Horses

The horses you'll see competing on a thoroughbred race track are Thoroughbreds or Purebred Arabians.

The Thoroughbreds are registered with the Swedish Horseracing Authority, and you can follow their family trees several generations back.

The Arabian horses competes in a small number of races, which are only open to Purebred Arabians.

There are approximately 900 Thoroughbred racehorses and 40 Purebred Arabian racehorses in training in Sweden.

Tracks

Svensk Galopp, the Swedish Horseracing Authority, stages approximately 550 races on a total of 69 race days per year

Sweden's three main racecourses for thoroughbreds and purebred Arabians are Bro Park near Stockholm, in Malmö and Göteborg Galopp in Gothenburg. Furthermore, Sweden has two racing events run on temporary tracks.

Bro Park opened in 2016 and stages approximately 35 racedays per year. Bro Park hosts some of the most important races in Scandinavia, including the Swedish 2000 and 1000 Guineas in May, the Gr.3 Stockholm Stora Pris in June and the Gr.3 Stockholm Cup International in September.

Jägersro Galopp is located in the city of Malmö in south Sweden. Jägersro hosts approximately 25 racedays per year and is the home of the Swedish Derby, the most prestigious thoroughbred horse racing in Sweden.

Göteborg Galopp, which was opened in 2002, stages approximately ten days of racing annually.

Nationaldagsgaloppen, staged in the park Gärdet in central Stockholm on 6 June every year, is the highlight of the Swedish racing calendar. Since it’s inauguration in 2013, the event has attracted up to 50,000 spectators each year.

One meeting a year, the Swedish Grand National day, is held in a National Park in Strömsholm, outside the city of Västerås.

Racing surfaces

Race tracks can have several different kinds of surfaces. Some courses have dirt tracks, which are composed of gravel and sand, while others have grass-covered (turf) tracks.

There are also two forms of jump races which include obstacles for the horse and jockey to jump. In hurdle races, the obstacles are small and flexible. In steeplechase races, the obstacles are higher and more substantial. 

Bro Park holds races on dirt and turf, Jägerso only has a dirt track, and Gothenburg, Strömsholm and Gärdet only race on turf. Although Strömsholm only has the one surface, it does host all three forms of thoroughbred racing– flat, hurdle and steeplechase.