Sedgefield Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Sedgefield, Stockton-on-Tees , in County Durham , England . The course is undulating, left-handed and about ten furlongs in circumference. The steeplechase course consists of eight fences per circuit, with the open ditch the penultimate obstacle. What is now the final fence was formerly a water jump, this being changed to a plain fence in 1994. As the water was bypassed on the run-in this gave Sedgefield the unique feature of having an open-ditch as the final fence.