Earliest meeting: Monday 30th September 1776
Final meeting: Wednesday 28th June 1871
Today Lyndhurst is a large village in the New Forest in Hampshire which is popular with visitors and seen as the administrative capital of the New Forest. Back in the middle of the 18th and 19th centuries it held its own series of race meetings latterly organised by the New Forest Hunt. The first period of racing in the village was from Monday 30th September 1776 until Monday 5th August 1799. Details of these races were shown in the Salisbury and Winchester Journal, but many were confined to Matches or Purses. Although the first recorded meeting of the 19th century took place on Thursday 14th July 1859 in fields adjacent to the village, the card opening with the Railway Stakes which was won by Mr Sadler’s Whimsical who beat Nancy despite her going off the 1/3 favourite, unrecorded meetings had clearly taken place prior to that date. The Cocked Hat Stakes, now run at Goodwood, was contested on 13th September 1837 when won by Bruto, his owner being awarded an inscribed whip which is shown below. The heyday of racing in the town was the eight year period starting in 1863 when regular meetings were held every year. On Monday 28th June 1869, to celebrate Coronation Day the meeting was billed as the New Forest Hunt and Lyndhurst races. The feature Lyndhurst Stakes was won by Toby at 6/1, beating Eruption and the evens favourite Cameroon. The final races were staged on Wednesday 28th June 1871. |
| This racecourse is covered in Volume 2 of Racecourses Here Today and Gone Tomorrow. Ordering details shown below. |
| Local Patrons |
Captain Morant & Captain Timson (Stewards) |
| Principal Races |
Cocked Hat Stakes, Lymington Stakes, New Forest Stakes, Park Hill Stakes |
I am grateful to Sarah and Roger Broughton, whose ancestors first moved to New Zealand in 1856, for the picture of the inscribed whip shown below. It was awarded to the owner of Bruto, owned by Mr Mackinnon,which won the Lyndhurst Cocked Hat Stakes on Wednesday 13th September 1837. In the same race Bobstay, owned and ridden by Captain Johnson, broke his leg and was killed immediately.
The Cocked Hat Stakes was a type of race popular in the middle of the 19th centruy for gentlemen riders who had the option of wearing a 'cocked hat' or putting up an extra 6lb in the Handicap. In a famous Cocked Hat race at Hampton Racecourse in 1823 a rider who came second in the first heat, just being denied victory, believed that the 6lb extra was to blame for his defeat. He appealed to the Stewards to be allowed to wear a cocked hat in subsequent heats, but his request was denied. At a meeting at Oswestry Racecourse in the same year, the St Leger winner Jack Spigot fell in the Cocked Hat Stakes and his rider was killed. |
Thursday 14th July 1859
Innkeepers’ Plate over 1 mile
1. Hassock, bay mare owned by Mr B Land
2. Nancy, grey filly owned by Mr Weymark
3. Eardrop, brown mare owned by Mr Barling |
| The final meeting took place on Wednesday 28th June 1871. |
| Course today |
Initially on Lyndhurst Common and in the 19th century in fields adjacent to the village. |
| If you have photos, postcards, racecards. badges, newspaper cuttings or book references about the old course, or can provide a photo of how the ground on which the old racecourse stood looks today, then email johnwslusar@gmail.com |
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 |
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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 |
| Copies of the above books are only available by emailing johnwslusar@gmail.com stating your requirements, method of payment (cheque payable to W.Slusar) or Bank transfer, and the address where the book(s) should be sent. |
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