Horse Racing in the UK

In 1997, The AA published A Day at the Races on horse racing in the UK. This wasn’t a typical edition to the series of lifestyle guides and contained plenty more than just the best hotels, B&Bs and places to eat like other entries.

Their guide to racecourses in Britain (and Ireland) is a window on the sport from 25 years ago. While plenty has remained constant over the last quarter of a century, horse racing in the UK has also seen some big changes.

Using A Day at the Races for its original purpose, SportsLens experts highlight what’s different in the annual calendar between then and now. Fans of horse racing could feel very surprised about what the fixture list looked like and where principal races were.

1. Grand National Trials Galore in February

A weekend in February didn’t pass without some hopefuls in the Grand National betting having a prep run for the world’s most famous steeplechase. While some of these recognised trials still take place today, others aren’t in the programme now.

Aintree contenders can still run at Haydock Park races, the other Merseyside track that hosts the official Grand National Trial. The Eider Chase at Newcastle remains too. However, Grand National trials at Uttoxeter and Chepstow are no longer with us at this time of year.

2. Kempton Park’s Flat Turf Programme

Of all the All-Weather tracks for horse racing in the UK, Kempton Park races today have the highest profile. This course is home to one of only two Group events on an artificial surface in the country, the September Stakes. Back in 1997 when A Day at the Races came out, things looked quite different.

Sure, Kempton was still had the King George VI Chase, the Boxing Day highlight of the sport, yet there was a full programme of Flat turf action that no longer exists. A meeting held over Easter contained Classic trials in the Easter Stakes and Masaka Stakes.

Only the Magnolia Stakes and Roseberry Stakes, a handicap, remain from that card. When the Jubilee course was replaced with the artificial polytrack between 2005 and 2006, that was the agent of change. The Jubilee Handicap in May went, while the Heron Stakes moved to Sandown Park races and the Achilles Stakes to Haydock.

Even the September Stakes had a period away from Kempton when it was at Epsom, the home of The Derby. From that comprehensive Flat turf programme at Sunbury-on-Thames, the Sirenia Stakes is the…