Location | Esher, Surrey |
---|---|
Owned by | Jockey Club Racecourses |
Date opened | 1875 |
Screened on | Racing TV |
Course type | Flat National Hunt |
Official website |
Sandown Park is a horse racing course and leisure venue in Esher, Surrey, England, located in the outer suburbs of London. It hosts 5 Grade One National Hunt races and one Group 1 flat race, the Eclipse Stakes. It regularly has horse racing during afternoons, evenings and on weekends, and also hosts many non racing events such as trade shows, wedding fairs, toy fairs, car shows and auctions, property shows, concerts, and even some private events. It was requisitioned by the War Department from 1940-1945 for World War II. The venue has hosted bands such as UB40, Madness, Girls Aloud, Spandau Ballet and Simply Red. The racecourse is close to Esher railway station served by trains from London Waterloo. There is a secondary exit from Esher station which is open on race days, this exit leads directly into the racecourse and Lower Green, Esher. [1]
Sandown Park was one of the first courses to charge all for attending. It opened in 1875 and everyone had to pay at least half a crown. The first meeting was over three days, starting on Thursday 22 April, and included the Grand National Hunt Chase, now staged at the Cheltenham Festival. The Grand International Steeple Chase took place on the Saturday, worth £2,130 to the winner, and was the largest prize for a steeplechase that season, unusually even eclipsing that for the Liverpool Grand National. [2]
In 1875, Sandown became the first course in England to have a members' enclosure. [3]
Month | Meeting | DOW | Race Name | Type | Grade | Distance | Age/Sex |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
January | Friday | Grand Military Gold Cup | Chase | Conditions | 3m | 6yo + | |
February | Saturday | Masters Handicap Chase | Chase | Handicap | 3m | 5yo + | |
February | Saturday | Scilly Isles Novices' Chase | Chase | Grade 1 | 2m 4f | 5yo + | |
February | Saturday | Heroes Handicap Hurdle | Hurdle | Premier Hcap | 2m 6f | 4yo + | |
March | Saturday | Imperial Cup | Hurdle | Premier Hcap | 2m | 4yo + | |
March | Saturday | EBF Novices' Hurdle | Hurdle | Premier Hcap | 2m 4f | 4yo-7yo | |
April | Friday | Sandown Mile | Flat | Group 2 | 1m | 4yo + | |
April | Friday | Sandown Classic Trial | Flat | Group 3 | 1m 1f 209y | 3yo only | |
April | Friday | Esher Cup | Flat | Handicap | 1m | 3yo | |
April | Friday | Gordon Richards Stakes | Flat | Group 3 | 1m 1f 209y | 4yo + | |
April | Saturday | Bet365 Gold Cup | Chase | Premier Hcap | 3m 5f | 5yo + | |
April | Saturday | Celebration Chase | Chase | Grade 1 | 2m | 5yo + | |
May | Thursday | Henry II Stakes | Flat | Group 3 | 2m 50y | 4yo + | |
May | Thursday | Brigadier Gerard Stakes | Flat | Group 3 | 1m 1f 209y | 4yo + | |
May | Thursday | National Stakes | Flat | Listed | 5f 10y | 2yo | |
May | Thursday | Heron Stakes | Flat | Listed | 1m | 3yo | |
May | Thursday | Whitsun Cup | Flat | Handicap | 1m | 4yo+ | |
July | Saturday | Eclipse Stakes | Flat | Group 1 | 1m 1f 209y | 3yo + | |
July | Saturday | Sprint Stakes | Flat | Group 3 | 5f 10y | 3yo + | |
August | Saturday | Atalanta Stakes | Flat | Group 3 | 1m | 3yo + f | |
August | Saturday | Solario Stakes | Flat | Group 3 | 7f | 2yo only | |
December | Friday | Esher Novices' Chase | Chase | Grade 2 | 3m | 4yo + | |
December | Friday | Winter Novices' Hurdle | Hurdle | Grade 2 | 2m 4f | 4yo + | |
December | Saturday | Henry VIII Novices' Chase | Chase | Grade 1 | 2m | 4yo + | |
December | Saturday | Tingle Creek Chase | Chase | Grade 1 | 2m | 4yo + |
Horse racing is the second largest spectator sport in Great Britain, and one of the longest established, with a history dating back many centuries. According to a report by the British Horseracing Authority it generates £3.39 billion total direct and indirect expenditure in the British economy, of which £1.05 billion is from core racing industry expenditure, and the major horse racing events such as Royal Ascot and Cheltenham Festival are important dates in the British and international sporting and society calendar.
Esher is a town in the Elmbridge district, in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole.
Lingfield Park Racecourse is a horse racing course at Lingfield in Surrey, United Kingdom. It is owned by the ARC Racing and Leisure Group, formerly Arena Leisure Plc.
National Hunt racing is a form of horse racing particular to France, Great Britain, and Ireland, that requires horses to jump fences and ditches. In the UK it is divided into two major distinct branches, hurdling and steeplechase, as well as flat races called "bumpers". Hurdling involved the horses jumping over obstacles called hurdles, whereas 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.
Aintree Racecourse is a racecourse in Aintree, Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, bordering the city of Liverpool. The racecourse is the venue for the Grand National steeplechase, which takes place annually in April over three days. Aintree also holds meetings in May and June, October (Sunday), November and December.
