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Redcar Racecourse
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Redcar Racecourse
Redcar Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Redcar, North Yorkshire, England. The racecourse was opened in 1872 although racing on Redcar beach far predates this. In 2026, it is scheduled to host eighteen fixtures, including the Zetland Gold Cup and Two-Year-Old Trophy meetings.
Racing began at Redcar on the sands at Redcar beach in the early 18th century. A local joiner called Mr Adamson constructed a grandstand and charged for use of it, but the facilities were very rudimentary: the judge's box was in a bathing van, the stewards were in a farm wagon and the run-in was roped. At one meeting on the beach, a race was held between foxhounds and racehorses to determine which were faster but the trail left for the hounds blew into the sea, making the race a fiasco. The Redcar Race Committee was formed in 1850.
Although the racecourse benefitted from the growth of rail travel in the mid-19th century, a Jockey Club ruling that all races had to have a prize of at least £50 made racing on the beach, where spectators couldn't be charged an admission fee, unviable, meaning that racing on the beach ceased in 1870. The Cleveland Hunt Cup (worth £30) took place that day and was won by top jockey John Osborne.
The Race Committee benefitted from the three significant local families with a great interest in the sport: the Newcomen family of Kirkleatham Hall, the Zetland family of Upleatham Hall and the Lowther family of Wilton Castle. It was from the Newcomens (specifically A.H.T. Newcomen) that a twenty-one-year lease was achieved for the land which the racecourse sits on. The lease was to a group led by John Hikeley. Thomas Dawson was appointed clerk of the course and was responsible for putting in drains, levelling the track and returfing where necessary. The first meeting on the new course was held on 9 August 1872, and it of course remains operational today. At this first meeting, John Osborne (the father of the John Osborne victorious in the final beach race) took the first race, the Zetland Welter Handicap Plate.
In the early years of the new course, the grandstand was a wooden structure assembled for the meeting then dismantled afterwards; spectators paid up to six shillings for use of it, compared to just tuppence for admission to the course only. The Redcar & Coatham Grand Stand Company (with Arthur Newcomen as chairman) was formed in 1875, with a capital of £4,000 to purchase or lease land and construct a permanent grandstand. It was decided to spend £2,650 on the new stand, described by Newcomen as 'second to none in the Kingdom'. It opened in 1876. Land had also been acquired to construct a straight mile from the Marquess of Zetland. Developments continued throughout the late 1870s, with a stand built for attendees in the second enclosure in 1877, the aim of the Company being to provide comfort to all those attending the meetings. It was that year that James Lowther, MP for York and a director of the racecourse, stated that he had 'no hesitation in saying we have the second best course in the world', although he didn't specify which he thought was best. Stables followed in 1878, ending the system whereby horses were stabled in the various inns in the town.
In 1879, the racing correspondent for Baily's Monthly Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, and Racing Register, the leading racing publication of its time, visited Redcar and the racecourse and wrote this:
The ground is nearly perfect... Tis a far cry perhaps, for southerners, but it is very nice when you get there; and if the Coatham [Hotel] is full, why Saltburn is only five or six miles away and there the Zetland [Hotel] will open its arms to you and one of the most beautiful sea views the Yorkshire coast can show will spread itself before your eyes. It is the one spot left in the seaside life of England whither German bands come not, nor blackface minstrelsy; where there are no bazaars, or wheels of fortune; no open-work stockings. Tis peace and quiet all!... Redcar has a pretty stand, convenient business offices, a straight mile, and good going, and for the succeeding meeting at Stockton, Lord Zetland had a special train from Saltburn so that we were able to get away from Mandale Bottoms without being mixed up with the roughs at the Stockton or Middlesbrough stations.
Arthur Newcomen died in 1884 and was succeeded by Lawrence Dundas, 1st Marquess of Zetland as Chairman. Zetland was a key player in the founding of the course.
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Redcar Racecourse
Redcar Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Redcar, North Yorkshire, England. The racecourse was opened in 1872 although racing on Redcar beach far predates this. In 2026, it is scheduled to host eighteen fixtures, including the Zetland Gold Cup and Two-Year-Old Trophy meetings.
Racing began at Redcar on the sands at Redcar beach in the early 18th century. A local joiner called Mr Adamson constructed a grandstand and charged for use of it, but the facilities were very rudimentary: the judge's box was in a bathing van, the stewards were in a farm wagon and the run-in was roped. At one meeting on the beach, a race was held between foxhounds and racehorses to determine which were faster but the trail left for the hounds blew into the sea, making the race a fiasco. The Redcar Race Committee was formed in 1850.
Although the racecourse benefitted from the growth of rail travel in the mid-19th century, a Jockey Club ruling that all races had to have a prize of at least £50 made racing on the beach, where spectators couldn't be charged an admission fee, unviable, meaning that racing on the beach ceased in 1870. The Cleveland Hunt Cup (worth £30) took place that day and was won by top jockey John Osborne.
The Race Committee benefitted from the three significant local families with a great interest in the sport: the Newcomen family of Kirkleatham Hall, the Zetland family of Upleatham Hall and the Lowther family of Wilton Castle. It was from the Newcomens (specifically A.H.T. Newcomen) that a twenty-one-year lease was achieved for the land which the racecourse sits on. The lease was to a group led by John Hikeley. Thomas Dawson was appointed clerk of the course and was responsible for putting in drains, levelling the track and returfing where necessary. The first meeting on the new course was held on 9 August 1872, and it of course remains operational today. At this first meeting, John Osborne (the father of the John Osborne victorious in the final beach race) took the first race, the Zetland Welter Handicap Plate.
In the early years of the new course, the grandstand was a wooden structure assembled for the meeting then dismantled afterwards; spectators paid up to six shillings for use of it, compared to just tuppence for admission to the course only. The Redcar & Coatham Grand Stand Company (with Arthur Newcomen as chairman) was formed in 1875, with a capital of £4,000 to purchase or lease land and construct a permanent grandstand. It was decided to spend £2,650 on the new stand, described by Newcomen as 'second to none in the Kingdom'. It opened in 1876. Land had also been acquired to construct a straight mile from the Marquess of Zetland. Developments continued throughout the late 1870s, with a stand built for attendees in the second enclosure in 1877, the aim of the Company being to provide comfort to all those attending the meetings. It was that year that James Lowther, MP for York and a director of the racecourse, stated that he had 'no hesitation in saying we have the second best course in the world', although he didn't specify which he thought was best. Stables followed in 1878, ending the system whereby horses were stabled in the various inns in the town.
In 1879, the racing correspondent for Baily's Monthly Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, and Racing Register, the leading racing publication of its time, visited Redcar and the racecourse and wrote this:
The ground is nearly perfect... Tis a far cry perhaps, for southerners, but it is very nice when you get there; and if the Coatham [Hotel] is full, why Saltburn is only five or six miles away and there the Zetland [Hotel] will open its arms to you and one of the most beautiful sea views the Yorkshire coast can show will spread itself before your eyes. It is the one spot left in the seaside life of England whither German bands come not, nor blackface minstrelsy; where there are no bazaars, or wheels of fortune; no open-work stockings. Tis peace and quiet all!... Redcar has a pretty stand, convenient business offices, a straight mile, and good going, and for the succeeding meeting at Stockton, Lord Zetland had a special train from Saltburn so that we were able to get away from Mandale Bottoms without being mixed up with the roughs at the Stockton or Middlesbrough stations.
Arthur Newcomen died in 1884 and was succeeded by Lawrence Dundas, 1st Marquess of Zetland as Chairman. Zetland was a key player in the founding of the course.
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