Earliest meeting: Wednesday 11th June 1851
Final meeting: Tuesday 29th May 1860
The Hampshire village of Twyford lies on the River Itchen just 3 miles south of the city of Winchester. It organised its own race meetings in the middle of the 19th century, the first of which was held on Wednesday 11th June 1851. Meetings were held on Hazeley Down, owned by Mr Cordery, when the opening Hazeley Down Stakes was won by Mr Smith’s Strike-a-Light who beat Pretty Betty. Later in the day the Twyford Down Stakes saw Ferule, for Mr Caffell, beat Half-and-Half. After racing an Ordinary was served at the Dolphin Inn, Twyford. Although racing had been held prior to this date, the racing was of an inferior quality. However, meetings continued to be held annually once a year for the next 9 years. The final curtain came down at the meeting on Tuesday 29th May 1860 when the Twyford Selling Stakes was won by Mr H Goater’s Jayouse from Sandy Mc Pherson, while the feature Winchester Stakes went to Houralak.
Tuesday 29th May 1860
Winchester Stakes
1. Houralak, 3 year old owned by Mr Weymark
2. Experience, 5 year old owned by Mr Percy
3. Impudence, aged horse owned by Mr Anderson
I am grateful to Ordnance Survey (© Crown Copyright) for permission to use the map shown below.
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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
