The Ipswich Racecourse is an area of Ipswich in Suffolk, England, that was formerly a racecourse from 1710 to 1911.
The Ipswich Racecourse is an area of Ipswich in Suffolk, England, that was formerly a racecourse from 1710 to 1911.
The course was on what was part of the then Nacton Heath which at the time was just east of Ipswich, [1] now in Priory Heath Ward, Ipswich. It was 1 mile and 7 furlongs in circumference [2] and ran along the line of the modern Lindberg Road, Cobham Road, parallel to Felixstowe Road as far the modern Hatfield Road before a six furlong finish straight running parallel to Nacton Road to complete the loop.
The earliest mention of annual race meetings in Ipswich was 1710 when a Town Purse was run for by "high mettled racers". [2]
A Royal Plate provided as a prize from 1727 which gave the meetings good support for the next half a century, with the Ipswich Journal running an advertisement for:
Popularity declined slightly until the garrison came to Ipswich in the early 19th century where the officers brought their support to the races.
The course ran a mix of flat and hunt racing, although the last flat race was in 1884 following the withdrawal of the Queen's Plate. From then, it became exclusively a National Hunt course.
The hurdles were unpopular with jockeys and horses alike which, although built to National Hunt rules, lacked wings, which increased the risk of the horses running out unless the jockey approached the centre of the hurdle.
The last race meeting was 29 March 1911 after support had fallen steadily.
The area is now part of a large 1930s housing estate. The Racecourse Recreation Ground comprises a sports area, children's play area and public toilets.
The Racecourse Pub (on Nacton Road) reputedly stood on the site of the finishing line. In 2009 the Racecourse went bankrupt and was demolished later in the year. A Tesco Express and five homes now occupy the site, which was completed in early 2010.
In horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Republic of Ireland, National Hunt racing requires horses to jump fences and ditches. National Hunt racing in the UK is informally known as "jumps" and is divided into two major distinct branches: hurdles and steeplechases. Alongside these there are "bumpers", which are National Hunt flat races. In a hurdles race, the horses jump over obstacles called hurdles; in a steeplechase the horses jump over a variety of obstacles that can include plain fences, water jump or an open ditch. In the UK the biggest National Hunt events of the year are generally considered to be the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
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York Racecourse is a horse racing venue in York, North Yorkshire, England. It is the third biggest racecourse in Britain in terms of total prize money offered, and second behind Ascot in prize money offered per meeting. It attracts around 350,000 racegoers per year and stages three of the UK's 36 annual Group 1 races – the Juddmonte International Stakes, the Nunthorpe Stakes and the Yorkshire Oaks.
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