Welcome to British Racing History.
First and foremost, we are horse racing fans – we live and breathe the sport of kings. British Racing History was borne out of our own fascination with horse racing and its long and colourful history.
Please see our resources page for listings of many of the sources we have used, and will continue to use, in researching and compiling our retelling of British horse racing history.
It is unfortunately true that there are many factual errors in a significant proportion of currently available accounts. Early Grand National history, for example, is littered with inaccuracies. Part of the reason for that is the repetition of mistakes or omissions in popularly accepted sources. We have made use of some of these flawed accounts in compiling our own. Such sources, although they contain errors, do also contain some useful, reliable information and sometimes first-hand knowledge. Inevitably, we will also repeat some of these errors where we have made use of them. We endeavour, wherever possible, to cross-reference differing accounts and give priority to contemporary records. Contemporary records, usually in the form of newspaper and magazine reports, we believe offer the accounts which are the most likely to be accurate. Of course it is also possible that journalists of the time made errors and these were undoubtedly syndicated but fresh-in-the-mind reporting is much more likely to be accurate than an account written perhaps many years later.
It is likely that the British Racing History project will forever be a work in progress. Some of the accounts included here we consider to be templates. We intend to continually correct, refine and expand upon them as new or improved information comes to light. While we may be aware of possible errors, we welcome the input of other historians and enthusiasts.
Over time, we hope to cover the Aintree Grand National, Epsom Derby, St Leger, Cheltenham Gold Cup, racing personalities and defunct racecourses.
We are not trying to reinvent the wheel. We are aware that there are alternative databases available online as well as printed literature. We find that while there is much quality information available, it is not often presented in an appealing way. There are some very detailed, informative accounts available but this often consists of great walls of text which the average enthusiast may find off-putting.
Ours may not ever become the most complete or detailed record but we hope that we can produce a resource that is informative, visually appealing, engaging, modern and most of all – accessible. We aim to provide important statistical data, interesting facts and anecdotes in an easy to read format which is enhanced by appropriate images and presented in a clear and attractive manner. We make use of photographs, video, paintings, newspaper cuttings and other media to achieve this.
We also like to use memorabilia such as souvenir race programmes and member badges to illustrate and add interest to accounts of events and venues. As historians, enthusiasts, sports fans and collectors we find memorabilia to be the natural extension of an historical interest in horse racing.
Please note that we have published actual newspaper reports from the period for information and entertainment. Where used, these newspaper reports are out of copyright and in the public domain. However, the archives where we source these reports claim copyright on the images they have produced of them. As such, we never use these images directly. Rather, we transcribe the reports and then present them in a way that gives the look and feel of a vintage newspaper or magazine but is somewhat easier to read.
We have undertaken considerable efforts to ensure that anything we may reproduce here is out of copyright and in the public domain. We have used trusted sources including Google, Wikipedia, archive.org and others in order to verify this.
If you want to get in touch, please use the contact form provided or email us at admin@britishracinghistory.co.uk.
British Racing History and Britishracinghistory.co.uk are trading names of BuzzNet.