Earliest meeting: Tuesday 8th March 1864
Final meeting: Tuesday 6th March 1888
Brackley, in Northamptonshire, is set in glourious countryside which is ideal for hunting. The first record of a race meeting in the town was in March 1669, although the Brackley Town Plate was not contested until a 2 day meeting on Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th April 1678. Skipping forward almost 200 years, the Brackley Union Hunt Committee administered meetings in March 1864 which had the support of members of the nobility. However, at the meeting on Tuesday 7th March 1865 disaster struck when the grandstand, which had been flimsily constructed, collapsed during the second race while full of excited punters. Many people were injured, some with broken ribs, and the Reverend W Bell suffered a broken leg. Meetings continued until Tuesday 2nd March 1869 when the attendance was significantly lower than previous occasions. The Open Hunters’ Steeplechase Plate was won by Mr W Blencowe’s Fleetwing, defeating his other horse Brackley. Nevertheless, the result was controversial because Brackley was the more fancied of the two at 6/4 favourite. There was a lapse in racing for 19 years before a revival meeting was organised by the Mayor, Mr W Blencowe, on Tuesday 6th March 1888. The course was conveniently set within walking distance of Brackley, ‘with fences that were such as might be met on fair hunting ground, and a significant advantage of the course was that every aspect of the race could be seen from the winning field’. The meeting was well attended by the Grafton, Bicester and Brackley Hunt Groups but proved to be the last organised by Brackley Hunt. |
Tuesday 2nd March 1869
Farmers’ Steeplechase Plate over 3 miles
1. Baron Slow, bay gelding owned by Mr T A Bawcott
2. Doctor Parr, aged horse owned by Mr G T Drake
3. Foxley, aged horse owned by Mr W Manning |
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 |
