Unremembered: London's Favourite Racecourse at Alexandra Park - Harringay online2024-03-28T21:12:34Zhttps://harringayonline.com/forum/topics/unremembered-london-s-favourite-racecourse-at-alexandra-park?groupUrl=historyofharringay&commentId=844301%3AComment%3A1317131&groupId=844301%3AGroup%3A10&feed=yes&xn_auth=noI've just added a piece on th…tag:harringayonline.com,2023-02-23:844301:Comment:15294242023-02-23T19:45:29.920ZHughhttps://harringayonline.com/profile/hjuk
<p>I've just added a piece on the Christeys <a href="https://harringayonline.com/group/historyofharringay/forum/topics/the-christeys-from-the-18th-century-fruit-stalls-of-covent-garden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>. </p>
<p>I've just added a piece on the Christeys <a href="https://harringayonline.com/group/historyofharringay/forum/topics/the-christeys-from-the-18th-century-fruit-stalls-of-covent-garden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>. </p> Thank you so very much for th…tag:harringayonline.com,2022-05-16:844301:Comment:14908222022-05-16T09:45:50.082ZLolohttps://harringayonline.com/profile/Lolo
<p>Thank you so very much for this detailed and informative article! I've enjoyed reading every minute of it. </p>
<p>Thank you so very much for this detailed and informative article! I've enjoyed reading every minute of it. </p> Thanks to HoL member Gordon H…tag:harringayonline.com,2022-05-06:844301:Comment:14896412022-05-06T12:10:49.055ZHughhttps://harringayonline.com/profile/hjuk
<p>Thanks to HoL member Gordon Hutchinson for sharing the following anecdote via and old university friend whose father Jack Waterman, was the Evening Standard’s racing correspondent for many years. He wrote a book called <em>The Punters Friend: A Guide to Horse Racing and Betting</em>, which included the following anecdote.</p>
<blockquote>Ally Pally had a conformation that was quite unique: the horses started in front of the stands, galloped away up the straight, went round and round a very…</blockquote>
<p>Thanks to HoL member Gordon Hutchinson for sharing the following anecdote via and old university friend whose father Jack Waterman, was the Evening Standard’s racing correspondent for many years. He wrote a book called <em>The Punters Friend: A Guide to Horse Racing and Betting</em>, which included the following anecdote.</p>
<blockquote>Ally Pally had a conformation that was quite unique: the horses started in front of the stands, galloped away up the straight, went round and round a very tight circle at the end (how many times depended on the distance of the race) and returned the way they came towards the winning post. It was called 'racing around the frying pan, and up the handle' and hoses that ran there supposedly 'finished dizzy'. Cider Apple developed a liking for Ally Pally, not matched, perhaps, by the majority of its patrons. As quite an old horse he was still capable of giving the younger ones a trouncing over its longest distance of 1 mile 5 furlongs and a few yards, and he won there so many times that a race was named after him. Sadly, Cider Apples name is no longer commemorated because racing ceased at Alexandra Palace in 1969.</blockquote>
<p>The wisdom of the internet can only offer that <em>Cider Apple </em>won London Cup at Ally Pally in 1949, 1950, 1952, but that gives us a rough idea of when he was racing.</p> Thank you, Richard. Good to h…tag:harringayonline.com,2022-04-30:844301:Comment:14890892022-04-30T07:08:12.028ZHughhttps://harringayonline.com/profile/hjuk
<p>Thank you, Richard. Good to have you still in the area virtually. </p>
<p>Thank you, Richard. Good to have you still in the area virtually. </p> It is an enormous privilege t…tag:harringayonline.com,2022-04-29:844301:Comment:14889802022-04-29T19:38:56.197ZRichard Woodshttps://harringayonline.com/profile/RichardWoods
<p>It is an enormous privilege to HoL to have your contributions Hugh. This is a wonderful exposition of the history of the Pally course. My parents, especially dodgy grandfather used it occasionally. But none of us, as we left the area in 1964, expected it to close before the decade was out!</p>
<p>It is an enormous privilege to HoL to have your contributions Hugh. This is a wonderful exposition of the history of the Pally course. My parents, especially dodgy grandfather used it occasionally. But none of us, as we left the area in 1964, expected it to close before the decade was out!</p> Galloping Major seems to be a…tag:harringayonline.com,2022-04-25:844301:Comment:14880342022-04-25T10:36:19.826ZJeremybhttps://harringayonline.com/profile/JeremyuBuck
<p><em>Galloping Major se</em>ems to be available again here:</p>
<p><a href="https://ok.ru/video/2066565434050" target="_blank">https://ok.ru/video/2066565434050</a></p>
<p><em>Galloping Major se</em>ems to be available again here:</p>