Cheltenham Racecourse at Prestbury Park, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, hosts National Hunt horse racing. Racing at Cheltenham took place in 1815, but comprised only minor flat races on Nottingham Hill. The first racing on Cleeve Hill was on Tuesday 25 August 1818 when the opening race was won by Miss Tidmarsh, owned by Mr E Jones. It was a year later when the results were printed in the Racing Calendar when a programme of flat racing was watched by the Duke of Gloucester who donated 100 Guineas to the prize fund. By 1831 races were being staged at Prestbury, although not on the present day course. In 1834 the Grand Annual Steeplechase was run for the first time. In 1839 Lottery won the Grand Annual having previously won the first Aintree Grand National. In 1840 the meeting transferred to Andoversford for a brief period, only to return to Prestbury in 1847. 1902 was a notable year in that racing moved to the present course at Prestbury Park. The new stands were completed in 1914 and the present day Festival races, as we know them, began to take shape. The Cheltenham Gold Cup, over 3 ¼ miles, was run for the first time in 1924, with the Champion Hurdle following in 1927.
Kempton Park Racecourse is a horse racing track together with a licensed entertainment and conference venue in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, England, near the border with Greater London; it is 13 miles west of Charing Cross in central London. The site has 210 acres of flat grassland surrounded by woodland with two lakes in its centre. Its entrance borders Kempton Park railway station which was created for racegoers on a branch line from London Waterloo, via Clapham Junction.
A point-to-point is a form of horse racing over fences for hunting horses and amateur riders. In Ireland, where the sport is open to licensed professional trainers, many of the horses will appear in these races before they compete in National Hunt races. Consequently, the Irish point-to-point tends to be used as a nursery for future young stars: a horse that wins its debut point-to-point in Ireland will often sell for a high price. Whilst professional trainers are specifically excluded from running horses in point-to-points in Great Britain, the days of the farmer running his hunter at the local point-to-point are gone.. Increasingly, horses are run from "livery yards" - unlicensed but otherwise professional training establishments, sometimes closely allied with a licensed yard.
Leopardstown Racecourse is an Irish horse-racing venue, located in Leopardstown, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, 8 kilometres (5 mi) south of the Dublin city centre. Like the majority of Irish courses, it hosts both National Hunt and Flat racing.
Uttoxeter Racecourse is a National Hunt racecourse in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England.
Folkestone Racecourse was a thoroughbred horse racing venue in southeast England, until it closed in 2012. It is located in Westenhanger, by junction 11 of the M20 motorway and about 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Folkestone. The course remains closed and all running rail and steeplechase fences have been removed. In May 2016 it was revealed that the land covered by the racecourse forms part of a plan to develop and build housing. It is now unkempt and in a state of disrepair.
Stratford-on-Avon Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England.
Windsor Racecourse, also known as Royal Windsor Racecourse, is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Windsor, Berkshire, England. It is one of only two figure-of-eight courses in the United Kingdom, the other being at Fontwell Park.
Anthony Bingham Mildmay, 2nd Baron Mildmay of Flete was an English amateur steeplechaser, who raced in the Grand National. He also inspired the Queen Mother's interest in National Hunt racing.
Neptune Collonges is a retired AQPS racehorse. He was bred in France as an AQPS and trained in Great Britain. His most noted success came when winning the Grand National on 14 April 2012.
Naas Racecourse is a horse racing venue in Naas, County Kildare, Ireland, approximately 18 miles from Dublin. The course stages both Flat racing and National Hunt racing and in 2010 fifteen race meetings were held there.
Morley Street (1984-–2009) was an Irish racehorse. He was a specialist hurdler but also won steeplechases and races on the flat. In a racing career which lasted from November 1988 until December 1995, he ran forty-five times and won twenty races including the Champion Hurdle in 1991 and the Aintree Hurdle on four successive occasions. He won the title of American Champion Steeplechase Horse on two occasions, as a result of back-to-back wins in the Breeders' Cup Steeplechase.
Norton's Coin was a British Thoroughbred racehorse, best known for his 100/1 win in the 1990 Cheltenham Gold Cup. He was an obscurely-bred gelding owned and trained in Wales by Sirrell Griffiths, a dairy farmer who had only two other horses in his stable.
Charter Party was an Irish-bred British-trained thoroughbred racehorse, best known for his win in the 1988 Cheltenham Gold Cup. He overcame persistent injury problems to win twelve races under National Hunt rules. He showed promise as a hurdler and as a Novice steeplechaser before recording his first major win in the 1986 National Hunt Handicap Chase. As a ten-year-old in 1988 he defeated Desert Orchid in the Gainsborough Chase, before taking the Gold Cup at Cheltenham in March. He never won again, but produced a fine effort to finish third on heavy ground in the 1989 Gold Cup.
Silver Fame was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1951 Cheltenham Gold Cup. After beginning his racing career in Ireland he moved to England and became one of the leading steeplechasers of his time. He won races at the Cheltenham Festival in 1948 and 1950 and ran twice in the Grand National, falling when favourite for the race in 1948. Despite running extremely well at Cheltenham he did not contest the Gold Cup until 1951 when he won the race in record time. He was also the oldest winner of the race up to that time, and remains one of only two horses to win the race at the age of twelve. He spent his retirement as a hunter.