BLACKPOOL RACECOURSE

Aintree racecourse;Ascot;Ayr;Bangor;Bath;Beverley;Brighton;Carlisle;Cartmel;Catterick;Cheltenham Festival;Chepstow;Chester;Doncaster St Leger;Epsom Derby;Exeter racecourse;Fakenham;Folkestone;Fontwell Park;Glorious Goodwood;Hamilton Park;Haydock Park;Hereford Racecourse;Hexham;Huntingdon;Kelso;Kempton Park;Leicester;Lingfield;Ludlow;Market Rasen;Musselburgh;Newbury Racecourse;Newcastle;Newmarket;Newton Abbot;Nottingham;Perth;Plumpton;Pontefract Racecourse;Redcar;Ripon;Salisbury;Sandown Park;Sedgefield;Southwell;Stratford;Taunton;Thirsk;Towcester;Uttoxeter;Warwick;Wetherby;Wincanton;Windsor;Wolverhampton;Worcester;Yarmouth;York Ebor

Date    1911        Price £500

Earliest meeting: Wednesday 27th September 1865
Final meeting: Monday 26th April 1915
The earliest record of racing in the famous Lancashire seaside resort of Blackpool was a two day meeting in the grounds of Layton Hall on Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th September 1865 when the opening Visitors Plate was won by Mr T Smith’s Oulton Lowe. Later in the day the Clifton Handicap was also claimed by the same combination, while the next day the Blackpool Handicap was also won by Oulton Lowe despite carrying a 10lb penalty. The final Flat race meeting took place the very next year on 27th September 1866 before racing ceased for over 40 years. In October 1910 an ambitious move was made to organise steeplechase meetings in Blackpool on a grand scale. The Club promoting the idea contained some very prominent members, including the Earl of Lonsdale, Sir Peter Walker and Squire Clifton, and it was to take them less that a year before their dream was realised. Racing began at Clifton Park on 1st August 1911, with a 3 day meeting which opened with the Coronation Gold Cup which was won by Tokay, owned by Mr J Langley. The management team were extremely ambitious in promoting their new course, providing new stands, additional amenities and well above average prize money. The meetings continued for 4 more years until a final meeting on Monday 26th April 1915. The group had been too ambitious and the meeting became unsustainable. Although racing under rules ceased in April 1915, a trotting racecourse was later situated at Highfield Road, with the first meeting taking place on 6th April 1928. Trotting continued until the early 1930s.