GRIMSTHORPE RACECOURSE

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Earliest meeting: Tuesday 26th November 1844
Final meeting: Tuesday 26th November 1844
Grimsthorpe Castle is a country house in Lincolnshire, located about 4 miles north west of the market town of Bourne. Surrounding the house are glorious gardens, a lake and a woodland area landscaped by Capability Brown, and the house has been in the de Eresby family since 1516. Grimsthorpe once held its own race meeting on Tuesday 26th November 1844 over a beautiful line of country starting at Grimsthorpe and heading a mile and a half to Harthorpe before returning to the start to complete a 3 mile course. The umpires for the £100 a side Match were Lord Willoughby and Lord Carrington, and the two contestants were a mare owned by Mr Charlton, the Honourable Mr Willoughby and Dr Parsons, and a colt owned by Mr C Christian. The mare was ridden by Scott, while the colt was ridden by Christian who was the son of the famous jockey Dick Christian. Although the first Grand National is reported to have taken place in 1839 when won by Lottery, three years earlier a similar race was staged in Liverpool when the runner up was Polyanthus, ridden by Dick Christian. In the Grimsthorpe race both horses refused at the first fence, but Scott’s mare reacted first and after scrambling across the fence went on to canter to an easy victory. There are no further records of racing in the town.

This racecourse is covered in Volume 1 of Racecourses Here Today and Gone Tomorrow. Ordering details shown below.
Local Patrons Lord Willoughby, Lord Carrington, Mr R N Munton, Mr B B Ferraby (Stewards)
Principal Races Grimsthorpe £100 Match

Tuesday 26th November 1844
Grimsthorpe Match over 3 miles
1. Unnamed mare owned by Charlton, Willoughby and Dr Parsons
2. Unnamed colt owned by Mr C Christian

The final meeting took place on Tuesday 26th November 1844.
Course today A 3 mile course from Grimsthorpe to Harthorpe and back.
If you have photos, postcards, racecards. badges, newspaper cuttings or book references about the old course, or can provide a photo of how the ground on which the old racecourse stood looks today, then email johnwslusar@gmail.com

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

ISBN 978-0-9957632-0-3

652 pages

774 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-1-0

352 pages

400 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-2-7

180 pages

140 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-3-4

264 pages

235 former courses

Copies of the above books are only available by emailing johnwslusar@gmail.com stating your requirements, method of payment (cheque payable to W.Slusar) or Bank transfer, and the address where the book(s) should be sent.
ORDER FORM
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  Quantity Cost
Volume 1 North of Hatfield £19.99 + £4 postage    
Volume 2 South of Hatfield £14.99 + £3 postage    
Volume 3 Wales & Scotland £9.99 + £3 postage    
Volume 4 Ireland £9.99 + £3 postage    
Volumes 1 - 4 £54.96 + £5 postage    
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Email order form to johnwslusar@gmail.com