Things in the middle of a racecourse [top trumps]

Sandown - Go-cart racing circuit and golf course

Chelmsford - A Grandstand

Uttoxeter cricket pitch

Doesn't Chester have a pub, some forumite(s) may have even supped an ale there.

Ascot -  a brothel

Uttox, also Caravan Park.

Lingfield, Fontwell, Ascot, Epsom  Car Park

Cartmel -a funfair

DISQUALIFIED

airto • December 2, 2023 1:00 PM GMT
Ascot -  a brothel

That is Royal Ascot only and only year round attractions are allowed

Mr Myxlplyx, you obviously don't know the right people. Nod's as good as a wink if you do :-)

Newbury - A Christmas funfair (last year).

Quite a few got a  - Golf Course - in the middle

Musselburgh - and - Southwell ... off the top of my head.

Kempton - Square Lake/Reservoir - by the Winning Line.

Newcastle -golf course -think Musselborough as well

Haydock - Used to have a - Light Aircraft Landing Strip - (don't know if it still has) -

- as did - Newbury

Haydock also has it's own Reservoir - on the inside of the Far-Side bend, opposite the Stands.

Ludlow also got a golf course, and possibly Wincanton as well
Hereford got an all weather football pitch on the Leisure Centre side
Cartmel loads of caravans in the middle... Some even close to the sticky toffee pudding place, which commentators hardly ever mention!

Here's a belter for you ...

Catterick used to have a - Gravel Pit -

But they have dug it all out - and it is Now filled with water - and is a Private Fishing Club.
-------------

Ripon - also has a massive Lake

Plumpton - Rugby pitch

Newton Abbot used to have a dog track in the middle, just in front of the stand but that's now gone...
Ironically, Towcester had a similar situation, but the dog track has survived, holds the Greyhound Derby, and the horse track sadly gone

Kelso - another Golf Course

Hexham - another Reservoir

hamilton - football pitches.

southwell AW has a jump course inside it. And the jump course has a golf course inside it. The golf course has a pond inside it

LUDLOW - The - B4365 -  crosses in 3 Places

Ascot - Used to have a road, too  - The A330 - Winkfield Road - until they built an Underpass for the road - around the 3 furlong mark.

ASCOT - However - still has the Royal Ascot Cricket Club Pitch in the centre.

Ayr- Used to have light aircraft landing strip.
Most- Big Screen.

Not sure if still in use at Bath. A park and ride shuttle bus to and from city centre.

Epsom - The Hill, and everything on it on Derby day.

The last meeting of the year at Newton Abbot. That's where the dog track used to be, with Joe Oliver betting to about 200% on the forecast. But that day they filled it up with students, fahsands of 'em.

Watching them from Tatts, you felt like Michael Caine at Rorke's Drift.

Brighton has a housing estate, mind you it's about two hundred feet below the course.

The ruins of Ballybrit Castle in Galway racecourse.

Warwick has a golf course.

If you want to include defunct racecourses {Towcester already mentioned), Galleywood near Chelmsford used to have a church in the middle.

I have always rather liked the infield at THIRSK. Acres of flat land that could surely be used to feed the poor by planting turnips, mangos or bananas, plus a cricket pitch and a rugby playing area.

See them all from the air here at around 14 seconds in.

.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkIZm4Z_9gQ

And just noticed sheep inside Carlisle racecourse.

I think Kevo might be winning with the castle

Bellewstown   Pitch & Putt Course

Laytown   Irish Sea

You could solve the housing crisis in the middle of Pontefract

Cheltenham - a garden centre.

I think it was Jane Cecil who commented that the infield at Southwell made her feel as though she were back at Hialeah Park, Florida, apart from the lack of flamingos.

york ...hangings . think they may have finished with them now .but , you never know, they could make a comeback !

windsor knot • December 3, 2023 2:55 PM GMT
york ...hangings .

Might be a posh alternative to the noose - a windsor knot

Perth has a cricket pitch ...

Thirsk also has a cricket pitch . A Rugby Union pitch as well

Pontefract has a dogging area , for what it's worth

Reynard Jr. used to play U-14's home matches within the bounds of Thirsk racecourse but not sure if football pitch remains there .

Aintree has a Grand Prix racing circuit inside it, though it's not been used for GPs since the 1960s.

ged - At the last Aintree meeting prior to the building of the new grandstand they raced F1 cars , old & new , around the outer of the racetrack for a couple of hours before the first race . Fantastic to witness the sounds and the smell of high octane fuel emissions at such close quarters

Great stuff. I think it's mainly used for bike races now.

This is the best thread in ages. Congratulations OP!

Here's what Aintree looks (and sounds) like in a Triumph TR3...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwgtelKd91E

Chester home to several also permanently waterlogged football pitches in the winter....a polo pitch in the summer...

CHESTER racecourse  (courtesy of https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/whats-on/seven-things-you-didnt-know-11141629)

The Virgin Mary is buried there

OK, not strictly true. But legend has it that a "statue" of the Virgin Mary is buried under the raised mound towards the middle of the course, marked with a stone cross.

The story behind the statue is a long and convoluted one. In short, it was said to have fallen on the Governor of Hawarden's wife while she was praying at church, killing her. As a holy object, the statue could not be hanged or burned so it was buried instead, following a trial.

Not sure these would qualify but unique as far as I am aware. Chilivani, a tight oval flat track with four bends, on the inside is a "Steeplechase" course which consists of fences similar to showjumping arenas but includes stone walls and goes in a 360 degree circuit, left and right and vice versa, races are Anglified as Steeplechases, few take place tbf.

Lefkosia, seen from centre of course is the Northern Cypriot/ Turkish flag carved into a mountain across the border.

Newmarket  : Gallops.

Southwell has some of the adjoining golf course.

Sandown used to have (aside from the car park that still remains) golf holes then a go-kart track. But it also has the five furlong course....

Last week Wetherby had 2 bookies and absolutely no racegoers which surely won the two books first prize in wishful thinking.

Chester has loads of tents which all but ruin the idea of a tight track where you can see the horses all the way around.

Newbury will surely soon have housing going by the way so much of the perimeter of the track has been sold off.

Summer of this year, Beverley had a fun fair on 'family fun day' that appeared to consist of just two fairgound attractions (a fair bet that there were some disappointed kids that day!)

Let us not forget the daddy of the lot..Chelmsford that has the grandstand!!

Doncaster has enough trees to obscure the view of at least 25% of the jumps track (and the flat when races take place on the round course).

Hence, full marks to tracks like Market Rasen, Nottingham, and plenty of others, where you have a totally clear view all the way around (to be fair, same as Sandown despite the different uses of the infield over the years).

But, I do still love all our tracks because they have one thing most of the US tracks do not...character!

The Knight • December 4, 2023 11:10 PM GMT

But, I do still love all our tracks because they have one thing most of the US tracks do not...character!

100% !

Does Sandowsn still haved a ski resort inside it? I haven't been there for a while - either the racecourse or the resort.