Earliest meeting: Friday 25th October 1822
Final meeting: May 1857
Shifnal is a Shropshire market town about 3 miles from Telford and conveniently located on the Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton railway line. The town is surrounded by glorious open countryside well-suited to hunting and the town could call on the local Albrighton, Wellington and Shropshire Hunt Groups when it held race meetings over a 35 year period. The ‘County History of Shropshire’ recorded that racing first took place in Shifnal in October 1822, continuing for just one more year before there was a 10 year lapse. At the meeting on Friday 23rd October 1835 the Shifnal Sweepstakes over 2 miles went to Captain Lamb’s Miss Charlotte, while the Ladies Purse was won by Matador. On Thursday 14th May 1846 Mr Skerratt had a very good day winning the Shifnal Handicap with Intrepid and the South Shropshire Stakes with Felix. The final meeting took place in May 1857.
Friday 23rd October 1835
Shifnal Hunters Stakes over 1 ½ miles
1. Tutela, bay filly owned by Mr Page
2. The Cobbler, bay gelding owned by Mr Giffard
3. My Lady, brown filly owned by Sir J Gerard
Friday 23rd October 1835
Shifnal Sweepstakes over 2 miles
1. Miss Charlotte owned by Captain Lamb
Shifnal Ladies Purse over 1 ½ miles
1. Matadore owned by Mr Painter
Friday 25th & Saturday 26th May 1838
The South Shropshire Stakes over a mile and a half
1. Jim Crowe owned by Mr James
2. Bathany owned by Mr Topham
3. Margravine owned by Mr Arrowsmith
Shifnal Hurdle over 2 miles with 4 hurdles
1. True Blue owned by Mr Stevenson
2. Duenna owned by Mr Jenkins
3. Bolivar owned by Mr McDonough
Thursday 14th May 1846
The Shifnal Cup over 2 ½ miles donated by J Skerratt and A W Hill
1. Dulcet owned by Mr Parr
2. Unnamed filly by Verulam owned by Lord Caledon
3. Jonathan Wild owned by Mr O’Brien
The Shifnal Handicap over 2 miles donated by A W Hill
1. Intrepid owned by Mr Skerratt
2. Unnamed colt, brother to Sir Henry, owned by Mr A Johnstone
3. Yardley owned by Lord Warwick
The South Shropshire Stakes over 1 ¼ miles donated by A Lyndon & J Ball
1. Felix owned by Mr Skerratt
2. Unnamed filly by Heron owned by Mr Whitehouse
3. Unnamed colt by King Cole owned by Mr Walters
John Cary (1754-1835) was an English cartographer who published his atlas, The New and Correct English Atlas, in 1787. In 1794 he was commissioned by the Postmaster General to survey all English roads. The map shown below is an extract from his 1794 work.
The Sporting Magazine of 1846 records al meeting at Shifnal took place on Thursday 14th May 1846 with details of the races shown above.
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
