Salisbury Racecourse is a flat racecourse in the United Kingdom featuring

thoroughbred horse racing Thoroughbred racing is a sport and Horse industry, industry involving the Horse racing, racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter know ...

, southwest of

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, England. Fifteen race meetings a year are held there between early May and mid-October.

History

Racing at the track, located three miles from Salisbury, has taken place since the mid-16th century. Many great horses have won at the racecourse including Gimcrack (1768),

Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event which occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ...

(1769), Sun Chariot (1941),

Mill Reef Mill Reef (23 February 1968 – 2 February 1986) was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a three-year career from 1970 to 1972, he won twelve of fourteen races and finished second in the other two. The horse w ...

(1970) and

Brigadier Gerard Brigadier Gerard is the hero of a series of 17 historical short stories, a play, and a major character in a novel by the British writer Arthur Conan Doyle. Brigadier Etienne Gerard is a Hussar officer in the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars ...

(1970). Sir Percy, winner of the 2006 Derby, and Look Here, winner of the 2008 Oaks, had both won at Salisbury the previous year.

Lester Piggott Lester Keith Piggott (5 November 1935 – 29 May 2022) was an English professional jockey and horse trainer. With 4,493 career flat racing wins in Britain, including a record nine Epsom Derby victories, he is widely regarded as one of the grea ...

, the

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used ...

, first rode in public at Salisbury in 1948 when he was an apprentice jockey aged twelve and weighed only five stone. American jockey

Steve Cauthen Steve Cauthen (born May 1, 1960) is a retired American jockey. In 1977 he became the first jockey to win over $6 million in a year working with agent Lenny Goodman, and in 1978 he became the youngest jockey to win the U. S. ...

made his British debut at the course in 1979 when he rode Marquee Universal to victory here. It was here in 1949 that

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

first raced Colonist II in the one mile Upavon Stakes. The horse won, and went on to win the Ribblesdale Stakes at Ascot later that year.

The racecourse

About fifteen race meetings take place at Salisbury Racecourse each year between late April and mid-October. It is a downland flat-racing course with no jumps. There is a mix of race types with the majority being handicaps, where horses of similar ability race against each other, and maidens, where horses which have yet to win a race compete. The course is also renowned for its races for two-year-olds, and many of these young horses have gone on to achieve great things.

Notable races

Salisbury's earliest big race was the King's Plate for 6-year-olds, awarded by

George I George I or 1 may refer to: People * Patriarch George I of Alexandria (fl. 621–631) * George I of Constantinople (d. 686) * George of Beltan (d. 790) * George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9) * George I of Georgia (d. 1027) * Yuri Dolgoruk ...

in 1723.

References

External links

*
Salisbury Racecourse Facebook pageCourse guide on GG.COM, archived in December 2005Course guide on At The Races, archived in September 2007
{{Horse racing in Great Britain Sports venues completed in 1723 1723 establishments in England Horse racing venues in England