Ripon Racecourse

Ripon
	A panorama shot of Ripon racecourse
Location	Ripon, North Yorkshire
Owned by	The Ripon Race Company Ltd.
Screened on	Sky Sports Racing
Course type	Flat
Notable races	Great St. Wilfrid Stakes
	Official website

Ripon Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Ripon, North Yorkshire, England and is nicknamed the Garden Racecourse.^[1]

History[]

Racing on the present site on Boroughbridge Road began on 6 August 1900.^[2]^[3] but racing has taken place at a number of locations in the city from as far back as 1664 when it hosted its first meeting on Bondgate Green. An 1856 OS map shows a racecourse on the north side of the Ure beside the road to Thirsk and adjacent to the railway station.^[4]

Racing in the town first gained national attention in 1723 when the city hosted Britain's first horse race for female jockeys.^[2]^[3] Between 1916 and 1919, the southern half of the racecourse was used as a base for No. 76 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps (later the Royal Air Force) as RFC/RAF Ripon. The ground was also used sporadically for civilian aircraft into the 1920s.^[5]^[6]

It was voted the 'Best Small Racecourse in the North' by the Racegoers' Club in 2003.^[2]

Ripon Racecourse today[]

The annual race season at Ripon now includes Ripons "Big Night Out" and Family Day in May, Ladies Day in June and the opening day of the Go Racing in Yorkshire in July. There are other fixtures throughout the year including Children's Day, Great St. Wilfrid Day and the Ripon Champion Two-Year-Old Trophy all taking place in August.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's Ripon City Wetlands nature reserve is adjacent to the racecourse.^[7]

Characteristics[]

The course is a flat, right-handed oval of 1 mile 5 furlongs with a sharp bend preceding the 5 furlong run in.^[2]^[8] There is a chute which creates a six furlong straight course. The cramped bends and undulations in the straight make the course very sharp.^[8]

Facilities[]

The course has three enclosures - the Club Stand, Paddock Enclosure and Course Enclosure in the centre of the track. Ripon also boasts a permanent giant screen.^[1]

Facts and figures[]

Number of fixtures (2013) - 16^[1]
Top trainer (2007 - 2011 inc.) - Tim Easterby, 33 wins from 340 runs^[8]

Notable races[]

Month	DOW	Race Name	Type	Grade	Distance	Age/Sex
August	Monday	Ripon Champion Two Years Old Trophy	Flat	Listed	6f	2yo only
August	Saturday	Great St. Wilfrid Stakes	Flat	Handicap	6f	3yo +

References[]

^ ^a ^b ^c "About Us". Ripon Racecourse. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Ripon". talkhorseracing.co.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
^ ^a ^b "A great summer in prospect at Ripon". British Horseracing Authority. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
^ "6-inch Ordnance Survey Map, 1856, National Library of Scotland". Retrieved 17 September 2018.
^ Delve, Ken (2006). Northern England : Co. Durham, Cumbria, Isle of Man, Lancashire, Merseyside, Manchester, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, Yorkshire. Ramsbury: Crowood. p. 302. ISBN 1-86126-809-2.
^ "Ripon I - Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust UK". www.abct.org.uk. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
^ "Ripon City Wetlands". Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c Timeform. Racecourse Maps Flat (Report). Portman Press. p. 11.

External links[]

Coordinates: 54°07′24.38″N 1°29′53.73″W / 54.1234389°N 1.4982583°W / 54.1234389; -1.4982583

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[About-1] "About Us". Ripon Racecourse. Retrieved 12 April 2013.

[TalkHR-2] "Ripon". talkhorseracing.co.uk. Retrieved 12 April 2013.

[BHA-3] "A great summer in prospect at Ripon". British Horseracing Authority. Retrieved 12 April 2013.

[4] "6-inch Ordnance Survey Map, 1856, National Library of Scotland". Retrieved 17 September 2018.

[5] Delve, Ken (2006). Northern England : Co. Durham, Cumbria, Isle of Man, Lancashire, Merseyside, Manchester, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, Yorkshire. Ramsbury: Crowood. p. 302. ISBN 1-86126-809-2.

[6] "Ripon I - Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust UK". www.abct.org.uk. Retrieved 4 June 2018.

[7] "Ripon City Wetlands". Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 26 September 2020.

[TFF-8] Timeform. Racecourse Maps Flat (Report). Portman Press. p. 11.

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v t Racecourses in Yorkshire
Active	Beverley Catterick Doncaster Pontefract Redcar Ripon Thirsk Wetherby York
Defunct	Bedale Bishop Burton Bradford Follifoot Gatherley Moor Hambleton¹ Hedon (Hull) Langton Wold (New Malton) Leeds (Haigh Green Park) Middleham¹ Northallerton Richmond¹ Selby Stokesley Stockton²
Notes	1: Site is still used as gallops (a place to train and exercise horses) 2: Stockton Racecourse was originally north of the River Tees, but a new cut in the river changed it to be on the south side of the Tees, and therefore in the North Riding of Yorkshire.