Lingfield Park Racecourse

Lingfield Park Racecourse (commonly referred to as Lingfield) is a horse racing course at Lingfield in Surrey, United Kingdom. It is owned by the ARC Racing and Leisure Group, formerly Arena Leisure Plc.

Lingfield is best known as a winter all-weather flat-racing course; the track is Polytrack, rather than the usual turf found in the UK. There are only five other all-weather courses in the UK, the others being at Southwell, Kempton, Wolverhampton, Newcastle, and Chelmsford City (formerly Great Leighs Racecourse). Lingfield stages flat racing on turf in the summer and National Hunt races are also run on turf.

Lingfield Railway Station adjoins the course, served by trains from London to East Grinstead via Oxted.

History

The racecourse is located in a 450-acre (1.8 km²) estate and was opened in 1890 by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), who also agreed to let Lingfield incorporate the Prince of Wales feathers into its official heading. The course initially held jumps racing only, but in 1894 the Jockey Club granted permission for flat racing to be held. Racing has been held continuously ever since, with the only exception being during World War II when the War Office requisitioned the course. Ladbrokes sold the course in 1982 and the new owners installed flood defences on the estate to alleviate the flooding that had become a major problem in the years immediately after the war. A golf course was developed and this opened in June 1987. Arena Leisure purchased the course in 1991, and in 2001 made the decision to replace the Equitrack all-weather surface with Polytrack, opening in November 2001. Other recent developments have been the re-laying of the back straight on the turf course in 2002/2003 and the construction of a £5.5 million grandstand in 2004. In early 2009 the course had another record broken as Matsunosuke became the highest rated horse to win on the all-weather surface rated 112 or 117 by Racing Post rating. This was dubbed as the greatest all-weather horse of all time in the UK.

In addition, there's now a Marriott hotel based on the racecourse.^[1]

The racecourse is featured in the 1954 film The Rainbow Jacket.

Notable races

Other races

• Churchill Stakes
• Fleur De Lys Fillies' Stakes
• Golden Rose Stakes
• Quebec Stakes
• River Eden Fillies' Stakes

References

External links

• Official website
• Course guide on GG.COM
• Course guide on At The Races

Coordinates: 51°10′14″N 0°0′18″W / 51.17056°N 0.00500°W / 51.17056; -0.00500

District of Tandridge
Settlements (grouped by associated post town)	Caterham Caterham on the Hill Caterham Valley Chaldon Whyteleafe Woldingham Godstone Godstone East Grinstead Felbridge Felcourt Horley Horne Burstow Lingfield Crowhurst Dormansland Lingfield Newchapel Smallfield Oxted Hurst Green Limpsfield Limpsfield Chart Oxted Tandridge Titsey Redhill Bletchingley Nutfield Warlingham Chelsham Farleigh Fickleshole Hamsey Green (part) Warlingham Westerham Tatsfield
Places of worship	All Saints Church, Oxted Church of St John the Baptist, Outwood London England Temple (Mormon or LDS Church) List of places of worship in Tandridge (district) Sacred Heart Church, Caterham
Education	Caterham School De Stafford School Hazelwood School Lingfield Notre Dame School Oakhyrst Grange School Oxted School Warlingham School Woldingham School
Transport	Railway stations Caterham Dormans Godstone Hurst Green Lingfield Nutfield Oxted Upper Warlingham Whytleafe Roads A22 A25 M23 M25 Other North Downs Way/Pilgrims' Way Greensand Way
Buildings and structures	Heritage buildings and grounds Bletchingley Castle Titsey Place Spectator sports Lingfield Park Racecourse Theatre Orpheus Centre, Godstone Lakes, watersports and wildlife Hedgecourt Lake Nature Reserve, Felbridge Wire Mill Recreational Lake, Felbridge Mercers Park Country Park, Nutfield Marsh
Sport	Football Farleigh Rovers F.C. Lingfield F.C. Warlingham F.C. Whyteleafe F.C. Cricket Caterham Cricket Club
The administrative centre is Oxted. The largest town is Caterham. Three of the post towns have urban centres Caterham, Godstone and Oxted. Lingfield and Warlingham are major villages which have post town status. The others are outside the area.