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 360,000 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.
Racing is believed to have begun at the current site in 1731, although the history of racing in York goes back to the Roman era. The patronage of Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham led to great prosperity, with a grandstand designed by John Carr opened in 1754. The course saw some of the best horses of the 18th century but then faced a downturn in fortunes after public executions on the Knavesmire finished, although John Orton and R M Jaques turned the racecourse around during the 1840s. The course has since continuously been redeveloped and added to, although many historic structures, including some of Carr's grandstand, survive. The course served as a prisoner-of-war camp in World War II and has also deputised for other racecourses, including hosting Royal Ascot in 2005 and the 1945 and 2006 runnings of the St Leger Stakes. It has been visited by figures such as Pope John Paul II, Elizabeth II and many of the best racehorses of all time, including Frankel and Sea The Stars.
The course used to be a horseshoe in shape but is now a left-handed circuit of around two miles. The course is flat and generally considered to be fair. It was scheduled to host eighteen fixtures in 2026, including the four-day Ebor Festival and much other top-class racing. Concerts and other events are also regular fixtures at the venue.
Location
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.
History
The Roman era Racing in York dates back to Roman times, with Arabian horses being sent to Eboracum to precede the arrival of Emperor Septimius Severus in 208 AD, providing entertainment for the troops sent to quell rebellion from the Caledonians. The events were well patronised by those of patrician rank, highly professional and very competitive, although it was more of a team sport than today; team managers hired or fired the riders for the teams they were responsible for. It is also likely that racing at this time took place near to the current site.
Before the Knavesmire The city corporation is known to have given its support to the sport from 1530, when it took place in the Forest of Galtres. The Lord Mayor acted as custodian of a silver bell won that year by Oswald Wyllesthorpe. A famous yearly race for a golden bell was taking place in the nearby Forest of Galtres in 1590 and at this time it was customary to attach the bell to the winning horse's headgear then parade them in triumph. A receipt saying 'receaved the XXth day of March 1596, fortie five pounds, wone uppon your Lordship's hobbie of Mr Holmes, the Forest race of Galteresse the XXIst of Februarye' was found within the manuscripts of a Duke of Rutland.
In 1607, rather improvised racing is known to have taken place on the frozen River Ouse, between Micklegate Bar and Skeldergate Postern, during a bitterly cold winter. This was repeated in December 1608.
Charles I attended racing at York (at this time taking place on Acomb Moor) in 1633, meeting his friend Sir Henry Slingsby; Slingsby's horse would be victorious. He would be the last reigning monarch to attend racing at York until Elizabeth II in 1972, who came to view the inaugural Benson and Hedges Gold Cup.
By the early 18th century, racing had moved to Clifton Ings, where records of a meeting exist from 1709. It seems efforts were made to establish this racecourse as a more professional venue, but these efforts were plagued by frequent flooding from the River Ouse. Queen Anne patronised the racecourse with a hundred-guinea gold cup in 1711, which was to be run for by six-year-olds in two four-mile heats and won by Sampson I. She would send her own horse for the following year's running (a gelding called Pepper) but was unsuccessful. It was on a raceday that many figures in the nobility heard of Anne's death in 1714, meaning that they rushed from the Ings to the city to hear the proclamation of King George I by the Archbishop of York. A horse of Anne's (named Star) had won a £40 plate at York, but she had died by the time the news reached London.
The course at Clifton Ings was well-attended, with it being said about a 1714 fixture that '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'. However, the flooding issues persisted, with the final straw coming in 1730. A flood meant that a meeting scheduled for a Wednesday was delayed to the Saturday. Despite all this, racing was still held in high regard, with Simon Scrope writing this in his diary that year:Every year there be more noble lords, gentle dames, and commoners of high and low degree at York for the races,... all of one mind, looking on York as the place above all others for sport and sportsmen.
Move to the Knavesmire and growth On 11 August 1731, racing began on the Knavesmire with the King's Guineas, won by a horse named Monkey. This would be a six-day meeting on a horseshoe-shaped course that had been levelled and drained in preparation for racing. Alderman John Telford built arches and drains on the undrained bog and had the course make a very tight turn around the 'basin', which some jockeys came to regard as a dangerous configuration.
