Horse Racing at the Carholme

Horse Racing in Lincoln has a long history.

The first horse racing in the area is thought to have taken place at Temple Bruer: The Knights Templars, seeking a break from jousting and tournaments, would wager on the results of races held among themselves. After the dissolution of the Order farmworkers would hold races at the end of harvest.

The first recorded race was on 12th February 1597, when "the mayor's charges for a scaffold at the horse race" were approved. This must have been a wooden framed tiered stand so that spectators would have a good view of the race.

In April 1617 King James stayed in Lincoln for a few days:

" On Thursday (3rd April) thear was a great horse race on the Heath for a cupp, when his Majestie was present, and stood on a scaffold the Citie had caused to be set upp, and withall caused the race a quarter of a mile long to be raled and corded with rope and hoopes on both sides, whearby the people were kept out, and the horses that rouned were seen faire."

George 1 also visited Lincoln races in 1716, putting up £100 guineas in prize money himself.

Horse racing moved to Waddington Heath, a four mile long course, and remained there until 1770. It is believed that horse racing then continued near Dunholme for the next 20 years

In 1793 horse racing moved to the Carholme on the West Common at the edge of Lincoln. Most of the horses entered were local to the area until in 1806, when a Gold Cup of 115 Guineas was instituted.

At first a temporary wooden shed was erected for the important visitors at the meeting. In 1826 The Grandstand was erected by the Corporation.

The provision of the grandstand and improvements to the course and turf was at a cost of £7,000; a large sum of money in 1826. The improvements meant that more people could enjoy the spectacle of horse racing on the Carholme.

But in 1831 Lincoln was still regarded as an unimportant racing venue. The New Sporting Magazine of that year says, "The utter insignificance of these races would not have entitled them to a place in our monthly notices but for the extraordinary scene that occurred in the third day.":

700 or 800 "thimblemen"* including many dishonest characters moved from race meeting to race meeting to cheat people out of their winnings, turned up at the Lincoln meeting.

They were very successful in the first two days, but on the third day the racegoers attacked them with clubs and sticks. At first the thimblemen held their own; but a large number of horsemen arrived and routed them. Then the local people destroyed their stalls and caravans.

The royal purse of One Hundred Sovereigns, given to several Towns in England, to be run for mares only, in order to improve the breed of blood horses, and the ' Gold Cup ' or Subscription Plate of One Hundred Pounds. Many famous horses ran at the Carholme course in the early 19th century, among them:
Eclipse, Redshank, Carnaby, Volage, Bessy Bedlam, Bullet, Ballad Singer, Fleur-de-lis, Laurel, Lucy, Mullatto, Fortitude, Briuda, Lottery, Gallopade, Varnish, Marie, La Fille Mai Garde, Nancy.

The 1826 Grandstand

The winning of the Lincoln Gold Cup by Bessy Bedlam was celebrated by the naming of a public house at 33 Steep Hill in her honour. By 1857 it was re-named Fox & Hounds.

Jumps were added to the course in 1843 but were not a popular addition to the racing.

The Lincolnshire Handicap was first run in 1849, was won in that year by Media, a filly belonging to Lord Exeter; and in 1874 the race was won by the famous Fred Archer, then only a boy, on a horse called Tomahawk. Gradually Lincoln became more popular, and the Spring Meeting in particular assumed the importance to racing it retained until the closure. A second, larger grandstand was erected in 1897, designed W Mortimer, a well respected local architect, and built by William Wright. At the Spring Meeting in 1900the starting-gate was first used in a race for 2-year-old fillies, a feature of racing in which Lincoln can claim to be a pioneer.

The spring meeting, held in March, was the opening meeting of the flat racing calendar.

The winners of the Lincolnshire Handicap from 1926 to 1937 were, in chronological order:

King of Clubs (1926), Priory Park (1927), Dark Warrior (1928), Elton (1929), Leonidas (1930), Knight Error (1931), Jerome Fandor (1932), Dorigen (1933), Play On (1934), Flamenco (1935), Over Coat (1936), Marmaduke Jinks (1937) -     

Click on "Flamenco" to see the horse win the 1935 Lincolnshire Handicap.

The New Stand in 1897

Racing moved to Pontefract from 1942 to 1945 and never really recovered after World War II.
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In 1964 the Horse Race Betting Levy Board announced they would not support the course after 1966. A meeting of the City Council was held 21st July 1964 in the Guildhall where it was decided that horse racing at the Carholme would cease immediately, therefore the last race was held on 18th March 1964, ending a tradition of almost 200 years of racing on the Carholme.

The 1826 grandstand was demolished in 1966.

The 1948 Lincolnshire Handicap had the largest number of runners - a total of 58!

Lincoln Racecourse Regeneration Company was formed in 2010 to bring racing back to Lincoln but it was opposed by the City Council and many West End residents, so the course is destined to remain unused for the foreseeable future.

*The word "thimbleman" has passed into obscurity but this is the best definition I have found:
"thimblerigger: one who practises the trick of thimblerig; a low trickster or sharper. Also thimbleman."
A thimbleman may also "nobble" horses.