As our regular readers will know, our much loved local racecourse
is Fakenham Racecourse. Really it should be called Pudding Norton Racecourse,
as that’s where it can be found, on the outskirts of Fakenham. I must say
Pudding Norton is a great name (and food lover Yorkie approves) although
perhaps it would sound a bit too stodgy to be a venue for fast running race
horses.
Your impression of Fakenham racecourse will depend on
whether it's the first race course you’ve visited (as it was for us) or
whether you come to it after visiting lots of other courses, especially the
bigger ones, such as Ascot, Cheltenham,
Newmarket or Aintree. If the latter applies to you, you might think Fakenham is
a bit dowdy and something of a let down, since it has no posh buildings and
stands and is very definitely rustic. However, WE LOVE IT as it unique, completely without pretensions, and has
its own special charm. We always
feel at home at Fakenham and is a very friendly place to visit. From the men
who take your money and help you to park, to the gate and fence attendants and the
other racing fans in the stands you will get always get a friendly
comment. While at Ascot you might
expect to see ladies in dresses with hats, and men in morning suits, at
Fakenham tweeds and wellies are much more the order of the day, and the look is
just right there.
But what about the course itself. Well, like Cheltenham and
Aintree, it is an anti-clockwise, left handed course, which is good for left
footed horses but not for the right footed. It’s a bit less than a mile round, which means that for many
races we are fortunate to see the horses pass in front of the stands 3 times. It
is also supposed to be quite a tight course, being more of a square than an
oval, and this often catches both horse and rider out. As we have seen on
several occasions, the course demands respect, and it doesn’t pay to dismiss it
as an inconsequential rural backwater.
Sadly we only have about 10 meetings a year starting in
October and ending at the end of May but thankfully our membership gives us
lots of reciprocal meetings at other racecourses, to go to throughout the year.
Each year the Racecourse also hosts a Point to Point meeting and a Arabian Day.
There's lots more to tell you, so part 2 will follow soon.
Love Patrick and friends xxx
