Less common at Newton

One of my chums pointed out an article in the latest Current Archaeology magazine about the foundations of the grandstand of Newton racecourse (Haydock’s predecessor) being revealed.  This page shows part of it.   Newton foundations_2

You can’t see them now, as land is being built on. It appears that 142 new homes are being built on the old Newton Common, which seems a shame when there are so many empty buildings that could be refurbished.   This document explains the development, with paragraph 7.30 referring to the racecourse.

http://moderngov.sthelens.gov.uk/documents/s61657/P20160742%20-%20Common%20Road%20Newton-le-Willows.pdf

Coincidentally this was of great interest to one of the four fellow racing authors I’ve been in touch with in the last few days.  It’s funny how these things come in clusters.

I found a snippet of information that might possibly benefit P and passed it on to him.

I pointed out to J a very minor omission from one of his old publications. When he replied I learned about three other projects he is potentially getting involved with.  Officially he is retired but from the sound of it he’ll be as busy as ever.

Andrew, the author of The Blood Is Racing, reviewed here in February, has been in touch after a long time. Unlike us lucky retirees, he’s had to concentrate on earning a crust and further work on the Day family had to be put on ice.  I think he sees light at the end of the tunnel and will be able to get back in the groove later in the year.

A, who has been working on the history of Alexandra Park for quite a long time, has had to contend with an abundance of material. Now he is trying to bring his writing to a conclusion and face up to decisions about the physical production of the book.  Format, pictures, copyright issues, typesetting, printing…

After a long gap I’ve had an opportunity to make more progress scouring the old Sporting Lifes for new material about Salisbury, my old books and one or two other subjects. I am now past halfway down the third box.

I’ve just bought the newish book about Chelmsford races; I haven’t read it yet but I see there are lots of pictures!  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Full-Circle-Horse-Racing-Chelmsford/dp/0993108350

 

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Definitions

The Newmarket Town Plate was in the news this week, partly thanks to the Qatari Sheikh who rode the winner last year being unseated three furlongs from the finish and crashing through the rails.   He wasn’t badly hurt, and only needed a stitch or two to patch up a cut.

It is a race that needs careful definition, as it’s the longest flat race run on a British racecourse, though it’s not run under Jockey Club rules.  It’s been going since 1665, on a unique three and three quarter mile course which doesn’t quite comprise one full circuit.  This year’s race prefaced the first day of the big July meeting, but I distinctly remember seeing it one October when it was part of an Arab horse race meeting.

I’m pretty sure the conditions as well as the timing has changed over the years.  (I’d be glad to hear from anyone who knows.)  Currently riders have to apply to take part, and they have to be “genuine amateurs” – my phrase – as those participating in this year’s race didn’t appear to be the people that are licensed to ride in normal races for amateurs.

Definitions also needed care when I wrote about Bath, which was ostensibly to celebrate their 200th anniversary in 2011.  However, racing around Bath started about a hundred years before on the other side of the city.  The first racing on Lansdown, the area where today’s track is, was in the 1780s.  After a hiatus racing resumed in 1811, but not where it is now; it was about half a mile nearer the city.  Not until 1831 was the current track used.  The wording for publicity for the celebrations couldn’t, in reasonableness, spell out all this.

There was also the old sort-of trick question, “What is the longest race run under Jockey Club Rules?”, to which the answer was the Boat Race.  Is this an old wives’ tale?  I’ve read that this is not the case now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it used to be true.  The JC rules define disqualifiable offences such as crossing in front of your opponent.  I think it’s quite likely that the organisers of the early Boat Races would have used the JC rules rather than invent some of their own.  That’s a line of research I wouldn’t mind pursuing,  but not right now, as Salisbury beckons.

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Rugeley beneficial

A few days in Uttoxeter the week before last gave me a welcome opportunity to revisit the friends I made there, who were so wonderfully helpful to me with my research. It’s five years since I started work on that book and, looking back on it now, it was such fun, and there was an interesting story to tell.  Well, I found it interesting.

Not for the first time, I stayed in Rugeley (the hotels in Uttoxeter are often much more expensive).  Although its greatest fan wouldn’t call it a number one tourist destination, and its four giant cooling towers are visible for miles around, its residents are very close to proper countryside and one of its pluses for me is the drive from there to Uttoxeter.  The twisting and undulating B road, with its views of rural Staffordshire is always very pleasant.

I planned this trip to coincide with a race meeting on a relatively quiet day, which suits me.  The big music nights and festivals they have there continue to pack in the crowds.  They’re not sitting on their laurels, either, and they are formulating plans for more improvements to the facilities.

My two weekly racing columns have become great time-stealers. What effort I can get away with putting into them, versus the time I actually spend thinking about and writing them to try and make them that bit better, are two very different amounts.  Another time drain has been my acquisition three or four months ago of a small share of a horse, particularly in the last fortnight when I have been to see him run twice at far-flung Midlands race tracks.

These are my excuses for not doing too much work on Salisbury in the last two weeks. However, a couple of regular weekly appointments have just come to an end and though they’ll resume in about three months, until then I have extra time to devote to it.  I feel that I am at least halfway through the information-gathering, and as I had mentally set aside 2017 for the research that means I am on target.

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