Newmarket and the History of Horse Racing

By: Keith Driscoll


Newmarket

Newmarket is the home of the British Jockey Club, remains the headquarters of many national and global racing organisations. Newmarket thrived because of its market and a profitable trade in accommodating travellers and so it persisted for centuries, until King James I "discovered" its Heath in Feb 1604 as a fantastic leisure venue for his court and Newmarket's sporting associations began.

Newmarket is well served for trouble-free transport links to the remainder of East Anglia: the A14 takes you in about 20 minutes to Cambridge in the west, where you can enjoy the delights of the ancient University Town. Newmarket racing is rooted in Suffolk history and is alive and kicking turf today as one of the most exciting racetracks in the UK. Newmarket in the morning is a surreal place, busy with the actions of hundreds of centaur-like figures, nonchalant but serious, as though unaware of the peril and absurdity of answering rich men’s whims by educating racehorses to run faster.

Charles II’s involvement from the mid 17th century secured Newmarket’s future at the heart of British racing. The local history of Newmarket is inextricably tied up with the history of horseracing. The historic centre of British racing is today home to the world renowned Newmarket racecourse, the National Stud and the National Horse Racing Museum.

Racing

Newmarket is on the up and up, boasting world class racing and facilities and the strikingly picturesque July Course offering its own unique brand of entertainment over the summer months.

Bronze Age barrows, showing proof of early activity, were scattered across Newmarket Heath until the 19th century when they were removed to make better conditions for horse racing. The Rowley Mile hosts racing of the highest talent during the Spring and Autumn, including two of Britain's five Classic races in early May: the 1000 and 2000 Guineas.

Racehorses

Of course, no stopover to Newmarket is complete without visiting sites associated with its rich sporting heritage as the historic home of horse racing. You can visit the world famous National Stud, take in a tour of the National Horse Racing Museum, and even arrange a tour of the town’s training facilities and gallops. The town has a unique environment consisting of the world's most extensive training grounds (situated on the world's largest expanse of tended grassland), over 2500 racehorses, some 70+ licensed trainers and more than 60 stud farms where the racehorses of the future are bred.

Course

The Rowley Mile racecourse sports a brand new grandstand which is a great feature of this wonderful racetrack. The distinctive thing about teh Rowley mile course is that it is a straight track and has a big dip about two and a half furlongs out which can catch out three year olds, as you need to have a very well balanced horse to keep up an even pace going into the dip and then have the endurance to come back up the dip to finish out the race. In the autumn the Rowley Course stages two further excellent meetings in the Cambridgeshire and Champions' Day race days.

Have a fantastic day out at Newmarket racing.


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