Did Oliver Cromwell ban horse racing?

The short answer is yes, he did. Born in Huntingdon on April 25, 1599, Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell rose from the middle ranks of English society to become Lord Protector, or head of state, of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland for a five-year period between 1653 and 1658. Before that, he led parliamentary forces in the three English Civil Wars, the second of which (1648-1649) resulted in the execution, by beheadiing, of King Charles I at Whitehall on January 30, 1649.

Following the Third Civil War (1650-1652), the Protectorate, as the Cromwellian government was known, continued beyond the death of Oliver Cromwell, on September 3, 1658, under the auspices of his son, Richard, until May 25, 1659. For its duration, horse racing was banned, partly because it was believed to encourage “wicked and secret plots and devices” and partly because the majority of horses were requistioned by the state in the aftermath of the Civil Wars. Despite being a keen horseman who enjoyed horse racing, Cromwell nonetheless outlawed the sport, along with other popular pastimes, such as bear-baiting, celebrating Christmas, gambling, theatre and wrestling, on the grounds that they were sinful and might distract people from their religious duties.

In 1660, the so-called English Restoration saw the return of the exiled King Charles II to the throne of England. The “Merry Monarch” oversaw the return of horse racing and his patronage of Newmarket, in particular, where he established the Newmarket Town Plate in 1666, was instrumental in transforming the Suffolk town into the headquarters of English racing, which it remains to this day.