Earliest meeting: Thursday 16th September 1742
Final meeting: Thursday 11th April 1901
The earliest recorded race meeting to take place in Haverfordwest, the county town of Pembrokeshire, was on Thursday 16th September 1742 with the meeting deemed to be so important that John Cheny included the result in his Historical List of that year. However, Bailey's Racing Register first included the 1768 two day meeting which was held on Tuesday 30th and Wednesday 31st August. On the first day the Purse was won by Mr Wilkin’s bay horse Lofty after two heats, defeating Rambridge and Nonpareil, while the next day a Hunter’s Plate saw Mr Bowen’s Garret beat Brown Charlotte. After a day off for hunting on the Thursday, the Town Purse was scheduled to take place on Friday but only two horses entered, each being awarded five Guineas. The Bath Chronicle provided a detailed report of the meeting held on Tuesday 29th June 1773 ‘to cater for gentry pursuits’ on Portfield, or Poorfield, a large area of common land just outside the town. A few days prior to the meeting subscribers had to meet at the Castle Inn in the town to register their entries; the Inn also played host on the day of the races by providing Ordinaries. Celebrations at that inaugural meeting extended over a 5 day period to include three days of horse racing, a boat race and a yacht race. The principal race at that early meeting, the Hunters Purse, was won by Mr Bowen’s chestnut gelding Garret, getting the better of Crab and Childers. Meetings continued for almost 40 years until a three day event from Monday 10th to Wednesday 12th August 1812. The meeting opened with a four mile all-age Handicap which was won by Mr Powell’s Ad-Libitum from Kill Devil owned by Mr Colby. The next day the four mile race was restricted to horses bred in Wales, with Mr Batine’s Surprize springing a surprise against the more fancied Mountain Lass. The festival concluded on the Wednesday with a Free Plate sponsored by Mr Campbell which provided Ad-Libitum with a second victory at the meeting. By 1829 the meeting moved to a new location bisected by the B4327 Dale Road; the former racecourse was later taken over by the Cricket Club, the oldest Cricket Club in Wales founded in 1824. The initial two day meeting, staged from Wednesday 26th to Thursday 27th August 1829, opened with the Tradesmen’s Plate run in 2 mile heats. Only two heats were required before Mr Lucas’s The Deuce was declared the winner. The remainder of the two day meeting was dominated by Mr Allies brown 6 year old Sailor, winning the County Members’ Plate on the Wednesday; the Plate sponsored by local MP Sir R B P Phillips, the Orielton Stakes over three and a half miles, and the concluding one mile Handicap Sweepstakes. There was then a prolonged, continuous spell of racing which ended in 1845, although results towards the end of this period were not included in the Racing Calendars. Racing was revived for a single year in 1862 when a meeting took place on Thursday 20th November 1862, opening with the Town Plate when Mr Powell’s Biscuit defeated, amongst others, Gingerbread. The Handicap was won by Mr Yates’ Southampton and the Farmers’ Stakes by Mr G Thomas’s Freshwater. Both Flat and National Hunt racing were revived between 1887 and 1901 at a much improved Portfield course, although they were often billed as ‘Pembrokeshire Hunt’, the very last meeting to be staged on Portfield Common was on Thursday 11th April 1901. |
| This racecourse is covered in Volume 3 of Racecourses Here Today and Gone Tomorrow. Ordering details shown below. |
| Local Patrons |
Lord Kensington, Sir William Mansel |
| Principal Races |
Haverfordwest Silver Cup, Town Plate, Picton Stakes, Orielton Stakes |
Thursday 16th September 1742
Haverfordwest £50 Purse
1. BLACK LEGS, bay horse owned by Mr Edwards 1 1
2. GREYHOUND, bay gelding owned by Mr Bingham 4 2
3. UNNAMED grey mare owned by Mr Merrick 2 3
4. CROP, bay gelding owned by Mr Philipps 3 wdr
4 ran |
Tuesday 29th June 1773
Haverfordwest Hunters Purse
1. Garret, chestnut gelding owned by Mr Bowen
2. Crab, owned by Sir William Mansel
3. Childers, owned by Mr Thomas |
Tuesday 29th June 1773 Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette Thursday 15th July 1773
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29th July 1776 Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette 1st August 1776
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Monday 28th to Thursday 31st July 1794 |
Haverfordwest 3 Mile Plate
1. Unnamed horse by Hyder Ally owned by Lord Kensington
2. Silver Spoon owned by Mr Jones
3. Juliet owned by Mr Roberts
Haverfordwest Free Plate over 4 miles
1. Adventurer owned by Mr Colby
2. Pastor owned by Mr Campbell
Haverfordwest Hunters Stakes over 3 miles
1. Unnamed horse by Hyder Ally owned by Lord Kensington
2. Harlequin owned by Mr Vaughan
3. Cadet owned by Mr Colby |
Tuesday 19th October , Thursday 21st October & Saturday 30th October 1824 |
Haverfordwest Hunters Stakes over a mile
1. Jane owned by Mr Gwyther
2. Trooper owned by Mr J Davies
Haverfordwest Members Plate over the St Leger course
1. Jane owned by Mr Gwyther
2. St Govin owned by Mr Peel
Haverfordwest Silver Cup Handicap Stakes over 2 miles
1. Fiddlededee owned by Mr B Davies
2. Hope owned by Mr Hazard |
James Whyte’s History of the British Turf notes that racing first took place at Haverfordwest, in Pembrokeshire, in 1773 and racing usually consisted of a two day meeting in early August. By 1839 the meeting had moved from Portfield, or Poorfield, a large area of common land just outside the town to the Dle Road. Whyte records the August 1839 races as:-
The Pembrokeshire Stakes;
Haverfordwest Town Plate; |
Extract from Bell’s Life and Sporting Chronicle of Sunday 30th November 1862
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On Thursday 17th April 1884 steeplechase racing was held on the outskirts of the town in the Barsley area. The meeting was advertised in Bell's Life on Saturday 15th March 1884, as shown below, but the results were not subsequently published. The extract below is shown courtesy of Bell's Life and the British Library Online.
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| The final meeting took place on 20th November 1862, although it is thought that both Flat and National Hunt racing was revived in 1887 thorugh to 1901. Certainly a meeting on 2nd and 3rd April 1891 was advertised in the sporting papers. |
I am grateful to Ordnance Survey (© Crown Copyright) for permission to use the map shown below.
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| Course today |
Despite the final meeting taking place over 150 years ago. a significant amount of the racecourse is still visible today. Pictures of the course are shown below. |
| A wonderful set of gates mark the entrance to the course. |
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| Was this the finishing straight and, if so, where was the grandstand? |
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| Was this the circular part of the course or just a viewing area? |
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| Today the main road divides the two sections of the course. However, this would probably have been the final bend leading into the finishing straight. |
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| 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 |
