down royal racecourse

The Down Royal Corporation of Horse Breeders was created in 1685 by Royal Charter from King James II, the objective being the encouragement of Horse breeding in the County of Down. The first racecourse was a 3 mile, undulating horseshoe shape at Downpatrick. One of the most famous horses ever to run there was "The Byerly Turk" one of the three foundation stallions of the Stud Book. Owned by Colonel Byerly, "The Byerly Turk" raced at Downpatrick in 1690 on the way to the Boyne where he joined the Williamite Armies as a charger. The move from Downpatrick to the present course at The Maze, Lisburn came in 1789 to a site set on hundred years earlier by the Rt. Hon. William Hill who resided at Hillsborough Castle It appears that Hill had influence with Royalty for in June 1690 when he was playing host to William III on his way to the historical Battle of the Boyne, Hill informed the King that Down Royal had not been subsidised by a Royal Grant. Whereupon William III immediately sent an autographed letter to Christopher Carleton, the Collector of Customs in Belfast granting £100 for a King's Plate to be raced for annually In 1750 King George II donated another £100, and from then to this day a Royal Plate has been held at Down Royal sponsored by Buckingham Palace