When was Redcar Racecourse established?

The history of horse racing in and around Redcar can be traced back to the first half of the nineteenth century, when an annual meeting was held on the firm, flat sands of Coatham Beach, a mile or so to the north of the site of the present racecourse. Despite basic, temporary facilities and poor prize money, the annual meeting was well attended, not least because spectators could watch the action admission-free. Lack of gate money only became a problem when the Jockey Club decreed that all horse races must offer at least £50 in prize money, thereby rendering the meeting unviable, financially.

Consequently, a consortium led by John Hikeley, proprietor of the Lobster Inn, petitioned Arthur Henry Turner Newcomen, a member of one of the oldest families in the North Riding of Yorkshire, with a view to leasing land in the grounds of his family seat, Kirkleatham Hall, initially for a period of 21 years. Thus, the modern racecourse, which now occupies 72 acres, was created on Redcar Lane, in the heart of the Tees Valley town. The last meeting on Coatham Beach took place in 1870 and the first meeting on the new, inland course was staged in 1872, with admission to the grandstand enclosure costing a princely 6/-, or approximately £28 by modern standards, accounting for inflation.

Under the auspices of the Redcar and Coatham Company, the first permanent grandstand was erected in 1876. The racecourse was largely neglected in the first half of the twentieth century – l

due, in no small part, to closure during both world wars – but its fortunes revived under the newly-appointed Clerk of the Course, Major Leslie Petch, from 1946 onwards. With financial support from the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB), a new grandstand, which still stands, was erected in 1964. Control of the racecourse subsequently passed to Lawrence Mark Dundas, Marquess of Zetland, in 1981, and to International Racecourse Management (IRM), run by John Sanderson, the nephew of Major Leslie Petch, in 1996.