Woore Racecourse
| Location | Woore, Shropshire |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 52°58′N 2°23′W / 52.96°N 2.39°W |
| Owned by | Defunct |
| Date closed | 1 June 1963 |
| Course type | National Hunt |
| Notable races | Woore Chase, Foxhunters Open Chase, Betton Hurdle |
Woore Racecourse (closed 1963) was an English National Hunt horse racing venue, situated in the village of Woore, in the northernmost corner of Shropshire, on the border with Cheshire and Staffordshire.
The racecourse was found 2 miles south of Woore village in the hamlet of Pipe Gate, on farmland owned by Mr Icke and leased to the racecourse company. The track was a mile round, with very sharp left hand bends. Horses had to gallop over a bridge between the last two jumps. As the course was constantly turning, it paid to be close to the rails. According to former jockey, Bernard Wells, it felt "as though you were going round on the inside of a saucepan." Since the course was also used for grazing, it was regularly covered with cow pats, an unpleasant experience for the jockeys who would be covered by it; low-hanging branches also made riding difficult for jockeys.
Races are first recorded at Woore in 1883. The original site proved unsuitable, however, and in 1885, races were held for the first time at Pipe Gate. Early meetings were funded through the subscriptions of local farmers and huntsmen, but in 1905, a racecourse company was formed to manage the business.
Woore had its most successful period between the World Wars, when, despite the existence of just a single, wooden grandstand, the meeting became popular with National Hunt fans, sometimes drawing crowds in excess of 1500. In 1937, King George VI attended to watch his horse, Slam, take part in the Betton Hurdle, in which it finished fourth.
By the end of World War II, Woore held three meetings a year, and in 1952, a fourth meeting was added. Nearby Mucklestone held point-to-point meetings and it was common for racegoers to attend the Mucklestone meeting on Easter Saturday and the Woore meeting on Easter Monday, when, often, the same horses would run again.
The nearby Pipe Gate railway station, opened 1870, provided access to the course. However, when passenger services to this station stopped in 1956, attendance at Woore became more difficult. Despite this expansion of the course continued. In 1957, buildings from Bedford Aerodrome were acquired and converted to stewards' rooms, a weighing room and a restaurant.
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