Earliest meeting: Thursday 10th July 1834
Final meeting: Wednesday 18th August 1852
Today Pinner is a busy area of the London Borough of Harrow, although it was traditionally in Middlesex, while in the middle of the 19th century it was on the Essex border. The town had its own racecourse which first staged races on Thursday 10th July 1834 when a jockey riding Captain Mason’s horse ran into an oak tree and was knocked unconscious. He was taken to hospital with little hope of recovery. The next year a meeting was staged on Wednesday 12th August 1835 on a course described as an excellent one mile round coursed marked out in a field on Helstone Farm, although the Stewards needed 1000 cart loads of water to moisten the clay, making the sod as springy as velvet. The Hunters Stakes was won by Hokee Pokee and the Hack Stakes rather cleverly by Revealer for Mr Lambden. However, these meetings did not prove to be popular and the project was abandoned after this year, but races returned to Pinner in 1851. In between these dates racing billed as the ‘Dove House’ meeting took place on a farm in Pinner from 1836 to 1839. When racing resumed in 1851 it was accepted with more enthusiasm and support at the meeting on Wednesday 8th October. The Pinner Stakes was won by Defaulter, the Hurdle Race by The General, both of which were owned by Mr Land. The concluding Harrow Stakes went to Mr Evan’s Cingari. The final meeting was staged on Wednesday 18th August 1852.

The Pinner Stakes over twice round and the distance
1. Glenlee owned by Mr Seffert
2. Revealer owned by Mr Lambden
3. Ghost owned by Mr Thompson

The Crack Handicap Stakes
5 sovereigns each with 20 sovereigns added
1. Revealer owned by Mr Lambden
2. Glenlee owned by Mr Seffert
3 others also ran

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