Earliest meeting: Monday 8th October 1753
Final meeting: Thursday 12th October 1753
The village of Finglas, now a suburb of Dublin, lies in the barony of Castleknock and is named after the Finglas River which flows through the village. Finglas was originally the site of an early Christian Abbey which was founded in 560 AD. The Nethercross from the old Abbey is thought to have survived and is still in the graveyard today. The once prominent Finglass family were lawyers and politicians and took their name from the village. In the middle of the 18th century the village held its own race meetings which were reported in the Historical List of Races of 1753. The four day meeting began on Monday 8th October 1753 with a Silver Cup which was won by Mr W W Smith’s Buckinger. The next day the race was restricted to Irish bred horses and saw Miss Snow, owned by Mr Snow, beat Cavan Lass and Beggarman. On the Wednesday a Large Silver Cup was contested and won by Mr Field’s selection, while the final meeting on Thursday 12th October saw Bully beat Mouse in the last Silver Cup race. The only other evidence of racing taking place in Finglas was on Monday 16th September 1861 when the programme consisted of pony and foot races.

October 1753

Finglas Silver Cup
1. Buckinger, bay horse owned by Mr W W Smith
2. Fear Me Not, brown mare owned by Mr R Powers
3. Unnamed chestnut gelding owned by Mr Field
4. Pretto Catto, mare owned by Mr M Brien
5. Baby, chestnut mare owned by Mr Sinton

Finglas Irish Bred Horses Race
1. Miss Snow, bay mare owned by Mr Snow
2. Cavan Lass, bay mare owned by Mr Burrows
3. Beggarman, bay mare owned by Mr Giles

Finglas Large Silver Cup
1. Unnamed chestnut gelding owned by Mr Field
2. Unnamed bay mare owned by Mr Sherlock
3. Unnamed bay gelding owned by Mr Tennison

Finglas Silver Cup
1. Bully, chestnut gelding owned by Mr Giles
2. Mouse, black mare
3. Shannon Brogan, bay gelding owned by Mr Wade
4. White Stockings, bay gelding owned by Mr Green

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