Earliest meeting: Thursday 6th May 1886
Final meeting: Tuesday 1st July 1913
The county Wicklow village of Carnew is located a mile from the border with county Wexford and was first recorded in 1247 when known as Carnebothe. Although race meetings took place prior to 1886, cards invariably included pony races, but at the meeting on Thursday 6th May 1886, held on the Mulrony course in sight of Carnew Castle, the principal races were the Carnew Plate, the Shillelagh Plate and the Umbegar Steeplechase Plate for hunters. Traditionally Lord Fitzwilliam sponsored the feature race, the Fitzwilliam Plate, and at the meeting on Thursday 27th April 1899 his horse Hospice was beaten into second place by Mr R Inman’s Bella Anna, while in the prestigious Carnew Handicap, over a mile and a half, Goodshot got the better of The Chief and Nahilla. It was a popular course in the late 19th century, but suffered a decline in attendance leading up to the First World War, although the announcement made on Thursday 6th August 1914 that all meetings scheduled for 1914 were cancelled was as a consequence of the Irish Railway Company not being able to transport racehorses because they were too busy with the War effort. Therefore, the final meeting held at Carnew was on Tuesday 1st July 1913 and racing did not return after the War. |
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 |
