Why is the Rowley Mile at Newmarket Racecourse so-called?

The Rowley Mile is one of two racecourses at Newmarket in Suffolk, the other being the July Course, to which horse racing action switches during the summer months. Despite the name, the Rowley Mile is actually two and a half miles in extent, which allows it to accommodate both legs of the traditional ‘Autumn Double’, namely the Cambridgeshire Handicap, run over one mile and one furlong in late September, and the Cesarewitch Handicap, run over two miles and two furlongs two weeks later.

A wide, right-handed, L-shaped course, the Rowley Mile features the longest straight in the country, a mile and a quarter in scope, with minor undulations throughout, and a uphill run to the finishing line, which places emphasis firmly on stamina, regardless of the race distance. Of course, early in the season, the Rowley Mile is home to the first two British Classics of the season, the 1,000 Guineas and 2,000 Guineas, both run over a mile, in late April or early May.

The history of horse racing Newmarket dates back to the early sixteenth century, but it was, in fact, King Charles II (1660-1665), who was known attend races on Newmarket Heath, who was largely responsible for the development of “Headquarters” as it is today. The “Merry Monarch” owned a hack nicknamed “Old Rowley” who, as a stallion, was “renowned for the number and beauty of its offspring”. In that respect, he was not unlike the king himself, who had no legitimate children, but acknowedged a dozen or more illegitimate offspring by a series of mistresses, such that he, too, acquired the same sobriquet.