Towcester - Only track uphill all the way round to make come back

It was muted as a possibility a few weeks ago I would be good if it reopened as I liked the place however most would say we had to much racing already,hopefully someone will reopen Folkestone.

Would love to see Folkestone reopen Jimnast.

Lovely track and ideal for a day's racing in late Summer.

Very underrated racecourse honestpunter enjoyed both national hunt and flat there the place had character,I hope all those fish were looked after once it closed and the people who run this sport didn’t do a tap to help,the even made the announcement on the morning of the London Olympics opening ceremony.and Folkestone had raced the night before

Some trivia here which horse made his racecourse debut at the courses 2 nd last fixture at 20/1 and 4 months later won the stayers hurdle at the Cheltenham festival?

That should say won at 20/1

More of That. I was there

And,went off at 48.0 on here and was clearly having a jog that went wrong

I was on the Gifford horse at 11/10

backing a gifford horse at 11/10. well dun in

i did similar at fontwell and got beat by cue card at 14/1. marvellous

It beat the "danger" by 22L and at 48.0 I was not expecting a World Hurdle Winner to debut there.

Towcester was the first course I went to - it would be great if it comes back. I was also there for McCoy's 4000th, one of the best days & atmospheres I've experienced at a racecourse. Come on Towcester!

would be great to see it back
horses & dogs at same track if well organised can work

After all this time the hideous 8,500 home Otterpool Park monstrosity earmarked for the old Folkestone Racecourse has still not begun construction.

Alas they are still seemingly determined to press ahead and had the latest Exhibition of the revised plans a couple of months ago.
There have been all kinds of issues including the need for a huge waste water plant to be built.

But the chances of ever seeing racing there again are very remote. A shame for people like me for whom it was the nearest track.
If only they could have had some agreement to have built on just part of the land and kept the racing going

My horse ran at both and actually won at Towcester despite being a dubious stayer at the trip , enjoyed both courses and worked at the tote on National day in the 70s .

The original plan was to sell some land for building and make the course left handed the stands were going to be replaced.



Twoboyz there was also a gamble landed that day by a horse who had been of the course for a long time trained by Oliver Sherwood called rouge et blanc

Did you go to the last fixture ?

We all have favourite and local tracks but can the industry really support the number we have? In my racing lifetime we have seen the passing of Beaufort Hunt at Sherston, Buckfastleigh, Wolverhampton turf, Teesside Park, Liverpool flat, Hurst Park, Nottingham jumps, Folkstone, Wye, and more recently Towcester and Chelmsford. Chelmsford filled a need but was very poorly managed. I am a bit surprised that Arc have not taken it on. Do we really need Ludlow, Fakenham, Bath (despite it being my closest flat track) or Pontefract? I know that turf courses can only put on a limited number of meetings but like Cheltenham, they could invest in a separate circuit on the same site making twice as much use of the expensive bits, the stands, car parks etc.

Agree with the first 3 sageform and whilst I hope we don’t lose any those 3 would be my choice,regarding ponty whilst I don’t particularly like the place they have some very well supported days and generally get decent field sizes.

Thought Arc have bailed Chelmsford out, or has that fell through?

Bath facilities not great but even tho it's always firm it's also always safe with a good covering of grass reasonably well supported with a big catchment area can't see bath going.

DixieDean60 17 Aug 26 23:07 
After all this time the hideous 8,500 home Otterpool Park monstrosity earmarked for the old Folkestone Racecourse has still not begun construction.

...........................

8.5 k homes is a small town, not much green and pleasant land left in a decade or two

I live in mid Kent and the nearest course would be Lingfield which is 35 miles away, if you go there by car it may be a relatively good trip to get there but leaving after an afternoon meeting puts you straight in to the M25 at rush hour and can take ages to get home. Going by train takes for ever as well, a 5 hour round trip no less !


Kent is a large county, with a population of circa 2 million and we have ZERO racecourses now. If you live near the channel coast the nearest track is 70/80 miles away, there can't be many other parts of the country where that would be the case. which is why it was such a shame that we no longer have the track at  Folkestone

I remember the final meeting there baring in mind it was Hereford to permanently close and Folkestone temporarily but nobody there really believed it ,the racecourse commentator that day was Mike cattermole as they crossed the line he said something like he may be the last ever winner here I really hope not

Yes saddo, the Garden Of England is rapidly becoming a concrete jungle

There is a 350 home estate that was built over the road from me a decade ago which increased the village population by a third. But very little extra facilities or infrastructure of course.

And now there is an application for 1,300 houses on the edge of the village (could even rise to 2,000) that is currently being considered.
Due to targets set by this government it is pretty certain to go ahead in some form which will mean the local A228 will regularly be at a standstill due to the increase in traffic (it's bad enough already). And the land is actually green belt

Incidentally the racing industry did absolutely zero to resolve the problem at one time Barry Dennis was trying to help save it from closure but as ever politics got in the was to reasonable ideas

Such a waste jimnast, especially when you think it's been 14 years now and still nothing has actually happened there.

It was very easy to get to as well, especially by train with Westenhanger station next door.

Folkstone had a wonderful bar at the top of the stand past the winning post. Just glass windows as I recall. When the wind blew you were sure the place would collapse. Just held onto your scotch a little tighter. I think it may have had a log fire but perhaps I am confusing that with Towcester in the old days.

Dixie we use to stay over in hythe which added to the enjoyment of the trip yes 14 years and for what

at least you are getting houses dix. here, norf laundon every inch is turned into flats, as many 1 beds as possible. the strain placed on amenities is too much and the local roads are permanently being dug up, usually by the water board

theres a terrrace of small cottages next to a small wood that is now totally overshadowed by a giant block of flats that blocks the sun from them completely. its outrageous but the council-haringey- mp the fabulously unintelligent dawn butler the gambolling executioner are delighted as some of them are 'social housing', ie, free for low-life who will destroy the gaff

I spent many a happy childhood holiday along that coast jimnast, Folkestone, Hythe, Dymchurch and New Romney. Such good memories.

The RH&D light railway is still popular now, bit of a tight squeeze for me these days though being 6 ft 2 tall and a tad heavier than my younger days

BF - oh there are quite a few flats in the development opposite me, mainly occupied by the "affordable types" if you get my drift. All part of the deal unfortunately.
The large proposal on the cards at the moment will be the same. Many of the properties in the recent development were bought by DFL's and the same will be so of any new estate.

Locals won't get much of a look in. There are blocks of flats in Maidstone that were renovated a few years ago for the lower echelons of society to inhabit and were exclusively snapped up by various London councils who were delighted to export their riff raff to the county town. Same for a couple of areas in Medway

Busyfool -- you may be right about Dawn Butler except she is not MP for Haringey but for Brent East.

ok. point noted. i have seen her outside the town hall and assumed thats her constituency. miles out in fact