Earliest meeting: Monday 26th September 1825
Final meeting: Wednesday 23rd September 1846
The small county Fingal town of Lusk is located 14 miles north of Dublin city centre and held its own series of races for a prolonged period in the early to middle part of the 19th century. One of the first two day meetings took place on the Moor on Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th September 1825; the crowd was beyond expectation, with a great number of handsome equipages as well as countless horsemen and pedestrians. The Handicap on the opening day attracted a field of nine and was won by Mr Stackpoole’s mare after a nail-biting finish with Lord Howth’s Potteen. On the second day the Handicap went to Mr Logan’s Dandy, while the concluding sweepstake, which was won by Mr Caldwell’s Mary Anne, was run under moonlight which was remarkably bright and added greatly to the beauty of the scene. Meetings were always well attended, continuing on an annual basis for over 20 years. The racecourse received a significant boost when the Great Southern and Western Railway agreed to sponsor races at the track in 1844, making it only the second track to receive such sponsorship, the first being just 5 days previous was at Bellewstown. The final two day meeting to be widely reported in newspapers took place on Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd September 1846 and once again benefitted from the support of a railway company. The Dublin and Drogheda Railway Company provided special excursions which were crowded to excess, so it was highly appropriate that the opening race was the Railway Stakes over a mile and a half which went to Mr St George’s Frivolous. The Hurdle race began day two, resulting in a good battle between The Ace of Diamonds and The Sporting Baker, while the meeting concluded with the Lusk Hunters’ Stakes in which Lord Howth’s strongly fancied Rodney had to settle for second place behind Mr Irwin’s Patriot.

Wednesday 23rd September 1846
LusK Hurdle Race over 1 ½ miles and 4 flights of hurdles
1. The Ace of Diamonds, bay gelding owned by Mr Hogge
2. The Sporting Baker, bay gelding owned by Mr Jessop
3. Gadfly, bay gelding owned by Mr Holden

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