Earliest meeting: Thursday 25th October 1722
Final meeting: Friday 8th February 1867
The Northamptonshire market town of Oundle lies on the River Nene some 12 miles south west of Peterborough. It is an ancient town, for there was once an Iron Age settlement on its outskirts. There is some evidence that racing first took place in the town in 1722 when a 2 day meeting was advertised in the Stamford Mercury edition of Thursday 18th October 1722. That meeting took place fron Thursday 25th to Friday 26th October 1722 with details shown below. It is clear that the meeting would either be held in the Meadow or on the 'New Course', implying not only that meetings had been staged prior to this date, but also that a decision on the venue was left to the last minute. Indeed, the venue was dependent on whether there was flooding. The meeting was considered of an inferior quality, and the first meeting under rules was staged on Wednesday 24th July 1839. The course was on Mr Fox’s Hern Meadow, with the meeting managed by Mr John Bullen. Meetings continued for the next 18 years, with the principal race, the Oundle Town Cup, held annually. At the meeting on Wednesday 28th July 1841 the Cup was won by Mr Pye’s Lucks-All, and throughout the meeting the crowd were entertained by the Oundle Band. The final meeting of this prolonged period of racing took place on Friday 13th February 1857, although the Oundle Hunt organised a race meeting in the middle of the 19th century on Friday 8th February 1867 which was held in the nearby village of Glapthorn, less than 2 miles north west of Oundle.
The newspaper extract below is shown courtesy of the Stamford Mercury and British Newspaper Online.
Wednesday 28th July 1841
Oundle Town Cup
1. Lucks-All, aged horse owned by Mr Pye
2. Miniature, aged horse owned by Mr Williams
3. Kate Miller, aged mare owned by Mr Butler
The only recorded meeting took place on Friday 8th February 1867.
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
