National Horseracing Museum

This year marks the 150th anniversary since legendary jockey Fred Archer was first named champion jockey, and a one-off guided tour will be offered on Sept. 4 to celebrate the milestone, Discover Newmarket announced on Wednesday. The tour will investigate the close ties between Archer and Newmarket, with his great granddaughter, Diana Reynolds, providing details on Archer's life. On the tour, there will be a visit of Sir Mark Prescott's yard, Heath House Stables, where Archer began as an apprentice, and a guided visit by trainer James Fanshawe of his...

Following in the footsteps of the late Queen Elizabeth II, Her Majesty Queen Camilla has accepted an invitation to become the royal patron of the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket, the organization announced via presser on Monday. The announcement was made to mark the first anniversary of the coronation and a new Royal Yard tour has been launched by Discover Newmarket. It includes visits to Clarehaven Stables, where the King and Queen have horses in training. "Queen Elizabeth II opened the National Horseracing Museum in November 2016 and was a...

ICONS, a new photography exhibit at the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket, begins on May 2 and will last through Oct. 27, the museum announced on Tuesday. The exhibit features the work of the late John Reardon, with photos from thoroughbreds to Michelin-star chefs intermingled. Reardon's widow Sacha Lehrfreund collaborated with the NHM to stage the 35-work exhibition. For more details, please visit the museum website.

Kirsten Rausing's Lanwades Stud will be open to visitors for a full-day tour through Discover Newmarket on Thursday, May 16, the tourism organisation announced on Thursday. Guests will be treated to a stallion parade of Lanwades Stud's trio of stallions--Bobby's Kitten, Sea The Moon (Ger) and Study Of Man (Ire). In addition, a visit to the Warren Hill Gallops will be in the offing, as well as a tour of Newmarket, and a visit to the National Horseracing Museum. Tickets are £90 per person, including a £6 lunch voucher to...

The National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket will stage the first major retrospective of paintings by Lucy Kemp-Welch, considered Britain's best female equine painter. Kemp-Welsh is perhaps best known for her illustrations of Black Beauty in Anna Sewell's famous novel. The exhibition, titled "In her own voice: the art of Lucy Kemp-Welch," will be open from Oct. 21 through Feb. 25, 2024. Several of the paintings are on display to the public for the first time and visitors to The National Horseracing Museum can view over 60 pieces from Kemp-Welch's lifetime,...

In the European edition we really shouldn't be overstepping our boundary to encroach on the territory of our American colleagues who did such a fine job in conveying the stories from Belmont Park last week. Racing faces different problems in different jurisdictions and, from an outsider's perspective, it is hard to get fully behind racing in America when a number of its major participants remain overly reliant on medication. But if you read Cynthia Holt's wonderful account of being at Belmont 50 years ago to bear witness to arguably the...

With over 2,000 winners to his credit since 1970, trainer Sir Mark Prescott has joined the Judging Panel for the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame after the passing of James Delahooke, the organisation said in a release on Wednesday. "The Hall of Fame is a great initiative that promotes the best in our sport and stimulates further interest in the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket," Prescott said. "I'm surprised and honoured to be invited to join such a tip-top Hall of Fame judging panel, and to be tasked...

The Racehorse: Past & Future, the first major exhibition by painter Anne Ward, will run at Newmarket's National Horseracing Museum from Sept. 17-Feb. 19. Showcasing 10 retired racehorses and 10 unnamed foals, some of the paintings are of such stars as Sire De Grugy (Fr), Big Buck's (Fr), Ouija Board (GB), Prince Of Arran (GB), and Oasis Dream (GB). "Deciding upon a final list of retired racehorses was a gradual process, but I wanted to achieve a balance across several factors--code of racing, gender, distance specialism, plus a variety of...

The Arena Racing Company (ARC) and The National Horseracing Museum (NHRM) have partnered to support the Newmarket-based charity. The multi-year deal was announced just before the start of National Racehorse Week on Sept. 10. ARC will specifically support the work undertaken within the Rothschild Yard at Palace House, historic home of NHRM. Working with Retraining of Racehorses ("ROR"), NHRM utilise the facilities at the Rothschild Yard to educate the public on the work that goes into retraining Thoroughbred athletes after their racing careers are over. In addition, NHRM holds daily...

It could be a little daunting for a modern-day artist to follow Sir Alfred Munnings in the exhibition space of Newmarket's National Horseracing Museum. Munnings is an iconic name in the sporting art world, and many of his best known images of racehorses at the start were created from his makeshift studio in an old rubbing house on Newmarket Heath which exists to this day. He lived and breathed his subject, but so too does the photographer Jayne Odell FRPS, whose striking black and white images are exhibited in the...

Following a record 2021 season, the Henry Cecil Open Weekend will be held Sept. 17-18 at Newmarket. Each September, racing and equine enthusiasts descend on British racing's headquarters for a behind-the-scenes look at Britain's best-known racing yards. Last year featured several training yards, including George Boughey and Harry Eustace, Charlie Fellowes, James Ferguson, Roger Varian and Simon & Ed Crisford. The highest number of yards opened to the public in 2021, and record crowds raised £60,000 for the event's chosen charity partners. The 2022 Henry Cecil Open Weekend will continue...

For weeks before the Guineas meeting there will have been talk about the ante-post favourites, the big stables, the rich and famous owners. There will have been acres of press about the betting markets and the numbers and every single journalist will have tried to squeeze some clue out of the trainers, who don't want to give any clues. In some strange way, the horse can get lost in all this. I mean the horse in general--not a single Classic contender, but all the horses, the roughly 2,500 Thoroughbreds who...