Earliest meeting: Thursday 18th April 1872
Final meeting: Wednesday 3rd May 1876
The Herefordshire market town of Ledbury, on the River Leadon, lies to the east of Hereford which has, until recent times, had its own racecourse. Ledbury has a rich history and dates back from 690, although in the 1086 Domesday Book it was known as Liedeberge. The town held pony and Galloway races in the 1830s and 1840s, and towards the end of the 19th century and early 20th century held point to point meetings. On the outskirts of Ledbury is Massington Lodge and it was in Massington that races under rules took place in the 1870s. The inaugural meeting was held on Thursday 18th April 1872 on an all grass course a mile round with a 2 furlong run-in. The Massington Stakes was the highlight of the card. Meetings continued for the next 4 years until a final meeting on Wednesday 3rd May 1876 when the opening Maiden Plate was won by Mr Wood’s Fuss beating Wild Duck. The feature Massington Stakes fell to Bob Nick and the concluding Match saw the 2/1 ON favourite Acrobat defeat 7/4 Petruchio.

Wednesday 3rd May 1876
Massington Stakes over 3 miles
1. Bob Nick, aged horse owned by Mr George
2. The Doctor, aged horse owned by Mr Philpott
3. Burglar, aged horse owned by Mr Cobden

The final meeting took place on Wednesday 3rd May 1876.

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