Earliest meeting: Tuesday 3rd April 1838
Final meeting: Wednesday 15th July 1857
The Ise of Sheppey is an island of 36 square miles in the Thames Estuary off the northern coast of Kent. Orignally access was via ferry, but the first bridge was completed on 19th July 1860. However, 22 years before this the Isle held its first race meeting on Tuesday 3rd April 1838 with the opening Mark Banks’ Sweepstake being won by Mr Coventry who defeated the Mr Crafton owned Kate. The course was located a quarter of a mile from Sheeness on Sheppey Court. At the meeting on Wednesday 1st August 1855 the Welter Stakes was won by Mr Hobson’s Minos, and the Handicap Plate by Mr Ottaway’s Fidgety Girl. The 1857 meeting, held on Wednesday 15th July, took place in the Meadows belonging to Mr E H Banks and proved to be the final meeting.
Tuesday 3rd April 1838
Mark Banks’s Steeplechase Sweepstake
1. Unnamed mare owned by Mr Coventry and ridden by Bowman
2. Kate owned by Mr Crafton and ridden by Norton
3. Unnamed bay owned by Mr Banks and ridden by Shrimpton
Banks’s 4 mile Steeplechase
1. Robin Hood owned by Mr Leigh
2. Unnamed by owned by Mr Corbet
3. Duvernay owned by Mr Banks
The article below is from the South Eastern Gazette and gives details of the meeting which took place on Wednesday 19th July 1854, and is shown courtesy of the British Newspaper Archives Online.
Wednesday 1st August 1855
The Welter Stakes over 1 ½ miles
1. Minos owned by Mr G Hobson
2. Break o’ Day Boy owned by Mr Darby
3. Old Misery owned by Mr P Barling
Isle of Sheppey Handicap Plate over 1 ½ miles
1. Fidgety Girl owned by Mr Ottaway
2. Grey Chicken owned by Mr C Formby
3. Marchioness owned by Mr Barling
In 1857 the meeting took place in the Meadows belonging to Mr E H Banks on the Wednesday 15th July 1857 and proved to be the final meeting.
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
