2nd May 2005
Horse racing returns to L’Ancresse race course
Horse racing now takes place on L’Ancresse common most May Day bank holidays. That wasn’t always the case, though. It fell out of favour for 13 years between 1992 and 2005 after organisers had trouble finding runners to participate.
Guernsey Race Club sponsored a day of racing at the Les Landes course in Jersey in 2004 and, following a positive response, decided to investigate bringing the sport back to Guernsey. Work began almost right away on returning the course to the required standard. Labourers added top soil and re-seeded worn out patches, while the Guernsey Race Club applied to the Channel Islands Racing and Hunt Club for permission to host a fixture.
Successful race days
Since 2010, L’Ancresse Racecourse has been home to the Ravenscroft Channel Islands Handicap £5000. This is the largest horse-racing prize in the Channel Islands. The course itself is a one mile and one furlong-long circuit, run in a clockwise direction.
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Other events that occured in May
Guernsey’s telephone wars broke out
- The States of Guernsey tore out the National Telephone Company's unauthorised equipment.
- Read more…
Alderney was liberated at the end of the second world war
- All of Alderney's residents had been sent away during the war. It was an entirely military island.
- Read more…
Occupation stories occupy the mainland papers
- After five years under German rule, stories about life in occupied Guernsey were keenly sought.
- Read more…
A Guernsey retiree’s £1m offer attracts 57,000 requests
- When David James said he had nobody to leave his £1m fortune to when he died, he was inundated with requests.
- Read more…
