York Racecourse

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 four of the UK's 38 annual Group 1 races – the Juddmonte International Stakes, the Nunthorpe Stakes, the Yorkshire Oaks and the City of York Stakes.

The course is located in the southwest of the city, next to the former Terry's of York factory, The Chocolate Works. It is situated on an expanse of ground which has been known since pre-medieval times as the Knavesmire, from the Anglo-Saxon "knave" meaning a man of low standing, and "mire" meaning a swampy pasture for cattle. For this reason, the racecourse is still sometimes referred to as "The Knavesmire". The Knavesmire was originally common pasture, belonging to the city. It was also the scene of the hanging of Dick Turpin in 1739.

Racing in York dates back to at least Roman times, with some archaeological evidence suggesting that there may have been equine activities that could have included forms of racing on the site of the Knavesmire as early as Neolithic times. The city corporation is known to have given its support to the sport from 1530 and, in 1607, racing is known to have taken place on the frozen River Ouse, between Micklegate Tower and Skeldergate Postern. A famous yearly race for a golden bell was taking place in the nearby Forest of Galtres in 1590.

There is some uncertainty over when racing first arrived at the current site. The official stance of York Racecourse itself is that racing was first held on the Knavesmire when York's race meeting was moved in 1730 from a previous site at Clifton Ings which was prone to flooding. This is the line taken by the early racing historian, Pick, who maintained that the first race run over the Knavesmire course was the King's Guineas of 1731. There are multiple attestations to this previous racecourse at Clifton Ings, where racing can be traced back at least as far as 1709 and where, in 1714, "such was the concourse of nobility and gentry that attended York races that one hundred and fifty coaches were at one time on the course". The uncertainty lies in the period 1709–1731 and on this, early sources are confusing.

Orton's Turf Annals of York and Doncaster, which records the results of races at this time, has them taking place at "Clifton and Rawcliffe Ings" in the period 1709 and 1731 which would support the official view. However, Sheahan and Whellan, 19th century York historians, have racing taking place in both places in 1709 – "a regular race meeting on Clifton Ings" and, in the same year, a collection taking place among the citizens to purchase five plates as prizes for a meeting on the Knavesmire. Drake's Eboracum, another early history, when talking of York's races says, "Clifton-ings was for several years the place of trial; but upon a misunderstanding with the owner of that ground, or great part of it, the race was altered; and Knavesmire, a common pasture belonging to the city, was pitched upon for that purpose." Since, Drake was writing in 1736, it is deemed unlikely that he would write in such a manner if the move to Knavesmire had been so recent. There is also some slight confusion arising from the running of Royal Cups at nearby Black Hambleton. A Royal Plate was raced for "at York" from 1711, but the Black Hambleton Cup was older still.

The Saunders & Co. History, using all these sources concludes "the races were held annually on both courses – at Clifton Ings previous to and for some years subsequent to the year 1709, and at Knavesmire at and from that date; and that most probably in or about the year 1731, the races were done away with at the former place and transferred to the latter."

What is clear, whenever races were first run on the Knavesmire, is that York was the first centre after Newmarket to formulate a structured race programme, starting in 1751 with the Great Subscription Purses.

The Knavesmire course, as the name suggests, was often very swampy, and in 1776, heavy rains meant that horses had to race for about fifty yards up to their knees in water.