Talk:Horse racing in Great Britain

Latest comment: 2 years ago by Peaky76 in topic Referencing change

Oldest edit

Trivia: the oldest continually run horse racing event is the Lanark Silver Bell. Trekphiler 04:38, 9 December 2005 (UTC)Reply

Coordinates edit

It would be a good idea to convert the list to a table, and add a column for coordinates, using {{coord}}. Andy Mabbett | Talk to Andy Mabbett 20:13, 13 August 2007 (UTC)Reply

I have converted the list to a table and moved it to its own article List of British racecourses. The coordinates can be added there. Peaky76 (talk) 22:01, 12 April 2013 (UTC)Reply

History edit

The history section is wonderful. You'd never know that there was any horseracing outside England. --MacRusgail (talk) 23:19, 7 February 2008 (UTC)Reply

"Mixed"? edit

In the context of this article, what is meant by the word "mixed"? Surely a racecourse either has hurdles (in which case is labelled as National Hunt) or it doesn't (in which case it is labelled as flat). I do not understand what other categories there could be, leading to the term "mixed". Kidburla (talk) 22:27, 2 April 2008 (UTC)Reply

Some courses with hurdles/fences only hold National Hunt races. Some hold National Hunt and Flat - they are the ones referred to as 'mixed'. I didn't personally think it was confusing but if anyone else does I suppose it could be put as (NH & Flat) I suppose? Or a note added. -Hunting dog (talk) 13:32, 18 May 2008 (UTC)Reply

Harness racing edit

This would be a form of racing with horses: would it be included in this article or perhaps an article on its own? The general #Harness racing# article admits that it happens in the UK but says little more whereas good coverage is given for Australia & New Zealand.--Felix Folio Secundus (talk) 10:14, 30 September 2009 (UTC)Reply

Good point. I have added reference to this under the Organisation section. Unlike other countries, it is a very marginal sport in the UK, compared to non-harness racing, so I wouldn't think it merited more than a passing reference. Peaky76 (talk) 20:36, 12 April 2013 (UTC)Reply

Comparison to other countries edit

It would be interesting to add some comparisons between major countries. For example, all photos I hae seen of British racing appear to be on grass whereas dirt is the dominant US surface. Anyone up to the task?

Good point. Most British racing is turf and this is worth mentioning. I will add a brief mention, which others can expand on if necessary Peaky76 (talk) 20:36, 12 April 2013 (UTC)Reply

Key Data edit

"key data" section is out-of-date. Will try to update. Tigerboy1966 (talk) 09:30, 23 August 2011 (UTC)Reply

Have now added 2011 data. BHA site does not seem to have more recent figures Peaky76 (talk) 20:36, 12 April 2013 (UTC)Reply

it's in Cambridgeshire edit

The pic in the Infobox:

There is a technicality here which I pointed out just now on Wiki Commons:

Newmarket is a bit of an exclave of Cambridgeshire and actually half the racecourse is in Cambridgeshire and not in Suffolk. The horses, when they come around the corner, actually cross the border! I measured it on an Ordnance Survey map once and I reckoned at its closest it was about 300 metres from one pinch to the other.

The statue here is actually in Cambridgeshire. When they put it up (and I lived locally to there) South Cambridgeshire District Council got their dander up because they had not obtained the right planning permission from their council (in the way councils do that, when they have nothing better to do like trying to get drains fixed). They asked for it, in a half-hearted way, for it to be taken down, and of course then decided it could stay after all. I have spent many a draughty evening at South Cambs District Council and it is not quite the Vicar of Dibley but you do get a lot of pointless business and two minutes for the public to speak. There is nothing worse than local politics, and I am one who cares about democracy, but it was some kind of silly argument with local politicians insisting it was in the wrong jurisdiction. That being said, I suppose, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, as Voltaire said was it, and they were probably right to make the point.

But, it is in Cambridgeshire, not Suffolk. Not sure what to do about that cos obviously I don't myself want to be WP:POINTY. Si Trew (talk) 07:12, 24 March 2015 (UTC)Reply

May I say in case it seems too pointy, I had the great pleasure of taking my Dad, before he died, to the races at Newmarket on his birthday (a coincidence they were running that day). I won seventy quid on the gee gees and had to pay for dinner... which cost... about seventy quid. You can never win! Si Trew (talk) 07:18, 24 March 2015 (UTC)Reply

External links modified edit

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External links modified edit

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Requested move 10 April 2018 edit

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: all moved as requested per the discussion below. Dekimasuよ! 21:46, 16 April 2018 (UTC)Reply



– While there are several organisations whose proper nouns spell horseracing as one word, this is not found in any of the major online British English dictionaries.[1][2][3] As such, this doesn't appear to be an ENGVAR issue, and normal orthography, with a space, should be used. --Paul_012 (talk) 05:51, 10 April 2018 (UTC)Reply

  • Support per nom - "horse racing" is more common than "horse racing" in just about every use. Paintspot Infez (talk) 12:11, 10 April 2018 (UTC)Reply

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Referencing change edit

I intend to do some cleaning up/expansion of this article over the coming months and as part of that I'd like to move some of the references to the reflist section as per WP:ILCLUTTER but seeking consensus here before doing so. Does anyone have any particular strong feelings on this? Peaky76 (talk) 19:32, 2 February 2022 (UTC)Reply