Earliest meeting: Friday 4th April 1834
Final meeting: April 1897
The Gloucestershire village of Andoversford is in the Cotswolds, some 6 miles east of Cheltenham. The village once hosted its own race meeting, with the earliest being held on Friday 4th April 1834 when the track staged the first Grand Annual Chase. The course was on the outskirts of the village, starting at Harry’s Wall and continuing down the hill by Foxcote Grove to Whittingham Road, over hills, rails and four fields before turning towards Chifley Groves. A crowd in excess of 10000 witnessed Fugleman win for owner Mr R D’Oyley. In 1835 the village hosted the event again when Fugleman just failed by half a length to overhaul Bobadil, with Caliph in third. In 1840 Lottery won the Grand Annual almost a year after he had landed the first Grand National in 1839, while in 1841 there was a dead-heat between The Grayling and Zino. The final time the race was run in the vicinity of Andoversford was in 1843 when an interesting figure of eight course was used with the Andoversford Inn in the centre. The feature race that day was won by Mr Holman’s The Page. Meetings continue to be held at the track, albeit point to point meetings these days, while the Grand Annual is now run just down the road at Cheltenham as part of the Festival meeting. |
| This racecourse is covered in Volume 1 of Racecourses Here Today and Gone Tomorrow. Ordering details shown below. |
| Patrons |
Lord Chesterfield, Mr Elmore, Mr William Holman |
| Principal races |
Grand Annual Chase |
April 1843
Grand Annual Chase
1. The Page, aged horse owned by Mr William Holman
2. Scotsfoot, aged horse owned by Mr Elmore
3. Vanguard, aged horse owned by Lord Chesterfield |
| Course today |
Today point to point racing still takes place in the village administered by Cotswold Vale farmers. |
| If you have photos, postcards, racecards. badges, newspaper cuttings or book references about the old course, or can provide a photo of how the ground on which the old racecourse stood looks today, then email johnwslusar@gmail.com |
Much of the information about this course has been found using internet research and is in the public domain. However, useful research sources have been:-
London Illustrated News
Racing Illustrated 1895-1899
The Sporting & Dramatic Illustrated
Northern Turf History Volumes 1-4 by J.Fairfax-Blakeborough
The Sporting Magazine
A Long Time Gone by Chris Pitt first published in 1996 ISBN 0 900599 89 8
Racing Calendars which were first published in 1727 |
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ISBN 978-0-9957632-0-3
652 pages
774 former courses |
ISBN 978-0-9957632-1-0
352 pages
400 former courses |
ISBN 978-0-9957632-2-7
180 pages
140 former courses |
ISBN 978-0-9957632-3-4
264 pages
235 former courses |
| Copies of the above books are only available by emailing johnwslusar@gmail.com stating your requirements, method of payment (cheque payable to W.Slusar) or Bank transfer, and the address where the book(s) should be sent. |
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