Sedgefield Racecourse > General Info > History
Racing has been taking place at Sedgefield from around 1732, with the first recorded meetings in 1846. The course itself was part of the Sands Hall Estate, home of the Ord family and known as the Melton of the North.
In 1804 Ralph Lambton formed a club based at the Hardwicke Arms and Sedgefield became the headquarters of the Ralph Lambton Hunt, whose meetings had originally taken place at Lambton Park .
Ralph Lambton was an ancestor of the Earls of Durham, and among original members of the club were Ralph Brandling, then owner of Gosforth Park , and Robert Surtees, father of RS Surtees, the creator of Jorrocks.
By the turn of the century FJ Bayles described Sedgefield as, `one of the very finest of good, sound thickly herbaged turf, never known to become deep or heavy in the worst of weather. The surface of the gallop is smooth and as regular as a garden lawn. The fences are beautifully built of birch and not difficult to negotiate'.
In Edwardian times Sedgefield promoted a two day fixture in March. Although it remained a meeting for hunting men, it was now a much more professional event.
The First World War saw the abandonment of racing in 1915 until its resumption in 1920. The post-war resumption was marred by the death of Richard Ord, the Squire of Sands Hall, who was owner of the Estate as well as a shrewd Jockey Club Handicapper.
By the mid twenties Sedgefield had three meetings, including a lucrative Boxing Day fixture, which still takes place to this day. The current Racecourse Company was founded in 1927, and has seen the fixtures gradually increase to the current twenty days.
In the late 1960's the following article, written by Clement Freud appeared in the National Press.
East is east, said Kipling, going on to say in the same vein, that west was west. After that he deliberated on the unlikelihood of harmony and well-being between the two.
For my money he was a fool to have omitted a similar reference to north and south. Because south is south and Sedgefield is in the north and-on Saturday I went from south to north.
I had not been to Sedgefield before. And I felt, as I am sure my gentle readers feel, a man has not drunk fully from the cup of life until he has witnessed the Nag's head novices hurdle race, in two divisions, each worth £136 to the winner.
So I went to King's Cross station and said `a return to Sedgefield'. The man at the window excused himself and reached for the atlas.
The fact that I write this column lying in bed with frostbite in three toes and a severe cold in no way influences my feelings about Sedgefield - though, naturally, my current physical condition has everything to do with my attendance at the northern pleasure resort.
Sedgefield is how the other half lives. You approach it by a two-and-fivepenny bus-ride from Darlington where they have a notice about leprosy on the station to make you welcome.
The racecourse is almost entirely field, with hardly any Sedge. Small children throw snow gleefully at fat adults- or possibly just at me. And among the more unusual aspects, the weighing room appears to be also the assembly room for the local branch of the British Legion.
Oh, I hear you ask, and what was he doing in the weighing room? The answer is that there really wasn't anywhere else one could go.
There was a stand, where you could do just that and no more. A couple of bars served beer, at room temperature - colder than I have ever had it from a refrigerator - in cardboard beakers, a room marked `Press' had no heating, one telephone and a queue of bookmakers looking for pennies with which to make the thing work.
That brings us to the horses - all ninety-six of them. To use the word undistinguished might sound unfair, but haw else do you describe a horse of which you have not heard, sired by an unknown sire with the motherhood left open? As for form .....
How about Cosmoudan, a six-year-old gelding, by Cosmos (who?), out of Taroudan (oh, really), last six outings 000-000, set to carry 10 stone. Owner claims 7 lb. (naturally), but can't make it (you see) and weighs in at 10 st. 9 lb. (Oho).
Perhaps the most distinguished thing about the meeting was that Cosmoudan, indifferently ridden by a man carrying 16 lb. more than his allocated weight, finished within eight-and-a-half lengths of the winner. Or would that be the least distinguished thing about the winner?
At 12.25 Dashing White Sergeant, heavily supported by my money, duly won. Until I fell headlong in the mud in front of the bookmakers' stands I thought perhaps Sedgefield was not such a bad place, after all. But it is.
To its credit it is in a jolly nice part of the country. It's a fair circuit and there are half a dozen towns, within twenty-five miles, whose populace might well attend, given a decent day and a little quality in the racing.
On the other hand, the horses run behind a hill and are out of sight for two furlongs. And for all one knows the jockeys change horses while they are about it.
As you can plainly see, Sedgefield has improved greatly since Clement Freud's article. Under the reins of Frank Scotto, who was appointed Chairman in 1977 following the death of Harry Lane, Sedgefield began the steady process of re-vamping the whole site. Down came the `tin huts' and in their place new bars and eating areas. Stable facilities were improved, not only for the horses, but for the stable staff, jockeys, owners and trainers.
With racing becoming a popular sport, Frank Scotto's aim was to make Sedgefield a friendly, welcoming place, with top class facilities available to all Sedgefield's racegoers alike, at an affordable cost. Corporate entertaining became an important ingredient to most businesses, and as a successful businessman himself, Frank could see an area where Sedgefield could improve its facilities as well as its popularity.
1991 saw the opening of the Sedgefield Pavilion, which houses a public bar, Tote facilities, a restaurant and seven private entertaining suites. With the demand for corporate facilities growing, the Theakston Suite opened in 1995, which incorporates a public bar, Tote facilities and three entertaining suites.
Since Frank's untimely death in February 1996, Sedgefield racecourse has seen changes in all areas, a re-furbished Parade Ring/Winners Enclosure, a new Betting Ring, and in 1998 a state-of-the art Weighing Room Complex was constructed, with better facilities for Jockeys, Officials and Medical Staff. Also within the Complex is the modern Foster's Stand Public Bar with an eating area and two private suites.
Northern Racing seek to continuously improve the Racecourse and continue the fundamentals established by Frank Scotto.
Frank did not see all his dreams for Sedgefield come true, but despite his sad death, Sedgefield has carried on his promise to make racing a sport for everyone to enjoy and to continuously improve facilities.
