Towcester to reopen apparently / hopefully

Blogger - slogger,  damn auto spell

hope so,

Thought Blogger was going to be the face for the re-opening for a minute

Wouldnt that be a great news racing story - I wonder will Jollyboysouting be lining up - he was a right slogger and seemed to be running every other meeting.

It would be absolutely tremendous news. I loved this track. Only went 3 or 4 times as it was tough to get to and I was working. Now I have more time I would go very very regularly.

there was a story about them hoping to use the track for schooling and then further down the line the hope of ptp, but this wasn't about nh racing from what i saw unless something else has happened

it would be a good flat course with the uphill finish

The last time I went there, there was a voided race due to no finishers! Can't be a regular occurrence. Helped with the pp tho :)

The last time I went there, there was a voided race due to no finishers! Can't be a regular occurrence. Helped with the pp tho :)

I loved it there when I went there for my only time....there was something about it....just ticked a lot of boxes for me.

only thing I can find is a very brief mention of it in The Sun......

they had a coal/log fire on the top floor of the stand. Scotch in those faded beaker-type glasses - they looked pre-war. You needed a treble to cover the bottom of the glass! No matter where your horse was as they turned into the straight, you always had a chance. Adored the place.

Nov 5, 2025 -- 2:34PM, Cider wrote:

The last time I went there, there was a voided race due to no finishers! Can't be a regular occurrence. Helped with the pp tho :)

that race is on youtube

What Elise said.  The chat locally is about PTP.  They dropped a teaser on their SM the other day with a pic of the track receiving maintenance.

That sounds very much like Kelso Donegal.

I keep hoping Folkestone will reopen it won’t as even back in 2012 none of those who could have helped save it never tried.

Very unlikely to resume racing there

One of my favourite tracks and I always went if I could.

I preferred the old towcester than the new one but either way I enjoyed going

Uptheirons

Is that Folkestone or towcester 337 post ?

Towcester,jimnast.
Which was always a Track I liked

Fingers crossed that racing returns to Towcester.

There’s a few tracks everyone likes but not necessarily there favourite towcester fell into that category uptheirons

i liked the racing at towcester but the facilities never felt like they were good enough, always got the same feeling at huntingdon

folkestone is derelict now

Good afternoon elise Huntingdon is a very boring racecourse poor facilities to be fair the racing is mainly decent.

I believe so wondersobright

I wonder what happened to all those fish they had there were some big ones

yes jim, it just felt a bit soulless, can't really describe it, but i enjoyed the racing at both, towcs used to get some good horses think we discussed this one before
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc7401b1da8
.

I can’t do links which one is it elise ?

Most think there's too much racing so is adding another track really helpful to British racing?

it was collier bay, relkeel & escartifigue

what i read a few weeks ago , was not that the course would re-open, but that schooling sessions would take place. (hopefully)

Oh yes I remember elise,the best horse I saw win at Huntingdon was buveur d air winning a novice hurdle before finishing 3rd in altiors supreme novice hurdle.

Yes, there has been far too much racing for many years, but I think the major problem revolves around very poor flat/bookmaker racing. You can still have an exciting jump race with poor horses.

I had a look back at my records for the 60's and 70's and quite a number of good horses had the odd run at Towcester, but plenty such as Mandarin and Pendil didn't win. Both Larbawn and Rondetto didn't win in four tries. Bula was undefeated in two, but those returned 1/11 and 1/7. Celtic Cone won the Players No.6 Final in 1972. Ten Up was a multiple course winner in his second career as a hunter chaser.

I think Towcester encapsulated the pleasing variety of tracks in the UK - some stiff, others sharp, some galloping, others flat. Never attended a meeting there, but one I always fancied going to one day.

On a side note, I like Huntingdon. I feel the racing there has dropped off in quality over the past ten years or so and it's hardly the most scenic, but very good viewing and the fence in front of the stands makes for a fine spectacle.

It's actually very beautiful (or was). No new build housing visually adjacent to the track! Like walking into a vast stately home. The stand was/is very pretty as well, in my opinion.

DD - i seem to remember Tommy Carmody and the brilliant Badsworth Boy falling at the last at Towcester in a hurdle race shown on ITV circa 79/80, do your records show this ?

Plenty of really good jump horses ran at the lesser tracks in those days, Badsworth ran at Sedgefield as a juvenile, Silver Buck won at the likes of Catterick, Hereford and Folkestone, Wayward Lad won at Sedgefield and Catterick.

It was so sad to see Folkestone shut down (nearest track to me) and they are still some way off developing the site (named Otterpool Park)as it is still going through planning.
I preferred a day there rather than at one of the big glamour tracks.

I remember all those times silver buck ran at those tracks quite incredible really .midweek national hunt at Wetherby and haydock were always littered with high class horses.

Dixie it was the awkwardness and lack of urgency by midway council that lead to the demise of the wonderful Folkestone racecourse.

I don't have the formbooks beyond the mid 70's, but reference to Timeform confirms that was his third race in the 1980/81 season. They state the horse slipped on landing and unseated Carmody who then remounted to finish. third.

Thanks DD, Tommy did have a rather nasty habit of falling off when set to win

Jimnast - it was actually Shepway council in those days (my parents had dealings with them as they bought a place in nearby Greatstone) and yes it was their dilly dallying over the original plans for housing on part of the course that ultimately did for racing there. As you will know it was meant to be a temporary closure but never reopened. The council is now known as Folkestone and Hythe district. The course was so easy to get to, just off the M20 or Westenhanger railway station right next door, such a shame.

Orchestrate who own the course have said that racing under rules would be a long way off.

* Own the lease*

It was of course shipway Dixie ,the plan was for the racecourse to become a left handed track with the stands by the a2 and houses built where the stands were,you mention hythe well that’s where I use to stay as I would travel from Manchester around 10 times a year I was actually in hythe on the Friday morning the announcement was made to temporarily close Folkestone and permanently close Hereford such a shame .

I loved going to Towcester, then some years after it closed, I remember seeing dog racing there on TV, may have even held the greyhound derby there?
But the viewing of the dogs was so far from the stands, a bit like Newton Abbot dogs if anyone remembers?
Hereford reopened after a few years away, so why not Towcester?

it would be a good flat course with the uphill finish


Towcester was uphill all the way round, only one of its kind in the UK

Better bait required Hulk

Shame about westernhanger only took an hour down the A20

We had a horse called Jack Fuller who barely stayed 2 1/2 miles yet in 2005 he won a 3m chase at Towcester ridden by Paul Robson .