Earliest meeting: Thursday 28th July 1636
Final meeting: Tuesday 14th June 1808
Irvine is on the coast of the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire and there is evidence of a race meeting taking place on Irvine Town Moor as early as Thursday 28th July 1636. The meeting became known as the Irvine Marymass meeting which was run on Eglinton Park and lays claim to being the oldest race meeting held in Scotland. However, it took a further 200 years before the Eglinton Park Race Club was formed in 1836. Therefore races in the vicinity of Irvine fall into 3 sections; those prior to 1808 (exact course location uncertain); those after 1808 at Bogside, and those from 1836 which were specifically held on Eglinton Park. For the purposes of classification the final meeting at Irvine, and the first at Bogside, was staged on Tuesday 14th June 1808 when the principal Town Plate over 3 miles was won by Mr Bates’ Honest Harry. The Irvine Marymass meeting involving thoroughbreds continued well into the middle of the 19th century, being part of the fabric of burgh society. However, by the 1860s the meeting developed into an excuse to get drunk and become rowdy, causing local people to resent it. Furthermore, the Temperance Society felt drunkenness had got to such a state that they could no longer stand idly by. They created placards showing the effects of excessive alcohol on the body as well as the mind, and by 1867 they were winning their case. Although the Marymass festival and races continue to this day on the Saturday following the third Monday in August, the race now attracts heavy horses, donkeys and ponies rather than thoroughbreds.
Tuesday 14th June 1808
The Irvine Town Plate over 3 miles
1. Honest Harry, 5 year old owned by Mr Bates
2. Sir Charles, 4 year old owned by Lord Montgomerie
3. Petera, 4 year old owned by Mr Henderson
Wednesday 12th May 1824
The Irvine Stakes over 2 miles
1. Caledonian owned by Lord Kelburne
2. The Pirate owned by Mr Baird
3. La Grisette owned by Mr Alexander
The Irvine Stewards Plate over 2 miles
1. The Pirate 4 year old owned by Lord Kelburne
2. The Pirate 5 year old owned by Mr Baird
I am grateful to Ordnance Survey (© Crown Copyright) for permission to use the map shown below.
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I am grateful to John Hodges for providing the 4 maps shown below, and to Ordance Survey (© Crown Copyright) for permission to use the maps.
Circa 1900
Circa 1900
Circa 1940
Races in the vicinity of Irvine have certainly been staged since 1636, although they were probably held on an informal basis well before that date. One of the earliest locations was thought to be a site on which Irvine Academy now stands, and a local housing estate called Racecourse Place is nearby. In 1793 Captain John Watt built Cadgers Racecourse, shown on the 2020 map as Irvine Racecourse. A cadger was a person on horseback employed to collect and deliver letters and parcels. The principal stand used by the public to view the races was an artificial, elevated mound called Salmon's Hill. Although Irvine Marymass races, held annually on 25th March to celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation, were probably held on the former Irvine racecourse, then moved to Bogside in about 1808, but later moved to Cadgers Racecourse.
Circa 2020 (with thabks to Google)
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:-
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
