450 years of horse racing on the Roodee
Fortunes won and lost on the great Chester Cup race

Away ! “The Corner” is deserted
Away to Chester’s ancient walls !
A thousand screaming trains have started;
‘Tis neck or nothing - Pleasure calls.

In May thousands upon thousands will be flocking to Chester’s Roodee for the annual Chester Races... the oldest sporting event on the British calendar, at the oldest sporting venue. In varying degrees horses have been officially charging round the famous turns of Chester since 1540, literally centuries ahead of the field!

York Races commenced in 1530, but the course moved to the Knavesmire in 1731; Newmarket dates from 1622 and Ascot from 1711. Henry Gee, Mayor of Chester in 1539-40, was responsible for the first Chester Race, a “bell of sylver” to be awarded to “...that horse, which shall runne before all others”, on Shrove Tuesday, or Goteddsday which was a sporting festival for Cestrians. This later moved to St George’s Day (April 23rd).

Apart from an enforced break during the Civil War and as a result of a disagreement amongst the city fathers in the late 17th century, which necessitated switching the races to Farndon, Chester has, incredibly, been a continuous fixture for almost five centuries.

And of all the races that have ever captured the imagination, the annual running of the Chester Cup is unrivalled. Originally known as the Tradesman Cup, first run in 1824, fortunes have literally been won and lost on what, at one time, was considered an infinitely more important betting event than even the Derby.

Undoubtedly the most famous winner was a Yorkshire-trained mare, Alice Hawthorn, in 1842. Bred and owned by John Plummer, a York tanner, she started at 5/1 third favourite in a field of 21. The following day Alice was out again and duly obliged in a two-heat handicap, followed 24 hours later by yet another victory, this time in the Great Cheshire Stakes!

In 1843, Alice was entered to repeat her Chester Cup success, but such were the betting vagaries of the day, there were no odds quoted against her and she finished well down the field to her stablemate, Millipede.

However, there were many on the Roodee that day who thought she could have won and confidence was revived for the 1844 race but this time she was set to give an incredible 78lbs to the bottom weight, Red Deer which was set to carry the miniscule weight of four stones. The pundits still thought Alice capable of winning, despite her immense burden, but it was not a view shared by Lord George Bentinck, the owner of Red Deer, running in the colours of the Duke of Richmond.

Astonishing though it may seem now, Lord George was the official starter at Chester and he placed wagers to win a staggering £100,000 on the race which, it was said, saw all the tricks of betting laid bare. Twenty six started for the race and Kitchenar on the excitable Red Deer went on to win handsomely, although it was claimed that the jockey of Alice Hawthorn had deliberately held his charge back, in return for £12,000 from a leading bookmaker.

Lord George Bentinck, who was the second of the acknowledged great dictators of the English Turf, admitted to receiving "every penny" of his £100,000..." much to my surprise, as on no previous occasion have I escaped from defaulters when I have betted on the same scale."

"We believe," wrote one newspaper correspondent, "that the Chester Cup is engraved on the hearts of the million almost as much as the Derby, and tales of the fortunes that have been won and lost upon it have a charm and romance for the youthful generation."

The last winner of the Trademen's Cup, in 1892, and first winner of the newly-named Chester Cup, in 1893, was Dare Devil, trained at Morpeth and ridden by James Fagan. He won in a canter in 1892 and by the narrowest of distances the following year, from Lord Newton's Red Eagle.

The largest crowd ever to watch the Chester Cup, up to that time, was recorded in 1920 when 96,300 saw the inimitable Steve Donaghue, from Warrington, take the great race. Donaghue himself was second on Elsinore and only ever managed one Chester Cup victory at his local track, on Hare Hill in 1915.

The Second World War victory celebrations in 1946 obliterated all previous Cup Day attendances with victory going to Mr H.S. Lester's Retsel. The gates had to be locked well before the first race and with countless thousands outside, a gate of 103,993 was recorded.

Extracted from “The Roodee - 450 years of racing in Chester”,
by R.M.Bevan (copies avaliable from CC Publishing - £6 + postage).


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