A trip to the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita is surely a bucket list event for any horse racing enthusiast.  Combine this with the Californian sunshine, a direct flight from London and the endless possibilities to extend your trip exploring The Golden State - it's not one to be missed!

Santa Anita is known as the 'home' of the Breeders' Cup, with the 2019 running being the 10^th held at this location. It's not hard to work out why, with Santa Anita set against the picturesque San Gabriel Mountains, making for a stunning setting when sat in the Grandstand viewing the racing. The sheer size of the racecourse - approximately 85,000 - is a sight to behold and when all those avid racegoers are cheering the noise is deafening! During the races you will be comfortably seated on the ground floor of the Clubhouse: the newly renovated dining area that commands views of the first turn and the finish line. You'll enjoy a gourmet luncheon and access to the cash bar, to keep you refreshed during the day.

For the duration of the races you will stay in the city of Pasadena just 16km outside of Los Angeles. Pasadena has many bars and restaurants and allows you to be close to the action without too much of the hustle and bustle of downtown. A taxi or metro ride gets you into LA quite quickly, where you can stroll Rodeo Drive or visit the Walk of Fame. We especially recommend popping in to the Beverly Wilshire for a drink or two in the BLVD Lounge.

When not exploring LA or racing at Santa Anita, why not take a trip to Santa Monica? Just an hour away from Pasadena, this calm coastal city makes a refreshing change of pace from the centre of LA.

Following a flying visit to Paris on Sunday - we enjoyed a visit to the newly redeveloped Longchamp ahead of its official opening for the Prix Ganay at the end of the month. A larger than average crowd of French race-goers combined with a large number of British racing fans enjoyed some long awaited glorious spring sunshine which made the predominately gold exterior of the new grandstand look even more magnificent.

The new grandstand is shown above with the Finish Line Enclosure tiered viewing area marked by the red arrow. Finish Line Enclosure ticket holders also have access to the grassed area in front, which leads to the rail.  

The paddock is at the rear of the Grandstand building. The paddock can be viewed from the 1st floor terrace which opens onto a tiered viewing area (as can be seen on the below photographs).

The Finish Line Gold Grandstand seats are pictured below.

En-route to Los Angeles to host clients at the 2016 Breeders' Cup, the Horse Racing Abroad team visited San Diego to view the hotels and Racetrack for 2017, when Del Mar will host the Breeders' Cup for the first time. The strapline for Del Mar Racetrack, 'where the turf meets the surf', sums up the location perfectly and Downtown San Diego is only 30 minutes away. Del Mar Racetrack, built in 1937 by a partnership including Bing Crosby, Gary Cooper and Oliver Hardy, quickly became a summer playground of Hollywood stars during the 1940's. The track famously played host to the match-race between Seabiscuit and Ligaroti in 1938.

Downtown San Diego has a vibrant evening atmosphere which, combined with the beautiful beaches overlooking the Pacific, just oozes Southern Californian charm. If exploring is more your thing you won't be bored: why not try a Trolley Tour around the Old Town or take a stroll around the museums within Balboa Park? Of course no visit would be complete without taking a trip to the USS Midway Museum to learn about the rich naval heritage of the city.  Then there's always San Diego Zoo and SeaWorld San Diego.

On the hunt for suitable hotels in San Diego, we visited the Manchester Grand Hyatt, which overlooks the marina and sea, and has access along a boardwalk to the Seaport Village, full of bars and restaurants. When Downtown, we viewed the US Grant, an iconic and palatial hotel in San Diego since it's construction in 1910 that is conveniently situated in in the city's historic Gaslamp Quarter. Finally, we visited the Hotel Del Coronado on Coronado Island, just a 15-minute cab ride to Downtown San Diego. This hotel provides an ideal combination of both beach and city and blends timeless charm and casual elegance. The 1500 Ocean Restaurant at the Del produces magnificent plates of seafood, and this combined with Californian wine, sunshine and stunning views over the Pacific, makes for quite a setting!

We are currently finalising our plans for the 2017 Breeders Cup, in the meantime please pre-register here for details.

Once again we were treated to a weekend of fabulous weather for the Arc, held for the first time at Chantilly. Due the size of Chantilly and its rural location we had reservations, about its capacity to cope with the volume of traffic. We were delighted to learn that this years' Arc was an organisational success for Chantilly and France Galop.

The Arc in particular was a fantastic race with a 1-2-3 finish for Coolmore horses all sired by Galileo and trained by Aidan O'Brien. The Prix de L'Abbaye was also a very special race as many clients are members of Elite Racing Club and the win by Marsha was simply fantastic for all to see!

If you missed out on visiting Chantilly this year, or wish to experience it next year we would love to have you travel with us to Chantilly, for a final time before returning to the 'renovated' Longchamp in 2018. We will be offering packages for you to stay in either Paris or Chantilly for the weekend and for those of you planning a trip we would advise booking track seating or dining with us sooner rather than later. To pre-register your interest in our Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe 2017 packages click here.

