Earliest meeting: Friday 28th April 1871
Final meeting: Wednesday 25th May 1910
The Birmingham suburb of Hall Green is in the south of the city between Shirley and Sparkbrook. Originally called Hawe Green in 1562, the place was named after the Hawe family who owned property and pastureland in the area in 1325. The inaugural race meeting, organised by the Hall Green Hunt Group, took place on Friday 28th April 1871 on a one mile course laid out on enclosed fields within Gospel Farm owned by Mr Joseph Page. Today the course would be bounded by Lakey Lane, Shirley Road and Parish Road. The opening Hunters’ Handicap Steeplechase went to outsider Glenarvon who got the better of 6/4 favourite Red Knob. Later in the meeting the feature Hall Green Hunters’ Steeplechase went to Kemerton. Meetings were popular and well-supported, so much so that by the early 1880s there were two meetings a year, one in May and the other in November. Once the National Hunt Committee changed the rules to ensure that all courses were enclosed, Hall Green chose to redesign their course and construct new fences in 1883 to comply with the new rules. This proved to be a successful time for the course, although at the meeting held in 1888 there was a fatal injury when a spectator, William Garrish, was struck by Vagabond and died later in the year from his injuries. Whilst the meetings were always popular, the course and its management were suspect, and this caused problems for horses, jockeys and the viewing public. Indeed, at the 1908 meeting one of the horses was fatally injured and its body was stolen from the course without the management realising. The final meeting was staged on Wednesday 25th May 1910 with Islington Beau winning the last Kings Heath Chase.

Kings Heath Steeplechase, Birmingham Hunters’ Handicap Chase, Shirley Chase

Friday 9th May 1873
Birmingham Hunters’ Steeplechase over 3 miles
1. Victory, 4 year old owned by Mr W Tyler
2. Snowdrop, aged horse owned by Mr C Aston
3. Cigarette, aged horse owned by Mr A J Aston
Betting: 2/1 Snowdrop, 3/1 Cigarette, 3/1 Malt Dust, 5/1 Victory

Meetings continued until 1910, with the final meeting, an all steeplechase meeting, taking place on Wednesday 25th May 1910.

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