a long association with horses going back to the time of Boudica and the Iceni. The first recorded race there was a match for £100 between horses owned by Lord Salisbury and Marquess of Buckingham in 1622, and the racecourse was founded in 1636. Chester continued to be a centre of the sport and by 1609 there are records of the St George's race being run five time round the "Roody" for a prize of silver bells and a sum of money. The first known Rules of Racing date from Kiplingcotes in 1619. Race meetings began to spring up elsewhere in the country. Races were run for silver bells at Gatherley, near Richmond in Yorkshire, Croydon and Theobalds on Enfield Chase. Jockey weights began to be measured and rigorously enforced, and formal training of horses took place, paying attention to food and exercise. James VI and I encouraged the sport. Some of the Spanish horses that ended up in Galloway after the wrecking of the Spanish Armada were kept by local people and raced against the King's own horses when he was in Ireland. They proved better than the King's and were bought for the royal stables. The King supported several meetings, even acting as Clerk of the Course at Lincoln in 1607 and built a house at Newmarket as a hunting lodge and so he could enjoy the racing there. Private match races between gentlemen, riding their own horses, rather than using hired jockeys as became the norm later, became commons. Around the time that Charles I of England came to the throne, Spring and Autumn race meetings were introduced to Newmarket and in 1634 the first Gold Cup event was held. Charles gave a 100 guinea silver cup to be raced for at Hyde Park, and instituted a silver plate at Newmarket. Meetings at Stamford and Epsom were now well established. All horse racing was then banned in 1654 by Oliver Cromwell, and many horses were requisitioned by the state. Despite this Cromwell himself kept a stud running of his own. With the restoration of Charles II racing flourished and he instituted the Newmarket Town Plate in 1664, writing the rules himself: William III founded a riding academy and gave plates to be ridden for in many parts of the country. Between 1695 and 1702, he ran his own horses at Newmarket, including in a 2000 guinea match