A double century is an impressive age for any sporting event, so there promises to be a party atmosphere at Chester racecourse on Friday when the country’s oldest active racecourse celebrates the 200th anniversary of its most popular race, the Chester Cup.
The annual charge around two-and-a-bit circuits of this unique, almost circular, track was first run in 1824 as the Tradesman’s Cup, and has been beguiling and frustrating punters in equal measure ever since. It is not quite the oldest race at a course that staged its first recorded meeting in 1539 – Thursday’s Dee Stakes dates back to 1813 – or the oldest still-extant handicap, a title that is narrowly held by the Goodwood Stakes, first run in 1823.
