Which is the oldest racecourse in Britain?

Established in 1539, perhaps surprisingly, on the site of a Roman harbour on the River Dee, Chester Racecourse is the oldest racourse in Britain, according to Guinness World Records. Chester Racecourse is also known as the ‘Roodee’ or ‘Roodeye’, meaning ‘Island of the Cross’, after the silt island which, by the Middle Ages, had accumulated in the middle of the watercourse and once bore a stone cross.

The first recorded race at Chester Racecourse was staged on February 9, 1539 and, in his second term as Mayor of Chester, Henry Gee gave his seal of approval to an annual meeting, which was held on Shrove Tuesday until 1609 and on St. George’s Day thereafter. Gee died in 1545, but is commemorated by the Henry Gee Stakes, run annually in July.

Chester Racecourse prospered and, although the first grandstand wasn’t built until 1817, the Dee Stakes, nowadays a Listed race, was run for the first time in 1813. The Chester Cup was inaugurated, as the Tradesman’s Cup, in 1824 and was followed by the Chester Vase, still a recognised Derby trial, in 1907. Some years earlier, in 1892, the racecourse was enclosed and admission charges made for the first time.

Who holds the course record for the 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas?

The 2,000 Guineas and 1,000 Guineas, both run over the Rowley Mile at Newmarket Racecourse in late April or early May, are the first two Classics of the season. The 2,000 Guineas, which was inaugurated in 1809, is open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies, while the 1,000 Guineas, which was inaugurated in 1814, is restricted to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies.

Unsurprisingly, as far as the fastest winning times are concerned, there is only half a second to choose between the two races. Interestingly, though, granted that fillies are officially considered 3lb inferior to colts – at least, that is the weight-for-sex allowance they receive in the 2,000 Guineas – it is the 1,000 Guineas that has produced the fastest winning time. That time, 1 minute and 34.22 seconds, was recorded by the Giants Causeway filly Ghanaati, trained by Barry Hills and ridden by his son, Richard, who beat 13 opponents on good to firm going in 2009.

The fastest winning time in the 2,000 Guineas, 1 minute and 34.72 seconds, was also recorded on good to firm going, but much more recently; in fact, by the most recent winner, Kameko, trained by Andrew Balding and ridden by Oisin Murphy, in 2020.

What is a ‘Pattern’ race?

A ‘Pattern’ race is a horse race that is assigned Group One, Group Two or Group Three status, on the Flat, or Grade One, Grade Two or Grade Three status, in National Hunt racing. In both cases, these races represent the highest tiers, in terms of quality, prestige and value, but are ranked by two different bodies, with the power to upgrade or downgrade races from one season to the next.

On the Flat, ‘Group’ status, which is only awarded to non-handicap races of sufficient calibre, is assigned by the European Pattern Committee. The European Pattern Race system, which regulates so-called ‘black type’ races in France and Germany as well as in Britain and Ireland, was introduced in 1971. At that time, Pattern races were structured, in order of importance, as major international races, minor international races and major domestic races.

In National Hunt racing, the Jump Pattern Committee performs a similar function to the European Pattern Committee, but operates under the auspices of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and, as such, covers Britain alone. The National Hunt Pattern actually pre-dates the European Pattern Race system by two years, but was revised by the forerunner of the BHA, the Jockey Club, in 1989, to create the basis of the current system. The National Hunt Pattern includes several high-profile handicap races, not least the Grand National.

What is a maiden race?

What is a maiden race? A maiden race is a race for, well, maidens or, in other words, a race in which none of the participants has won a race in its selected discipline. The key phrase here is ‘in its selected discipline’, because a horse that has won a race in one discipline may still be eligible to run in maiden races in another. A horse that has won on the Flat, including under National Hunt Rules, for example, remains eligible for maiden races over hurdles, or fences for that matter, until such a time as it wins a race over one type of obstacle or the other.

Maiden races are run under both codes of horse racing – that is, Flat and National Hunt – and, by their very nature, are typically contested by young, inexperienced horses at the start of their careers. Of course, it is possible that moderate horses run many times before winning a race and some never do, so they could remain eligible to run in maiden races for most, or all, of their careers. That said, eligibility is often based on age and/or sex, so not all maidens are qualified to run in all maiden races.

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