Uttoxeter Racecourse is a National Hunt racecourse in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England. Course Uttoxeter is a left-handed oval shaped course of 1 mile 2½ furlongs in circumference. The back ‘straight’ has a dog-leg to the right and is undulating as it rises over Clump Hill. The course continues with a downhill run around the far bend into the home straight. The home straight of four furlongs is flat and galloping ensuring fair and competitive finishes to most races including the signature staying chases. The nature of the track often enables front-running tactics to pay off. History The racecourse was built in 1907 and opened by a company formed to take over the interests and licence of Keele Park racecourse, which had recently ceased to operate. There were 5 days of racing in 1907, 2 in May, 2 in October and 1 in December. According to 'The Racecourse of Great Britain and Ireland' guide "the meeting is largely patronised by the nobility and gentry and sportsmen in the county there being 100 members already subscribed to the Club". Horse racing was suspended throughout the country in 1914 during the First World War. Racing resumed in 1921, although the first meeting had to be abandoned on account of bad weather. 4 meetings a year were held, in April, May, September and October, and although the course never broke records, there were always good fields, big crowds, and a small but steady profit for the Racecourse Company. During the Second World War, the course was requisitioned by the War Department and no racing took place. In 1949, the Uttoxeter Urban Council appointed a committee to investigate the non-resumption of racing after the war. Part of the course consisted of a four-acre field which the Racecourse Company did not own, but only leased from a farmer, who was reluctant to lease or sell it to them at a sum which they could afford. It appeared the company would have to go into liquidation and the racecourse would disappear. After much debate, the racecourse re-opened on 12 April 1952. With a crowd of 12,000, the meeting was successful enough for the organisers to be almost overwhelmed. The Uttoxeter Urban Council had come to the rescue of the course and their decision to buy it was upheld by the community. 1966 Popular, but without the funds to modernise and rebuild as the Executive would have wished, in