York was the first centre after Newmarket to formulate a structured race programme, starting in 1751 with the Great Subscription Purses. Race meetings were often timed to follow the August Assizes, with carriages taking people to watch the races having witnessed the executions that took place at the infamous 'Three-Legged Mare' adjacent to the course. Executions had begun at the site in 1379 but were brought to an end in 1801. Matchem won the 5yo Great Subscription Purse of 1753 hours after William Smith was hanged for murder.
The fortunes of the racecourse began to ascend further with the patronage of Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham of Wentworth Woodhouse, a member of the House of Lords from the age of twenty and an avid racing fan. Using his major political influence, he was patron of both the racing and evening assemblies which were held at the York Assembly Rooms. He was disappointed in the lack of amenities at the racecourse itself, which had no grandstand and thus meant that attendees watched from the centre of the horseshoe in their carriages. He therefore commissioned York architect John Carr to design a grandstand, funded by the sale of 250 five-guinea shares that entitled patrons and their successors to use the stand for the period of the site's lease. It was ready for the 1754 August meeting and has been said to have been the oldest grandstand (in the modern sense) at any sporting venue in the world. It was a two-storey building with a rooftop viewing platform; the ground floor featured a rusticated arcade leading into a hall whilst the first floor was filled entirely by a reception room, which had large arched windows and was encircled by a balcony. The first horse to win a race after the stand was complete was Whistlejacket, immortalised in a painting by George Stubbs.
In 1770, the Ancient Fraternitie of Ye Gimcracks (the Gimcrack Club) was formed, this being the first ever racing club in the world. It honoured the diminutive grey horse Gimcrack (a winner of 27 of his 35 races), despite the fact he didn't win either of his races at York. The annual dinners were initially held at The Punch Bowl on Stonegate and an annual Gimcrack Dinner is still held every December, with a speech traditionally given by the winning owner of the Gimcrack Stakes, first run in 1846.
The racecourse was attracting the most successful horses of the age, notably the never-beaten Eclipse. He walked over in His Majesty's 100 Guineas at York in August 1770, having frightened away all opposition, then beat only two rivals back on the Knavesmire three days later.
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. Racing in the late 18th century also saw scandal, for example when Miss Nightingale (one of the leading mares of the time) had been poisoned and killed just before she was due to race by two pounds of duck-shot found in her stomach; a man named William Turner was charged but was acquitted due to a lack of evidence.
The racecourse would be visited by George, Prince of Wales and the Duke of York in 1789, with Samuel Chifney victorious on a horse named Traveller which was sold to the prince as a result of the success. However, Chifney would be accused of cheating at York in 1791 after two questionable rides, which began a fall from grace for the royal jockey. He returned to ride at York in 1800, but was seen as so untrustworthy that he was taken off a mount he had ridden to finish last the day before having been accused again of cheating.
At the August meeting in 1804 Alicia Thornton, who as a result has been called the 'first female jockey', took part in a four-mile horse race at the course. However, she was unsuccessful as her horse, named Vinagrillio, broke down lame and had to be pulled up.
At the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, the local military commander General Sir John Byng was absent because he had two horses running at York that day, and delegated command to his deputy, who failed to peacefully disperse the large crowd, resulting in 18 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
Decline and revival The end of public hangings at the Knavesmire in 1801 was likely a contributory factor in the decline of the fortunes of racing at York. By the 1820s, the race meeting was beginning to struggle and the quality of the racing declined. The Spring 1828 meeting was so uninspiring that many instead spectated and bet on the cockfighting (taking place near the Assembly Rooms) for their entertainment. The assemblies were also in decline, with improvements in transportation having reduced the need for rural landowners to keep York townhouses so August race week in the city was no longer the occasion it was. Many races were reduced to matches or even walkovers, and only eight horses were entered for a meeting on 16 May 1839. A new meeting organised by the Hunt Club in October 1835, with music provided by the 10th Royal Hussars, and the introduction of a new race (the Champagne Stakes), still wasn't enough. York risked being overtaken for prestige by Doncaster, which could boast the St Leger Stakes. One racegoer lamented that 'a more miserable affair than York August meeting it has never been my misfortune to attend - everything reached the climax of dullness. No company, bad sport and no betting'.