On April 17, 2019, Chester Racecourse, on the banks of the River Dee in Cheshire, North West England, officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the ‘Oldest Racecourse Still In Operation’. Chester was established as a racecourse in 1539, when the Mayor of Chester, Henry Gee, decreed that a horse racing meeting should be held annually on Shrove Tuesday, as a replacement for the infamous Goteddsday football match, which had been banned some years earlier.

It would be fair to say that, even in the better part of half a millenium, Chester Racecourse has changed very little. Its nickname, the ‘Roodee’, is derived from the remnants of an ancient stone obelisk, which can still be seen in the middle of the course, but once stood on a small island in the River Dee. ‘Rood’ is the Old English word for ‘crucifix’, so ‘Rood Eye’ (hence ‘Roodee’) means ‘Island of the Cross’.

In addition to being the oldest racecourse in Britain, Chester is also the smallest. A flat, left-handed circular course, approximately nine furlongs in circumference, Chester is on the turn almost throughout and has a very short home straight, less than two furlongs long. Thus, horses that race prominently are heavily favoured, but the outlook for long-striding types is less promising.

Seasonal highlights include the Chester Cup, a ‘Heritage Handicap’ run over an extended two and a quater miles, and the Chester Vase, a Group 3 contest run over a mile and a half; the latter is a recognised trial for the Derby at Epsom. Both races are staged during the three-day May Festival.

The first purpose-built racecourse in Britain was, in fact, Sandown Park, which is situated in the town of Esher, Surrey, within the boundaries of Greater London. Obviously, Sandown Park is by no means the oldest racecourse in the country; Chester, established in 1539, Newmarket, established in 1636 and Ascot, established in 1711, to name but three, are all centuries older. Nevertheless, Sandown Park had the distinction of being the first racecourse to be designed and constructed specifically for the purpose, with a boundary fence, enclosures, a grandstand and – for the first time in the history of British racing – an admission fee, of two shillings and sixpence.

The brainchild of Lieutenant Colonel Owen Williams or, more specifically, his younger brother, Hwfa, the construction of Sandown Park was not without controversy. Nevertheless, as reported in ‘Bell’s Life in London, and Sporting Chronicle’, the weekly sporting newspaper of the day, the first meeting was staged on the newly-opened course on April 22, 1875. Any initial scepticism was soon dispelled and Sandown Park has continued to flourish ever since.

A right-handed, galloping course, Sandown Park stages top-class Flat and National Hunt racing throughout the year, but is characterised by a stiff, uphill finish, which places the emphasis on stamina under both codes. Seasonal highlights include the Bet365 Gold Cup, formerly the Whitbread Gold Cup, in April, the Coral-Eclipse Stakes in July and the Tingle Creek Chase in December. ‘Over the sticks’, Sandown Park is considered one of the toughest jumping tests in the country for steeplechasers, especially novices.

The distinction of having the longest, uniterrupted circuit in Britain, without breaks or chutes, belongs to Pontefract Racecourse. Established in 1790 and situated in Pontefract Park, on the outskirts of the historic market town of the same name in West Yorkshire, Pontefract Racecourse is exclusively a Flat racing venue, although it did stage hurdle and steeplechase races earlier in its history.

Originally, the course was horseshoe-shaped, approximately a mile and a half from start to finish, but in 1983 was extended to form a complete, left-handed oval, a little over two miles in circumference.Pontefract Racecourse is characterised by pronounced undulations which, together with a sharp turn into the home straight, which is just a little over two furlongs long, make it fairly sharp in character. That said, the last six furlongs, especially the last three, are uphill, so the course is testing. There is no straight course and sprint races, over five and six furlongs, are run around a left-handed bend.

Despite being the longest continuous circuit in the country, Pontefract Racecourse is not home to the longest Flat race run in Britain, at least not quite. That honour belongs to the Queen Alexandra Stakes, a conditions race run over two miles, five furlongs and 143 yards on the final day of Royal Ascot in June. Nevertheless, the Pontefract Marathon Handicap, run over two miles, five furlongs and 139 yards in April, has the distinction of being the longest Flat handicap run in Britain.

Not to be confused with the long-since-defunct Galleywood Racecourse, a.k.a. Chelmsford Racecourse, on Galleywood Common in Chelmsford, Essex, which staged its last meeting in 1935, the newest racecourse in Britain is, in fact, Chelmsford City Racecourse. Despite the name, the racecourse is actually situated in Great Leighs, halfway between Chelmsford and Braintree and nearly ten miles north of Chelmsford itself.

Indeed, in its original, short-lived incarnation, which lasted just eight months, Chelmsford City Racecourse was known as Great Leighs Racecourse. A left-handed, Polytrack circuit, originally built by local entrepreneur John Holmes, Great Leighs Racecourse opened, to considerable acclaim, as the first all-new course on British soil since Taunton in 1927, in April 2008. However, it staged its final card in January 2009, closed and went into adminstration with debts of £25 million.

The course and facilities were mothballed, with a view to reopening at some point, but it was not until January 2015, following multimillion pound investment, that Chelmsford City Racecourse was ready to rise from the ashes of its doomed predecessor. The first, trial meeting, staged in front of an audience of 800 invited guests, took place on January 11, 2015, but Chelmsford City has since gone from strength to strength. Indeed, as a fully-floodlit, all-weather venue, it is one of the buisiest racecourses in the country. Seasonal highlights include the Chelmer Fillies’ Stakes, run over six furlongs in late April or early May, and the Queen Charlotte Fillies’ Stakes, run over sevn furlongs in July.