The Sheriff’s horse races on Port Meadow and Wolvercote Common in Oxford always attracted hundreds of spectators.

However, organisers were often disappointed at the low number of local riders taking part in the annual event.

In 1986, for example, all seven races were won by horses and riders from out of the area. Even the locals’ race was won by a rider from Buckinghamshire.

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That year, entries secretary Queenie Hamilton sent out forms advertising the event to every riding school in the Oxford area, but many riders said they hadn’t seen them.

Mrs Hamilton said: “It hurts when you are doing all this and it is not for the benefit of local riders.”

The races were revived in 1980 by that year’s Sheriff, Frank Garside, after a gap of 100 years.

Six years later, they were becoming popular nationally as well as locally, attracting leading riders.

Spectators could not only enjoy the racing but have a flutter on which horses and riders won – and raise money for charities and other good causes at the same time.

The 1986 kitty was shared by Age Concern, Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary, cancer research, hospital leagues of friends, Cheshire Homes, the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Naturalists’ Trust, Open Spaces, the NSPCC, the Port Meadow Fund and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

Pictures 1 and 2 dating from 1984 show some of the crowd intently watching a race and the Sheriff that year, Bert Standingford, having a taste of his nine-year-old granddaughter Sophie Ross’s ice lolly.

Oxford Mail:

In Picture 3, punters are seen preparing to place their bets with one of the bookies, while in Picture 4, Penny Smith, two, of Carterton, and Matthew England and Kevin Wheatley, both 11 and from Jericho, Oxford, are riding Munday, a pony owned by Anne England, left.

Another group of spectators appear in Picture 5 – we’re not sure what year – and in Picture 6, the Sheriff in 1987, Queenie Whorley, is congratulating Misfire and her owner Sue Norton, from Sandford-on-Thames, after they won first prize in the best turned out horse class.

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According to city records, horse racing on Port Meadow and Wolvercote Common can be traced back as far as 1630.

By 1680, it had become an annual event, stretching over two or three days, and continued for 200 years.

A two-mile course was marked out in a pear-shaped sweep from the River Thames to Wolvercote Green and back. Large crowds flocked to watch the event.

The races were so popular that when the railway reached Oxford in 1844, parties would travel from London to enjoy the occasion.

According to one 18th century eye-witness, it was a social event “attended with a much greater appearance of nobility and gentry than hath ever been seen here within the memory of man”.

Some upper-class visitors arranged for their hairdressers to travel from London to make sure they were “in shape”.

The races ended in 1880 because of flooding, the death of two sponsors and a disagreement between the organisers and Wolvercote Commoners, who controlled the common.

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About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

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