Earliest meeting: Thursday 14th March 1861
Final meeting: Thursday 14th March 1861
The Hertfordshire market town of Hitchin was first mentioned in the 7th century when known as a place where the Hicce people gathered, although in the Domesday Book the town is known as a Royal Manor. The town was the central point around which race meetings organised by the Hertfordshire Hunt were based. The inaugural card was held on Thursday 14th March 1861 in the nearby village of Buntingford. The small market town , on the River Rib, lies in East Hertfordshire and enjoys an ideal location close to the old Roman road of Ermine Street. Entries for the meeting were made at the Sun Inn, although entries did not come up to expectation and, as a consequence, fields were small. The course was an interesting figure of 8, containing obstacles of a sufficiently imposing nature, including a wide brook and formidable water jump. The meeting opened with the Hunters’ Stakes which saw Mr Hunt’s Flying Buck beat Miss Kensworth and Inkerman, while the feature race, the United Hunt Stakes over 4 miles, was won by Mr Hunt’s The Pilot. Meetings followed in later years at Stevenage, Pirton, Letchworth and Hitchin, continuing under rules for a further 17 years until a final card was staged on Friday 22nd March 1878. Even after this date meetings were organised well into the start of the 20th century, but were by then popular point-to-point meetings. |
Thursday 14th March 1861
United Hunt Stakes over 4 miles
1. The Pilot, chestnut gelding owned by Mr Hunt
2. Bishop, brown gelding owned by Mr W Sworder
3. Tom Sayers, chestnut gelding owned by Mr J Smyth |
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 |
