All weather is also run over the flat but on a poly track or fibre sand surface. The main all weather takes place from November until March. National hunt is predominantly a winter sport involving racing and jumping either over fences or the small obstacles called hurdles. There are also a few national hunt flat races which are also called bumper races.

In flat racing there are 5 Classic races spread throughout the season. These are The Derby, Oaks, 1000 and 2000 guineas and the St Ledger. In National Hunt the 2 main races are the Gold Cup at Cheltenham and the King George VI held on Boxing Day at Kempton Park.

Some races are restricted to horses of a specific age such as 2 or 3 year olds and others may be limited to horses that have never won and are known as maiden races. Two other types that you may come across are sellers and auction races. A horse that wins a selle will be offered up for sale in an auction and so these contests are usually for horses of lesser ability. It may sound as though the same thing would happen to the winner of an auction race but in fact it is not. These are for horses that have been purchased as yearlings at public auction and the winner is not offered for sale after the race.

The other terms that you will come across are handicap and non-handicap. In a handicap race an official aptly named the handicapper assesses the form of all the horses entered in the race and based on that allots a weight for each horse to carry. What in theory he is trying to do is make it so all the horses in the race finish together.