Earliest meeting: Monday 8th August 1836
Final meeting: Tuesday 21st August 1849
The earliest record of racing in the West Midlands town of Bloxwich, located near to Walsall on the Staffordshire/West Midlands border, was a two day meeting from Monday 8th to Tuesday 9th August 1836 featuring the Tradesmen’s Purse and Bloxwich Handicap, although the meeting finished with a trotting race. The racecourse was near Pinfold on an area called The Slang, and the Clerk of the Races was Luke Head, a farmer from nearby Fishley, who was also a councillor of the village. Near The Pinfold stood the Swan Inn where farmers and tradesmen met to settle their accounts and argue over the performance of ponies at the last Bloxwich races. Most Bloxwich Inns had a cockpit for the amusement of their patrons and weekly mains were the fashion. Meetings continued on an annual basis and at the event held on Monday 17th August 1840 the Bloxwich Trial Stakes, three times round the course and the distance, was won by Mr Yates’ Jim Crow, while the Hurdle Sweepstakes, consisting of 6 leaps, saw Mr Hughes’ Lansquenet beat Protégé. A final noteworthy meeting was held on Thursday 24th August 1848 although after this date frequent meetings continued into the latter part of the 19th century (as the racecard below shows), but the cards increasingly consisted of pony races.
Monday 17th August 1840
Bloxwich Trial Stakes over 3 times round and the distance
1. Jim Crow, bay gelding owned by Mr Yates
2. Lucy, bay filly owned by Mr W Beech
3. Louisa, bay filly owned by Mr Moss
I am grateful to John Griffiths for allowing the scans shown below to be included on the site.
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
