Earliest meeting: Monday 20th May 1754
Final meeting: Monday 3rd July 1967
The Irish racecourse at the town of Mullingar, the county town of County Westmeath, was a well-supported racecourse administered by the Westmeath Hunt Committee on its Newbrook course. One of the first occasions when racing took place was a full five day meeting stretching from Monday 20th to Friday 24th May 1754. The opening Sportsmen’s Subscription Purse, worth 150 guineas, which is £32,000 in todays money, was won by Mr John Brown’s Flying Piper. True Blue won the four year old Stakes the next day, while the race restricted to Irish bred horses went to Mr Deal’s Hackney. Racing continued intermittently for the next 15 years before it was recorded in the Racing Calendar again when a meeting lasted from Monday 14th to Thursday 17th August 1769. A field of seven, large for that period in history, contested the Sweepstake which saw Mr Armstrong’s Slug beat Hamlet and Justice. Racing continued regularly, but the appeal of the turf and the accessibility to ordinary punters was improved significantly when the railway network was extended in 1849. The Midland and Great Western Railway Company sponsored the Mullingar Steeplechase for £25 at the meeting held in March 1849. There were some boom times, particularly in the latter part of the 19th and early part of the 20th century, when racecourses rewarded their shareholders with large dividends. However, Mullingar started running at a significant loss in 1926 and action was needed. At this time in Irish racing history there was a feeling that Dublin tracks were getting a larger slice of the racing calendar, so thirteen provincial tracks joined forces to form the Irish Provincial Racecourse Executives’ Association led by Mr T J Dowdall from Mullingar. Their aim was to get a fair share of racing fixtures to enable their courses to put themselves on a more secure financial footing. This did not provide a solution to falling crowd sizes and the gradual decline in the quality of racing offered. Eventually the problem became too great and the final meeting took place on Monday 3rd July 1967, but not before the mighty Arkle began in lowly company at Mullingar Racecourse on Saturday 9th December 1961 in the Lough Ennell Maiden Plate, a National Hunt Flat race, finishing third at 5/1, a length and 8 lengths behind Lady Flame (4/1 jt fav) and Kilspindle (9/2).
20th May 1754
Mullingar Sportsmen’s Subscription Purse of 150 Guineas
1. Flying Piper, bay gelding owned by Mr John Brown
2. Amelia, bay mare owned by Mr Hill Forster
21st May 1754
Mullingar £20 4 year old Stakes over 2 miles
1. True Blue, gelding owned by Mr Mahon
2. Unnamed grey filly owned by Magan
3. Unnamed grey filly owned by Mr Tighe
22nd May 1754
Mullingar £20 Irish Bred Race
1. Hackney, bay gelding owned by Mr Deal
2. Pettycoat Tight, bay mare owned by Mr Burrows
3. Unnamed bay gelding owned by Mr Horegan
23rd May 1754
Mullingar £20 Open
1. Skewball, bay gelding owned by Lord Antrim
2. Unnamed mare owned by Mr Taylor
24th May 1754
Mullingar £40 Purse
1. Poppit, bay horse owned by Mr Howard
2. Thwack’em, bay horse owned by Lord Antrim
Monday 18th September 1899
The Kilpatrick Plate over 2 miles
1. Drumcree owned by Mr C Hope
2. Lady Hermit owned by Mr W H Bagnall
3. The Wench owned by Mr P Rogers
The Stand Handicap Plate over a mile and a furlong
1. L’Appel owned by Mr Holmes
2. The Stutterer owned by Mr P I Lennon
3. Majesta owned by Mr J J Parkinson
I am grateful to David Copland for the rare trophy shown below which was won at Mullingar Races on 18th October 1814 by Off She Goes. If anyone can provide further details then please contact me.
The final meeting took place on Monday 3rd July 1967
Tuesday 8th April 1924
Donore Hurdle over 1 1/2 miles
1. WARFATE 5/1 ridden by Tommy Burns
Belvedere Plate over 2 miles
1. GOOD OUTLOOK 3/1 ridden by T J Widger
Stewards Steeplechase over 2 miles
1. WAR FLOUR 5/2 fav ridden by T Kelly jnr
Lough Ennel Plate over 7 furlongs
1. ORBY'S BELL 3/1 ridden by James Doyle
Greville Cup over 2 miles
1. ITALIAN SUMMER 3/1 jt fav ridden by J Hogan jnr
Westmeath Hunt Cup over 3 1/2 miles
1. DAWN OF MAY 2/5 fav ridden by Mr Cleary
The mighty Arkle, a bay gelding by Archive out of Bright Cherry, was the highest ever rated steeplechaser by Timeform at 212, with only Flyingbolt anywhere near Arkle on a rating of 210. Arkle, bred at Ballymacoll Stud, County Meath by Mrs Mary Alison Baker, was owned by Anne, Duchess of Westminster, trained by Tom Dreaper and invariably ridden by Pat Taaffe. Although he went on to win 3 Cheltenham Gold Cups, he began in lowly company at Mullingar Racecourse on Saturday 9th December 1961 in the Lough Ennell Maiden Plate, a National Hunt Flat race, finishing third at 5/1, a length and 8 lengths behind Lady Flame (4/1 jt fav) and Kilspindle (9/2). After contesting another National Hunt Flat race, he then went to Navan on 20th January 1962 where he won the Bective Novice Hurdle over 3 miles, returning to a Mullingar card on Saturday 10th March when the meeting, although billed as Mullingar, actually took place on Naas racecourse, Arkle winning by 4 lengths as 2/1 favourite. Thirty-one races later Arkle retired having won 25 of those races, including the 3 Gold Cups (1964-66), 2 Hennessy Gold Cups (1964 & 1965) and a King George VI Chase (1965) at Kempton.
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
