200-year-old races are back on track

5:01pm Friday 16th May 2008

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KNUTSFORD Races - which were last run 136 years ago - are to be revived this weekend.

For more than 200 years the gentry of Cheshire country houses raced their horses on the Heath and gambled at the cock pit.

But the 2008 Knutsford Races, organised by the North West Point to Point Club, will take place at Tabley House.

The club has rebranded an event that has been held at the stately home for the past five years.

"With the history of the races we wanted to tie the races to Knutsford," said secretary Tinker Garton, 53.

"A lot of people saw the event advertised but said they didn't know there was racing in Knutsford. We're trying to let a wider audience know about it and we've found people are very keen to support us."

A grandstand was built on the Heath in 1865 as organisers hoped to attract customers on the railway, which had reached Knutsford the year before.

The likes of Wilbraham Egerton, the first Earl Egerton, enjoyed the occasion.

His accounts from 1833 show he gambled in the lotteries and paid 12 shillings for a seat at the races.

But the races - which were attended by about 1,000 gamblers, swindlers and pickpockets, according to a newspaper of the time - lost favour with the gentry and gradually declined.

Mrs Garton said the modern races would be a family occasion, with a bouncy castle and a small funfair.

On Monday course clerk Rob Hankey said the going was good, with good to firm patches.

Tickets on the day cost £30 and the first of eight races begins at 2pm. The event is also supporting Alder Hey Children's Hospital.