Earliest meeting: Thursday 14th October 1734
Final meeting: Friday 29th September 1820
The earliest recorded races at the remote Scottish town of Caverton Edge, five miles from Kelso, were in 1734 when Baily’s Racing Register first detailed results from the meeting held on Thursday 14th October. The main race, the 25 Guineas Purse, saw Mr Justice’s Miss Modesty overcome the more fancied Whitefoot owned by Sir William Maxwell and Lord Cranston’s Almanzor. In 1751 the Caledonian Hunt Committee donated a 50 Guineas Plate to be contested at Caverton Edge, and from 1760 onwards the fixture was an annual affair.The meeting proved to be very popular and so well supported that in 1778 Caverton submitted an application to build a grandstand. Races continued to be held at Caverton Edge, with horses stabled at Softlaw Farm, until a final two day meeting on Thursday 28th and Friday 29th September 1820 when the Town Plate was won by Mr Loftus’s Middleton, after which Kelso races transferred to a new course at Blakelaw in 1821. No evidence of the former racecourse remains, with much of the ground covered by the Bowmont Forest containing trees planted by the Duke of Roxburgh.

Thursday 14th October 1734

Caverton Edge 25 Guineas Purse
Miss Modesty owned by Mr Justice
Whitefoot owned by Sir William Maxwell
Almanzor owned by Lord Cranston

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

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