Look here for racing's roots

York Races has just smashed its attendance record, a fantastic achievement. But now all those racegoers must wait seven long months before the Ascot of the North stages another meeting.

What will they do with themselves? Well, they could while away a happy hour or two reading David Wilkinson's new book on the early days of Yorkshire horse racing.

Yorkshire's key role in the sport is often overlooked. Not here. "The thoroughbred horse which is the basis of the world wide racing industry in over 50 countries had its origins in northern Yorkshire and the Tees valley during the 17th and 18th centuries," writes Dr Wilkinson, who lives at Old Byland, near Helmsley.

"Horses now raced at Longchamps, Melbourne, Happy Valley on Hong Kong and Hollywood Park in Los Angeles, all had their ancestors in this northern part of England."

Arabian stallions were crossed with a few English mares at the end of the 17th and start of the 18th centuries to produce the thoroughbred.

In 1791, the first volume of the General Stud Book was published, outlining the pedigree of all English thoroughbreds. Of the 78 mares described, all of them were from Yorkshire. Galloway ponies and running horses - early English racehorses - were bred at Helmsley, on the Earl of Rutland's estate.

Horseracing is known as the sport of kings for good reason. Even before Charles II began the real royal love of the sport, horses had been important to the sovereign.

Elizabeth I presided over a great increase in horse numbers to meet the demands of carriage travel. Many of these were bred in North Yorkshire. Ripon staged an important horse fair, with 200 guineas paid for the best racehorses.

Later, George Villiers, created 1st Duke of Buckingham by James I, had a love of racing which influenced the king. James developed Newmarket and built a palace there.

Villiers, meanwhile, married Katherine Manners, daughter of the Helmsley estate. This included the training ground and racecourse at Hambleton. After the Royalist army was defeated in the Civil War, Villiers retired to York to pursue his interest in turning base metals to gold. His laboratory was on the site of the Cock and Bottle, Skeldergate, and his ghost is supposed to haunt the pub to this day.

The leader of the Parliamentary army Lord Fairfax, also known as Black Tom, took over the Helmsley estate and continued the stud.

There, in about 1635, Old Bald Peg was born. This mare, writes Dr Wilkinson, "can be found in the pedigree of many (if not most) modern racehorses".

His fascinating book, Early Horse Racing in Yorkshire And The Origins Of The Thoroughbred, looks in detail at the stallions and owners with local connections.

But for most punters, it is the day at the races which counts. Dr Wilkinson, who did an MA at York University on the history of northern racing, traces modern day race meetings back to the time when they were sanctioned again after Oliver Cromwell's ban.

Hambleton racecourse flourished in those early days, and was second only to Newmarket in importance in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Below Hambleton were the county town meetings such as those held in York and Doncaster. A rung further down were market town races, held at places such as Malton, Ripon and Richmond.

A 1740 law restricting races to those with a minimum prize value of £50, and imposing other conditions, shut down many of the smaller rural meetings.

The first race documented in an English Racing Calendar was described by William Pick of York. It was held on September 13, 1709, at Clifton and Rawcliffe Ings. The four-horse race was won by Mr Metcalfe's lyrically-named horse Wart.

The meeting demonstrated most of the features of early racing.

"The owner was a member of the upper gentry married to the widow of Sir Ralph Milbanke," writes Dr Wilkinson. "The horses were aged six years and carried 12 stones over four mile heats. The race was run for a Gold Cup worth £50... Lesser events were run for a piece of plate, a whip or a small cash prize. Larger sums were involved in private matches between two horses and in side betting.

"Bookmakers did not emerge until quite late in the century and betting between individuals was conducted at the 'betting post' on course and settled later.

"Tattersalls at Hyde Park Corner was the prime clearing house for Newmarket, and the York Tavern (later Harker's Hotel) provided a similar facility in York."

Cockfighting was a regular accompaniment to horse racing and attracted high gambling stakes. Reproduced in the book is an advert for "cocking" at the Royal Cock Pit, Blake Street, York.

While the cockfighting was fast and furious, the horse racing was often slow and ponderous. At 12 stone, the jockeys were quite a weight to carry, and the horses were bred for stamina, not speed. "It was normal for a single race to occupy most of an afternoon," Dr Wilkinson notes.

York racing, timed to coincide with the Assizes, was a popular pastime with the gentry. The Assembly Rooms on Blake Street was opened in August race week, 1732, the year after racing moved to Knavesmire from Clifton Ings.

Racing at this time was big business. But the ascent of Doncaster racecourse under the patronage of the Fitzwilliam family, and the introduction of the first English classic, the St Leger, led to hard times for York.

It wasn't until the mid-19th century that the outlook brightened. Richmond breeder RM Jaques and the race committee made the racetrack circular, instead of horseshoe shaped.

And in 1843, they introduced the Great Ebor Handicap, run over two miles. The first winner was Pagan, earning £200 prize money for its owner Colonel Craddock. The Gimcrack Stakes was launched three years later, and York Races was flying again.

Early Horse Racing In Yorkshire And The Origins Of The Thoroughbred by David Wilkinson is published by Old Bald Peg Publications, price £9.95. It is available at Leefe's, Malton, Claridges, Helmsley, Bijou, Easingwold, Ken Spelman's in York or online from www.oldbaldpeg.org

Updated: 10:14 Monday, October 13, 2003