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ENGLANDS OLDEST TRACK Great Antiquity of Chester Racing Its Quaint Traditions The subject of the oldest racing venuo is one which has frequently been discussed and it is one on which the experts still agree to differ With no intention of reviving tho argument one may safely state that the claims of Chester would bear a deal of inspection Exactly how fur back racing at Chester dates is a matter of doubt Numerous entries in tho Chesire Sheaf whicir appeared in tho Chester Conrant same years ago named 1009 as tho date ct the first authenticated rare meet ¬ ing in the city on tho Dee but in 1900 Mr Arklw of Oxton quoted Ormerod the Cheshire historian on the founding of races at Chester s i long ago as 1539 says an English authority Theii a former contributor came along with his little lot This writer relied upon Rices History of the British Turf wherein 1511 is mentioned as the time of the institution of Chesters racing carnival Some ¬ where in the archives of the city was an order dated January 10 in the third year of the reign of Henry VIII directing that a silver bell the re ¬ ward of speedy runnings should in future be al ¬ ways run for by horses tin a course on tho Koodee According to Rice this is the earliest record of unniial horse races in Britain BritainIn In Tho Walls of Chester Frank Simpson quotes Randle Holme sen one of the Chester Heralds to the effect that it has been customary time out of mind upon Shrove Tuesday for the Company if Saddlers of the ancient city of Chester to present to tho Drapers a wooden ball embellished with flowers and placed upon tho x int of the lance In the year 1540 Holme goes on the ball was changed for a silver bell valued at three shillings and sixpence or more to bo given to him whi shall run tiio best and farthest on horseback before them on the same day Shrovo Tuesday TuesdayAH AH EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT ACCIDENTIn In his Mngna Britannia Lysons gives 1512 as the dato of the first record of races at Chester but Mr Simpson on investigation found a correction at the end of the book It was discovered by Lysons himself that in tho Orders and Acts of Assembly of the Mayor Aldermen and Common Council of the City of Chester preserved in the muniment room at tho Town Hall the order re ¬ ferring to tho races is dated 10th of January in the 31st year of Henry VIII s reign Lysons ex plains that In the copy procured for him 3 Henry VIII was written instead of 31 Henry VIII Thus the corporation records support the year 1540 as being the date of tho first race meeting at Ches ter though tho phrase time out of mind quoted above seems to provide evidence that races were held in Chester much earlier than suggested by the corporation records but no older date has actually been discovered Nowadays Chester has but a threeday fixture annually in May though tho city liko most other places has had to close down during the past couph of years the most recent ciip winner being Hare Hill in 1915 At one period however the races used to last four or five days whilo on a couple of occasions in the later years of the eigh teenth century they extended over six days Then in 1774 au autumn meeting lasting four days was held washeld in September the May meeting being reduced to three days this arrangement existing for eight years after which the autumn fixture was discon ¬ tinued tinuedA A somewhat weird story of one of these early meetings was told in tlie Cheshire Sheaf Ac ¬ cording to this the autumn meeting of 1870 was remarkable for an extraordinary accident caused by two reckless young men riding furiously along the course meeting two others equally reckless The noise of tho collision it is said struck on the car like tho crash of a large tree falling Ono young man was killed and tho other three badly Fora hurt Tho four horses had to be destroyed For t tunately we can take our racing these days when j permitted without anticipating incidents of thu L kind above related relatedIn In 1823 the prizes included a cup valued at 70 I pounds presented by the Earl Grosvenor accom 1 piiniod by a gift of 00 guineas by the members for t tho city though there are much earlier instances of cups being put UM for competition by members of t the Grosvenor family At one time cock lighting i used to figure on tho bill during race weeks and mains wore fought between the various counties of the district such as Cheshire Flint Shropshire Denbigh and Lancashire CORPORATIONS INTEREST IN THE RACES The Chester Corporation has always been inti i matoly concerned with the meetings on the Roodee i and at one period they gave plate of the value of 00 guineas as an annual donation from the rates and it was called the Annual City Plate That the citizens have derived benefit from the interest in an association with the races of tho corpora tion who as owners of the Roodcc receive onc eighth of the gross receipts needs no emphasizing In oldon times the tradesmen of the city were tho chief promoters of the races and our reader need scarcely bo reminded that the Chester Cup was formerly run as the Tradesmens Cu Tho original trophy was of the value of n hundred guineas there being in addition a free handicap stake of fifteen guineas each Tho race it is re ¬ corded started from the Castle Pole and the horses ran twieo around the Roodeo finishing at tho Comingin Chair There were six starters and the winner was a horse named Doge of Venice A week prior to tho race an advertisement appeared announcing that the committee which had conducted the arrangement on behalf of tlie trade of Chester for presenting the Cup intended to hold a meeting to audit tho subscription accounts Though tho environment is redolent of the good old days Chester is now an uptodate meeting and the Cup is one of the most popular of the spring handicaps even if it has of late years been somewhat overshadowed by the Jubilee Handicap run at Kempton Park in the same week Years ago the Cup attracted big fields and in 1852 there were mi fewer than fortythree contestants Tin Tinwinner winner was a threeyearold carrying sixtysi pounds named Joo Miller which somewhat in appropriately defeated Stilton by a length A Chester Ciip often alluded to is that of 1844 won by Red Deer which carried but 50 pounds Red Doer was ridden by Kitchener and it is in connection with the bodily weight of that rider that argument frequently arises On Cup day Kitchener weighed 49 pounds but four years previously when he rode at Ascot he scaled only 29 pounds and as a consequence no less than twentyfive pounds deail weight was required to bring him up to the requi site woight fiftyfour pounds Red Deers is the lightest burden associated with the winner of tho Chester Cup while the heaviest is that of General Chasse which as a sixyearold in 1837 with 133 pound in the saddle beat nine rivals
