A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



RACING 



Horse-racing has flourished in Nottinghamshire 

 from an early period in the history of the sport. 

 Among the amusements of the people in 1620 

 twenty years before the first races were estab- 

 lished at Newmarket were the annual races held 

 on Coddington Moor. These were under the 

 patronage of the corporation of Newark, and in 

 the minute book for that year are the following 

 entries: 



' Received of William Cowper, Esquire, to- 

 wards a cupp yearly to be found by the town of 

 Newark for Coddington races xxviii li. in gould, 

 whereof there was lost in weight xvi s. vi d. 



' Received of Robert Sutton, Esquire, v li., 

 whereof was lost in two white Rialls xii s. viii d.' 



There was sold at the same time a bell of 

 gold, weighing almost 6 oz., at 3 3*. per oz., 

 and a silver bell, weighing 5 oz., at 4*. 6d. per oz. 

 This would seem to indicate that after public 

 races had been instituted in the reign of James I 

 they were introduced at Newark, for the most 

 important races throughout the kingdom at that 

 time were called ' bell courses ' from the fact 

 that the prize given to the winning horse was a 

 bell. Concerning the above entries we find that 

 Mr. Cowper subsequently increased his benefac- 

 tion by giving ^6 15*. 6d. more for the cup. 

 The articles of agreement under which the races 

 were held appear in the minutes for the year 

 1624. The parties to the agreement were 

 Mr. Thomas Hobman, alderman, and the assis- 

 tants of Newark, on the one part, and William 

 Cowper and Robert Sutton, esqrs., on behalf of 

 themselves and other gentry of the county, on 

 the other part. In consideration of a sum of 

 money which the latter had collected the town 

 agreed to provide a cup of silver, double gilt, of 

 the value of j 101. and to have the same in 

 readiness on 4 May yearly at the Staffe at Cod- 

 dington Moor at 9 o'clock of the forenoon, to be 

 run for with horses ' according to the ancient 

 usage of that race.' The conditions on which 

 the races were to be held are set down. For 

 every horse competing 2Os. had to be paid before 

 starting, but any freeman of the town of Newark 

 was to be free to run his horse, nag, or mare 

 without putting down any stake. The race was 

 to be run in three heats. Two of the rules are 

 as follows : 



' It is agreed that no man or boy that is a 

 partie or hath money lent on any of the horses 

 matched shall dare to switch or drive any of them 

 iin rising or running, but only the ryder. 



' It is agreed that as the stakes shall come in 

 the Alderman shall keep them until the stake is 

 made up to 200, and then he shall provide a 

 cup yearly to be run for as aforesaid.' 



When these races ceased is not recorded, 

 but in 1846 the sport was revived. At a 

 ' numerous and respectable ' meeting in July of 

 that year a sum of money was collected for the 

 purpose of re-establishing the annual races. A 

 fine piece of ground was obtained for a course 

 near the Nottingham and Lincoln Railway (as it 

 was then called), and the races were started on 



1 October 1846. They were conducted with 

 varying success, the sport being almost entirely 

 of local interest. The new rule promulgated by 

 the Jockey Club in 1877, requiring that the 

 stake money given at any meeting should not be 

 less than ^300 per day, with a minimum of jlOO 

 for each race, put an end to small race gatherings 

 like that at Newark, which sprang up like mush- 

 rooms and as quickly died away. 



In the county town racing is of considerable 

 antiquity. The earliest entry in the records of 

 the corporation of any matter relating to Notting- 

 ham races is the following in the year 1689 : 

 ' The Hall (i.e. the town council), at the request 

 of the county gentlemen, resolved to subscribe 

 towards a piece of plate to be run for at the 

 races.' On 26 May 1690 the corporation 

 decided ' to gratify the gentlemen of the county ' 

 in their request that they should subscribe towards 

 a piece of plate for the horse races, as formerly 

 they had done, provided Master Christopher 

 Renolds would bring in ^4 2s. that he had left 

 of a former horse race. The amount of the 

 usual subscription is indicated by the following 

 minute on 1 6 June 1699 : ' Ordered that the 

 Chamberlyns doe pay five pounds towards a plate 

 to be run for upon Nottingham and Basford 

 Lings at the next horse race.' 



The first race-course was laid out on Notting- 

 ham Forest, which in bygone times formed a 

 fringe of historic Sherwood Forest. A fine piece 

 of open, undulating ground, it furnished in those 

 days an excellent site for the purpose. ' As a 

 place of amusement in the racing line,' writes a 

 local historian in the i8th century, 'there are 

 but few which are considered in any light in 

 competition with it.' ' It has enough of variety 

 for a rider to show his skill in the management 

 of his racer,' he quaintly adds, ' either on trying, 

 easing, or accommodating ground. Its turf is 

 admirably calculated for sporting, here a gentle 

 swell of earth, there a gentle declivity.' At 

 first the course measured 4 miles round, but 

 early in the 1 8th century it was reduced to 



2 miles, and thus continued without alteration 

 until the year 1797, when, on the inclosure of 

 that portion of the forest adjoining Lenton and 

 Radford, it was all but utterly destroyed. A 

 year later another course was made and, owing 

 to the circumscribed extent of the ground, was 

 laid out in the form of a figure 8. In consc- 



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