Earliest Meeting: Late 19th century
Final Meeting: Pre-1900
Racing has always been popular in the West Berkshire racing town of Newbury, from its early days in 1738 at Wash Common, through to racing on Lord Craven’s land at Enborne Heath from 1805, on to meetings at East Woodhay from 1812 to 1815, and then embracing steeplechasing in its early years at Northcroft and Sydmonton. However, once racing ceased at Enborne in 1841 a new venue was sought and found close to the town centre on the marsh land of what is now Victoria Park. It is unclear when meetings at this venue began or ended, except it is thought that intermittently throughout the second half of the 19th century meetings were staged on the Park.
On Easter Monday 2nd April 1888 a meeting took place in Newbury when a young jockey called Charles Paget rode a horse called Unknown in a hurdle race consisting of 8 hurdles. It was the last race of the day and he was later prosecuted for his riding of the horse. Evidence was shown at Newbury Magistrates Court that Unknown was bruised and bleeding after the race, Paget having allegedly used spurs to encourage the horse to run faster. Paget was found guilty of the offence and sentenced to a month with hard labour in Reading Gaol.
The 19th century map below shows the location of Victoria Park relative to Newbury Town Centre.
The Park remains a public recreation area and green space where families can enjoy quality time together, but gone are the days when racing took place on Victoria Park. From 1905 racing enthusiasts only had to travel a mile down the road to glorious modern day racetrack in Greenham.
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