<p><a href="https://ok.ru/video/2066565434050" target="_blank">https://ok.ru/video/2066565434050</a></p> Thank you for your nice feedb…tag:harringayonline.com,2021-10-22:844301:Comment:14585852021-10-22T09:13:12.484ZHughhttps://harringayonline.com/profile/hjuk
<p>Thank you for your nice feedback.</p>
<p>The removal of the film from YouTube was discussed on the first page of comments (which I'd forgotten about - and before rediscovering that, I found another stream of the film which is still available online, linked to above in the original text - grab it whilst you can!)</p>
<p>Thank you for your nice feedback.</p>
<p>The removal of the film from YouTube was discussed on the first page of comments (which I'd forgotten about - and before rediscovering that, I found another stream of the film which is still available online, linked to above in the original text - grab it whilst you can!)</p> A brilliant article that obvi…tag:harringayonline.com,2021-10-22:844301:Comment:14584682021-10-22T03:34:50.273Zreachingout10https://harringayonline.com/profile/reachingout10
<p>A brilliant article that obviously took a lot of time and effort.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the video has been removed from YouTube.</p>
<p>Still, excellent!</p>
<p>A brilliant article that obviously took a lot of time and effort.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the video has been removed from YouTube.</p>
<p>Still, excellent!</p> What an interesting eye opene…tag:harringayonline.com,2020-10-30:844301:Comment:13289972020-10-30T13:17:51.922ZJohn Shulverhttps://harringayonline.com/profile/John_Shulver
<p>What an interesting eye opener that is. I lived down by The Salisbury '49 - '72, frequently visited and played at The Pally as well as attending various events there over the years but knew nothing of a race course being there.</p>
<p>Thanks again Hugh for another interesting feature.</p>
<p>What an interesting eye opener that is. I lived down by The Salisbury '49 - '72, frequently visited and played at The Pally as well as attending various events there over the years but knew nothing of a race course being there.</p>
<p>Thanks again Hugh for another interesting feature.</p> I wasn't able to find any evi…tag:harringayonline.com,2020-10-24:844301:Comment:13226452020-10-24T10:57:44.537ZHughhttps://harringayonline.com/profile/hjuk
<p>I wasn't able to find any evidence for that, Jeremy. There certainly seems to have been a race called the <em>Victoria Stakes,</em> but contemporary newspapers seem to associate it with the Kempton and Pontefract racecourses.</p>
<p>The current owners of the Victoria Stakes pub have apparently been unable to find any evidence either. Their <a href="https://www.victoriastakes.com/about" rel="noopener" target="_blank">website</a> offers the following rather limp and unconvincing…</p>
<p>I wasn't able to find any evidence for that, Jeremy. There certainly seems to have been a race called the <em>Victoria Stakes,</em> but contemporary newspapers seem to associate it with the Kempton and Pontefract racecourses.</p>
<p>The current owners of the Victoria Stakes pub have apparently been unable to find any evidence either. Their <a href="https://www.victoriastakes.com/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a> offers the following rather limp and unconvincing explanation.</p>
<blockquote>Rumour has it the name originates from the 3.05 race at Alexandra Palace race course. The Hornsey gent, with his winning stake, brought the pub and named it after his lucky race.</blockquote>
<p>Whether or not a lucky punter was able to buy or build the pub out of his winnings, I don't think it had anything to do with the naming of the pub. The business started its life in the early 1870s, just a few years after the course opened, as <em>The Victoria Hotel.</em></p>
<p>I suspect that the 'lucky gent', if he existed, got about as near to naming the pub after a horse race as any ploughman did to a ploughman's lunch. </p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/8068983052?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/8068983052?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>The pub retained the original name until 1971 when it was renamed <em>Victoria Stakes. </em>This was just three years after the racecourse closed. Having spent almost its first hundred years, whilst the racecourse was operating, as the plain old <em>Victoria Hotel</em>, I'd guess that it was given the new name as a romanticised gesture to commemorate the recently demised track.</p>
<p>The London phone directories of 1971 and 1972 recorded the change.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/8069014075?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/8069014075?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>By the way, in the early part of the twentieth century the pub was managed by one of the Christey brothers. Another brother managed the Maynard for several decades and a third the Lordship Tavern in Wood Green.</p>