GREAT YARMOUTH
Racing was first recorded at Great Yarmouth in 1715, when a piece of land was leased to a group of innkeepers to enable them to stage race meetings.
However, not until 1810 did the Racing Calendar begin to record meetings and by 1866 , the number of fixtures had increased considerably, which was partly due to the nearby milatary base that provided cavalry horses to set up races to entertain the locals.
The original course was much closer to the sea and when improvements were planned, extreme pressure was applied by the fishing industry who wanted to expand the premises on the South Denes.
It was decided to completely move the racing operation to Caister and the two grandstands were dismantled in 1920, and are still being used today.
A new grandstand was built in 2004 and named after LORD NELSON, a Norfolk boy.
The track takes the form of a narrow oblong about a mile and three quarters round with a five furlong finishing straight and is used for flat racing only. There is also a one mile straight .
In the last few years extensive work has been carried out to level the finishing straight which had appeared to have sunk in certain places and has now received glowing reports from the local trainers.
Great Yarmouth is an ideal nursery track for the future stars trained at Newmarket. Numerous two-year old maiden races are held at the track each year and the track now hosts 23 races a year starting this year on Tuesday April 24th.
FIXTURES FOR EARLY 2024
TUESDAY APRIL 30
SATURDAY MAY 4 ( EVENING ) , WEDNESDAY MAY 22
MONDAY MAY 27, WEDNESDAY JUNE 12, THURSDAY JUNE 13
FRIDAY JUNE 28
CHECK THE GT. YARMOUTH WEBSITE BEFORE ATTENDING THE COURSE.
ALL RACES ARE SHOWN ON " SKY SPORTS RACING " SKY CHANNEL 415