History
The racecourse is located in a 450-acre (1.8 km2) estate and was opened in 1890 by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), who also agreed to let Lingfield incorporate the Prince of Wales feathers into its official heading. The course initially held jumps racing only, but in 1894 the Jockey Club granted permission for flat racing to be held. Racing has been held continuously ever since, with the only exception being during World War II when the War Office requisitioned the course. Ladbrokes sold the course in 1982 and the new owners installed flood defences on the estate to alleviate the flooding that had become a major problem in the years immediately after the war. A golf course was developed and this opened in June 1987. Arena Leisure purchased the course in 1991, and in 2001 made the decision to replace the Equitrack all weather surface with Polytrack, opening in November 2001. Other recent developments have been the re-laying of the back straight on the turf course in 2002/2003 and the construction of a £5.5 million grandstand in 2004. In early 2009 the course had another record broken as Matsunosuke became the highest rated horse to win on the all weather surface rated 112 or 117 by RPR Racing Post This was dubbed as the greatest all weather horse of all time in the UK.
The racecourse is featured in the 1954 film The Rainbow Jacket.
Read more about this topic: Lingfield Park Racecourse
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“... that there is no other way,
That the history of creation proceeds according to
Stringent laws, and that things
Do get done in this way, but never the things
We set out to accomplish and wanted so desperately
To see come into being.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.”
—Henry James (1843–1916)
“Humankind has understood history as a series of battles because, to this day, it regards conflict as the central facet of life.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)