I've just blatantly stolen this from a website I googled for you
Should help a bit
Racecourse Details
The following table describes the different track conformations for every British flat racecourse. The stats on this site rely on this data for determining if a horse is suited to the course or not. The most important features are the 'speed' and 'surface' some horses excel on galloping tracks but find difficulty in running around tight tracks etc.
- Grade is the official grade of the track. Top class courses such as Ascot and York are graded 1.
- Straight indicates the length of the straight course if the track has one.
- Shape describes the overall shape of the course.
- Direction is either left or right, but on the straight course the direction is described as straight.
- Speed indicates the running style of the horse. On long, straight, flat type courses the speed will most probably be galloping, whereas on courses with sharp bends which slow down the pace, the speed will be described as tight.
- Surface describes the level of the course such as flat, or undulating.
- Location is the physical location of the course.