Stockton racecourse

Stockton was once regarded as a fairly top Northern Racecourse - Derby Winner DANTE made his debut there

In the early 1970s - it's name was changed to the uninspiring - Teesside Park - But I think it was changed back to Stockton sometime later, before closing.

i used to go to the Monday night meetings then on to Stockton dog track at  Belle Vue ,Billy Day the Boro flying winger laid the book there.great days

DENNIS sheepskin coat SWEENY
JOYCIE
reg boyle
loved cleveland park dogs

Went a couple of times, chemical factory funnels in the distance that would probably have went dormant soon after. Seem to remember W.A Stephenson's Dusky Duke winning on one of the occasions I attended.

Pretty sure gay Spartan won there when it reopened for a short spell

best i can remember was a saturday NH fixture and a easterby {fav] horse in purple silks ridden by alan browne won, CLAY Something maybe, late 70,s

Stockton was one of only two tracks that raced in the north during the war years of 1943/44. The other was Pontefract. All northern-trained horses could only run at those 2 tracks during that time, apart from 'open' races run at Newmarket. Southern-trained horses had to run at Ascot, Windsor or Salisbury, but Newmarket-trained horses had to run at Newmarket.

('Northern-trained' was defined as above a straight line drawn on the map from Yarmouth to Aberystwyth).

Hence Dante, who was trained in Middleham, only ran at Stockton (4 times at 2 and once at 3), and Newmarket - the Coventry, Middle Park, 2000 Guineas and Derby (1945), which were all 'open'.

In 1945, Catterick was added to the list of northern courses.

1st TimeP. It was probably CLAYSIDE who later won the Arkle in 1981 ridden by Browne.

Brilliant ged

yeh ive been told that before

Before Birmingham closed in 1965 it used to have regular Monday evening meetings in the summer just like Stockton. As a kid I remember one bookmaker who always used to lay (a very overround) book at away meetings. He always used to shout out " who wants a bet at Stockton, down the sunny  south". This meant that I grew up under the misconception that Stockton was somewhere on the south coast.

to be fair stockton was pretty souless place with zilch character

1st time poster

remember going to Stockton for the first time about 50 year ago with my tank of about £20, Darlo to Thornaby on the train then walked to the racecourse, I backed a few winners and thought this gambling games easy, so then walked down the road to Cleveland park dogs, it snowed that night and it was a very long way back to the train with coppers left in my pocket

re the books, sure Reg didn't stand there, the books I think were John Joyce, Dennis Sweeney, Billy Walker; who owned a few fish shops; Eddie Bolton who's brother clerked for Reg Boyle on course, and the one on the end who's name I cant remember and was fearless, he had a betting shop in redcar and the tik tak was Davy whites father

does anyone know if Davy is still about?

yeh reg didnt stand was thinking of who the well dressed grey/nearly white haired fella was when posting this morning and youve landed on him, BILLY WALKER
that joycie was a miserable bugger face to scare the gradkids away, not sure if he was related but a younger fella stood in his pitch,same man ran joycies shop next to THE ESTON INSTITUTE in ESTON sq

Ray Wilson and john Lodge as i remember

Only went the once just before it closed down...Peter Walwyn ran his Guineas hopeful Camden Town on the day.

I thought it was a flat only course in the 60s. Then closed and reopened a few years later as a dual-purpose course called Teeside Park. I presume onloooker is right as usual that it went back to its old name,but I can't say I remember that.
ged's post is fascinating. I knew a lot of courses closed during the war but I had no idea they had those sort of restrictions.

The inaugural two day meeting was held on Thursday 6th and Friday 7th September 1855. Stockton Grand Stand Company was formed in 1859 with the aim of leasing new land, building better facilities and putting the course on a firmer footing. The course closed between 1915 and 1917 during the First World War, but received a boost during the Second World War when it was allowed to stage racing, so ensuring northern trainers could continue to operate without the need to send their charges on long journeys to Newmarket. The meetings became known as Teesside Park in 1967 when National Hunt racing was introduced on Saturday 25th March 1967, and continued to be known as Teesside for 12 years until a final card on Thursday 8th November 1979, whence it reverted to Stockton Races for its final 2 years of existence. The final days racing was held on Tuesday 16th June 1981, although after racing under rules had ceased the track was used by the South Durham, Hurworth and Cleveland Hunt Groups in 1985 and 1986 when, once again, the Teesside name was used.

1stp. The other book was Danny Wilson.
Ronnie

yep that name rings a bell ronnie
cheers

i can remember alverton with jonjo on board running in a 2m novice chase only 2 runners it started at 10s on alverton fell but jonjo remounted and still won easily

pretty obvious even by this brief thread the amount of quality horses that used turn up at the gaff tracks as compared to today

Like Dante, Musidora started her 3yo season in the Roseberry Stakes at Stockton. She won there before winning the 1000 Guineas and Oaks (1949).

Prince De Galles also won the Roseberry (1969), short-heading Burglar (who was really a sprinter). He won the Cambridgeshire later that season landing an almighty gamble off 7-12 (and won the race the following year off 9-7). 4 weeks later he finished 2nd in the big Haydock sprint, beating Burglar into 3rd, again by a short head. The last race on the card at Stockton that day (though it was then called Teesside Park) was another 3yo race, over 12f, won by Knotty Pine for Michael Jarvis. He finished 2nd in the Ebor as a 4yo and won it as a 5yo.

Red Rum ran there 4 times:

At 2 - unplaced over 6f
At 4 - won a 2m hurdle
At 5 - unplaced in a 2m5f hurdle
At 6 - 3rd in a 3m chase

More of that made his debut at Folkestone the following meeting was there last

Gay Spartans only run in the 79/80 season was at Stockton where he gave lumps away to win a handicap ,he had earlier in his career won the sun alliance chase Micheal Dickinson rode won the king George and would probably have won the 78 gold cup had it been run in March ,pulled out just before the race was run in April.

Some of the smaller tracks he ran at were Hexham,catterick,Worcester,wincanton,uttoxeter and Wolverhampton.

After missing 3 years he returned to win at Worcester then his final victory came at catterick where he beat hello dandy who went on to win a grand national.

Ability wise he may well have been the best horse the Dickinson’s trained if injuries didn’t interfere so much with his career.

Never made it to Stockton but the thread brings back memories my tenuous connection to Boro. Our leave clerk was a Boro fan and his dad was a bookmaker, he fiddled travel warrants so a few of us could go to away matches with him.Tha last one was V Bristol City circa 77, match of the Day with about 30,000 fans, only 60 Boro fans.

Ended 0-0 and still remember David "Spike" Armstrong coming over to the tiny triangle we were penned in and talking to the fans at the end.John Brown was my mates name and he had £500 on Night Nurse for the CH,nearly crying when it kept raining,I had £1 ew and he convinced me our dough was lost, on less than £20 a week it was a right result when we got 15/2.

His dad stood around the North East and wonder if Ronnie may have known him, I believe they lived in Co Durham? My only actual visit to Boro came years later when on RCS.A post script, John got caught fiddling travel warrants and got a punishment posting to 39 Bde, Lisburn, said it was the best posting he had.