300 Years of History
Warwick has certainly played its part in the history of horse racing – most notably when it became the first course to include a jump race in its programme, establishing National Hunt racing as known today.
This year Warwick Racecourse celebrated its 300th Anniversary. Hundreds of people including a large number of families turned out for the six race spring meeting and were treated to some great action on the track as well as entertainment between races.
The day reinforced the racecourse’s historic links with the town, which go back to just after the Great Fire of Warwick.
Racing in Warwick can actually be traced back as early as 1694 when the sport was introduced to the market town in the hope of attracting wealthy professionals to help rebuild the areas wealth after the devastating fire.
The inaugural race at the course was held in 1707, but another 102 years passed before the first stand was opened at a cost of £800, parts of which remain today among the later developments.
Century, the most famous name to grace the course was the legendary Red Rum, who ran once over the flat in 1967 – the same year that Jockeys complained the track was the worst they had ever seen and called for racing to be abandoned after some horses sank into the mud by over a foot.
Today the course boasts a magnificent grandstand completed in 2000 and plays host to both flat and jump racing throughout the year.
OVERVIEW OF WARWICK RACECOURSE
Warwick Racecourse – where the first race meeting was run in 1707 – is one of the most historic courses in the country.
Raced in September 1714 to celebrate the coronation of George I. 'Commodious grand stand’ finished in 1815. Steeplechasing at Warwick from the earliest days as an organised sport (mid 1840s). A major race was the Warwick Grand Annual (sometimes called the Leamington).
The course is based on Warwick Common, part of which was owned by Warwick Castle and the other section by the public.
The first grandstand was built in 1809 - for the then princely sum of £800 - and is amongst the oldest surviving in the country.
Threat to racing came in the 1870s from Mr Gold of the Temperance Movement that was opposed to racing, gambling and drinking. He was burned in effigy on the course. Racing at Warwick was reduced to two days in 1883 with a Hunters’ flat race as the only NH event on the August card.
In 1885 situation had improved: three meetings with seven days racing. In 1886 Warwick Races Club Syndicate formed to ensure that racing was ‘never again subjected to the eccentricities of the early eighties’. In 1902 Warwick became the home of the National Hunt Chase, second most important chase after the Grand National. A four-mile course was ‘flagged out’ on adjoining land.
During WWII the course was closed due to an Italian POW camp being erected on the common.
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The syndicate sold to the local council after WWII when an Act of Parliament enabled this action. The Act also circumscribed the common grazing rights that had been a long-standing bugbear which caused poor and uneven going. Course was enclosed, levelled and realigned.
Racecourse Holdings Trust acquired the course in 1967.
1985 Lester Piggott raced John Francombe at the course with Piggott taking first placed.
1990 Daryll Holland rides first ever winner on Sinclair Boy.
1999 Course played host to the BBC TV series of Dangerfield.
2000 (July) Opening of new £3 m grandstand.
2002 Tony McCoy beats Sir Gordon Richards record of 269 winners in a season on Valfonic.
2002 Warwick is selected to stage ‘Matinee’ meetings as part of the BHB’s trial.
2003 Warwick Racecourse stages its first ever Listed Flat Race, the Betfair.com Eternal Stakes. Entries for the race included the course's first ever entry from the prolific Godolphin stable, Gonfilia.
2006 Course again plays host to another BBC TV series in Dalziel and Pascoe.
2007 – 2008 Warwick Modernisation Project Begins.
