WHERE were you when the entertainingly named Red Nob romped home by two lengths at Abergavenny's renowned National Hunt Chase?

Unborn and blissfully unaware I should imagine, for the year was 1872 and the once famous racetrack now lies buried beneath the 18 holes of the Monmouthshire Golf Club.

However, it's alloted page in the publications of posterity has been resurrected in a new book that records the history of the National Hunt Chase from 1860 to the present day.

'History of the National Hunt Chase' by Peter Stevens is the most comprehensive analysis of a single jump race ever produced. It gives a fascinating insight into steeplechasing history and full results and accounts of the races are provided, together with descriptions and maps of the various courses where the Chase was held and the horses and people involved.

One such place was Abergavenny on a bright Spring Thursday morning in April, 1872.

The race only came about as a consequence of a successful bid from the Monmouthshire Hunt Club, who were founded in the 1830's, and 40 odd years later earned the honour of hosting the Chase on their own private course.

The Abergavenny racecourse was one of the earliest Welsh steeplechase courses and was established in 1834. Race meetings were held at Abergavenny until 1899 and the 1872 venue was probably the fourth racing location to be established near the town, according to the recollections of an octogenarian featured in a 1888 edition of the Abergavenny Chronicle, who explained, "The first races were held on the Ynys-y-bwa, the fields on the opposite side of the river to the present race-course. Then they were held in the Chapel Meadows adjoining Chapel Road for one year, before being held in the meadows on the Company's Farm on the other side of the river opposite to the castle, until the Squire of Coldbrook gave us the present race-course, where the extensive gardens and fish ponds have been converted into a race course which was celebrated as the most beautifully situated course in the Kingdom."

The old racecourse is now largely occupied by the Monmouthshire Golf Club. The foundations of the grandstand, built with an iron frame, are still there near the sixth tee.

The River Usk, which flowed behind the stand, was stated as convenient for, ".....the summary punishment of offending welshers, as many of that audacious class have had experience in former years."

To get to the racecourse, a ferry was used to transfer people across the river from the town.

The racecourse was described in the Sporting Gazette as, "A flat course which is a mile round, oval in shape, with a run in of nearly quarter of a mile, the last 150 yards on the incline. The steeple-chase course is three miles and 150 yards, all grass, except three ploughed fields, and one wheat field, which were rather 'holding', as were certain portions of the grass land after the recent heavy rains. In shape it somewhat resembles the human ear, and there are 23 jumps in the three miles, including a brook 13 feet wide within sight of the stand, and a couple of walls four feet and two feet high respectively. The fences were mostly laid or wattled, some with a ditch on the taking off side, and others vice versa, one of the stiffest being the last of all, within a quarter of a mile of home, which, with its uphill approach, required some doing on the part of a tired horse."

The runners raced around a hill named The Tump, which in other years had been crossed, and there was a brook of only about nine feet wide to cross.

On the day of the race the weather was fine and the nine runners out of the 23 entries for the race came from a wide area. The finish for the £330 first prize being fiercely contested.

The runners started three quarters of an hour late, and in an exciting and incident filled race, where there were no fallers, Red Nob mastered the field and won by two lengths.

And so ended the day the National Hunt Chase came to town. Now where's my golf club?

LIST OF RUNNERS!

1. Red Nob - Capt. Holyoake - 3/1

2. Hinko - Mr. Thomas - 3/1

3. Norton Manor - Mr. Newton - 10/1

4. The Hart - Mr. Sartoris - 10/1

5. Conquerant - Capt. F. Herbert - 10/1

P. Blankney - E. C. Scobell - 5/1

P. Prince - Mr. Giles - 10/1

P. Count Horn - Mr. Pryse - 10/1

P.Carry - Capt. A.J. Smith - 7/1