As we begin packaging together our tours for the Arc 2017, we welcome any feedback to help us deliver a unique experience to you, so please feel free to call us on 01244 355390 to pass on your comments and opinions. For details of all our horse racing tours or to receive a brochure click here.

Last weekend saw a small group of Horse Racing Abroad travellers take to the skies, en route to Warsaw, for the Polish Derby. Thankfully, the weather was kind and allowed us to enjoy the city's many boutiques, excellent street cafés and world-class museums. We also found time to visit the Royal Castle to view some of Eastern Europe's finest art. Our groups stayed at the Hotel Bristol and the Sofitel Victoria Warsaw; both hotels were very welcoming and proved to be the ideal base from which to explore the city.

Sunday was race day and we headed off to Sluzewiec racecourse ready for the day's action. We had arranged for a tour of the racecourse prior to sitting down to lunch. We were housed trackside, near the finishing post, in the VIP marquee and were looked after magnificently; our glasses were never empty, which helped alleviate the pain for those less successful at the bookies! A veritable feast was enjoyed at lunchtime thanks to the very impressive buffet on offer.

We were lucky enough to receive a visit prior to the races by one of Poland's top jockeys, Tom Lukasek, who went on to win the Derby with Caccini. The Derby itself was run over 2,400m with a first prize of 100,000 PLN (approx. £20,000). We were also delighted to see Va Bank run in one of the supporting races, which takes him to a record 10 races unbeaten.

We had a fantastic weekend of racing and exploring a new city. The only question now is, where next?!

To request a brochure for our forthcoming tours please click here.

Our group has just returned from the sell-out Coolmore Stud and Irish Guineas tour and it's fair to say that it was another fantastic trip.  We stayed in the Horse and Jockey hotel near Thurles and the ever popular Keadeen Hotel in Newbridge, both of which are favourites with our clients; for good reason!

Friday morning saw an early start for all 51 of our guests and the short journey to Coolmore Stud in the heart of Tipperary.  A fantastic visit was had by all and some world class stallions were on show; Galileo, Fastnet Rock, Australia & Gleneagles to name but a few, and it goes without saying that we're very grateful to Coolmore Stud for arranging our 'behind-the-scenes' access.

 Saturday morning saw a visit to Kildangan Stud,  Sheikh Mohammed's operation in Ireland,en route to  the Curragh for the Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas.  Despite concerns over the withdrawal of some of the  favourites due to the overnight rain, the racing was  as spectacular as ever. Awtaad bridged a 40-year  gap for trainer Kevin Prendergast with a second Irish  Guineas success, four decades after Northern  Treasure won the same Classic.

 After a leisurely start and a delicious breakfast courtesy of the Keadeen Hotel our group headed off  for a second day of top quality racing at the Curragh  for the Irish 1,000 Guineas. Jet Setting claimed  victory over favourite Minding to achieve maiden  Group 1 success for sire Fast Company. Following  racing  our clients were transferred back  to Dublin  Airport in order to make their way home after  a very  enjoyable and (hopefully) successful day!

To join us on our Coolmore Stud and Irish Guineas tour next year please call 01244 355 580 or email info@horseracingabroad.com for further details. 

The team at Horse Racing Abroad have put together a selection of fantastic tours for the forthcoming year including The Breeders' Cup, The Dubai World Cup, Deauville Festival and, of course, our top attraction, The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp where we have our own private grandstand with reserved seating, English commentary and superb ambiance. 

Other regular tours to feature in our 2014-15 brochure are:  Coolmore Stud & the Irish Guineas, Jersey and Prague for the Velka Pardubicka.  These will be complemented by the return of two old favourites; the Prix du Jockey Club, run in the magnificent setting of Chantilly, and The Melbourne Cup, "The Race that Stops the Nation". Our exciting new tour for 2014-15 is a weekend in the vibrant city of Berlin with racing at Hoppegarten for the Group I Grosser Preis von Berlin

Our official Horse Racing Abroad brochure will be available from early March so please contact us if you would like a copy.  We hope you will enjoy browsing our website and we look forward to welcoming you on one of our 2014-15 Horse Racing Abroad tours.

The new Horse Racing Abroad 2013/14 brochure is now up and running!  Full of exciting tours for the forthcoming year including The Breeders' Cup, The Dubai World Cup, Deauville Festival and, of course, our top attraction, The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp where we have our own private grandstand with reserved seating, English commentary and superb ambiance. 

Other regular tours:  Coolmore Stud & the Irish Guineas, Jersey and Prague for the Velka Pardubicka are complemented by the return of old favourites: Istanbul for The International Festival, South-West France for the Grand Steeplechase de Pau and India for the Indian Derby in Mumbai and The Queen's Cup in Kolkata.  To complete our programme we have added a new venue St Moritz for a weekend of glitz and glamour at The White Turf races! 

We hope you enjoying browsing our new brochure and look forward to welcoming you on one of our Horse Racing Abroad tours.