Why is the Rowley Mile at Newmarket so-called?
Compared to other countries and sports like NFL in the US, there is so much history to our sport. Newmarket has two racecourses, the Rowley Mile, which is the older of the two, and the July Course. ‘Old Rowley’ was a stallion belonging to King Charles II, who was a passionate horse racing enthusiast and spent much of his time – too much, in the eyes of Parliament – in Newmarket. Indeed, the ‘Merry Monarch’, as he was popularly known, was largely responsible for the development of the town as a national centre for horse racing.
Away from the racecourse, Charles II was a notorious womaniser, with a string of mistresses, of which Eleanor ‘Nell’ Gwyn was probably the most famous. All told, he fathered 14 illegitimate children and his scandalous liaisons were seized upon by wits of the day, who ridiculed the King by nicknaming him ‘Old Rowley’ or simply ‘Rowley’, in reference to the aforementioned stallion. Old Rowley, the stallion, was ‘renowned for the number and beauty of its offspring’, so the joke was that, in terms of his own prowess, the King was not unlike his nicknamesake. Nevertheless, Charles II was a popular monarch in his day and, in 2017, a statue of him was unveiled at Newmarket Racecourse to celebrate 350 years of racing at his favourite venue.
On May 28, 1955, the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) called a national rail strike, which would not be called off until June 14, when pay rises were awarded. On May 31, following a meeting of the Privy Council at Balmoral Castle, the Queen declared a state of emergency, with emergency regulations coming into force the following day.
Most recently, Darryl Holland hit the headlines when, in March, 2021, he embarked on a second career as a trainer, based at Harraton Court in Exning, near Newmarket, which he has owned since 2008. However, Holland, 48, remains best known as globetrotting jockey, who rode winners in jurisdictions as far afield as Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Mauritius, South Korea and the United States, as well as in Britain, during a long, illustrious career.
In terms of column inches, Hollie Doyle may have been upstaged by the historic achievements of her National Hunt counterpart Rachael Blackmore in recent seasons, but the ‘Pocket Rocket’, as she’s affectionately known, has continued to break records in her own right. Prior to 2019, the record for the most wins in a calendar year for a British female jockey was 106, set by Josephine Gordon in 2017. However, in 2019, Doyle rode 116 winners and, in 2020, broke her own record with 151 winners.