4m 47.1s (2m 4f 11y)
• Shoal Bay (07 Oct 2020) – 5m 48.92s (2m 7f 171y)
• Reve (04 Nov 2021) – 6m 34.2s (3m 1f 125y)

In 2019, Capital Force set a scorching pace over 1m 7f in the Scott & Newman Centenary Maris Piper Handicap Chase to win off a starting price of 5/1 for trainer Martin Keighley and jockey Gavin Sheehan.

Keighley scored another record run with 4/1 joint-favourite Reve in the Stephen Webb Memorial Handicap Chase a little over two years later over a 3m 1f trip. Reve recently returned to Ludlow in February after a lengthy 653-day break between appearances.

Jonjo O’Neill rode Shoal Bay to glory in record time in the Quality Over Quantity Tipster Platform Handicap Chase in 2020, while a year later, Runswick Bay was a flying winner in the Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase for a Thomas Bellamy and Emma Lavelle combination.

For Shoal Bay, his superb showing at Ludlow proved to be a high point that he struggled to match however, and he failed to finish six of his next seven races.

Hurdle races

• See The Sea (06 Oct 2021) – 3m 30.4s (1m 7f 169y)
• Une De La Seniere (06 Oct 2021) – 4m 53.3s (2m 5f 55y)
• Hardy Fella (26 Apr 2023) – 5m 40.85s (2m 7f 174y)

In October 2021, See The Sea won the Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle in a hair over three and a half minutes for trainer Donald McCain Jr, while the same meeting produced another record winner when Une De La Seniere romped to first place from a price of 10/3 for Fergal O’Brien in the Mares’ Handicap Hurdle.

Une De La Seniere hasn’t been seen since placing fifth at Ludlow in an Amateur Handicap Hurdle in November 2022 with Miss Ferne O’Brien in the saddle.

That potent Bellamy and Lavelle combo delivered the goods again in record-setting style at the Bet At racingtv.com Handicap Hurdle in April 2023 when Hardy Fella left his opponents in the dust over a distance of 2m 74 in a time just north of five minutes 40 seconds.

Hardy Fella has been back at Ludlow twice since, most recently on February 29^th when he failed to make an impression as favourite and pulled up, however, he is expected to return soon.

Bumpers

• Mont Segur (18 Dec 2019) – 3m 18.3s (1m 6f 7y)
• Martha Willow (06 Oct 2021) – 3m 33.3s (1m 7f 169y)

Five years ago, chestnut gelding Mont Segur turned heads as he whizzed through the Standard Bumper NH Flat Race, making good for his connections as 9/4 favourite to set a race record time of 3m 18.3s.

That triumph, which featured jockey Rex Dingle behind the reins, was Mont Segur’s only career victory for trainer, Anthony Honeyball.

A little under two years after Mont Segur’s success, Martha Willow delivered a jet-heeled performance in a Mares’ Open NH Flat Race (Oct ’21) on what was a third record-breaking feat at the same meeting. Trainer Jedd O’Keefe and jockey Jack Garrity shared the plaudits on that occasion.  Clearly, it had been a long dry summer to make conditions so in favour of top-of-the-ground horses.

That was Martha Willow’s last win for O’Keefe before she changed hands and moved to Chris Gordon’s stable in October 2022.