A refuge from bombs and home of the Ham National - Bath's colourful past

1. Located on Lansdown Hill, just over three miles northeast of Bath, the racecourse is the highest Flat track in Britain. According to racecourse historian Jim Beavis, who produced the official history of Bath Racecourse (available at his website) to coincide with the track's 200th anniversary in 2011, their traditional opening meeting in April once had to be abandoned because of snow in the 1960s. Incidentally, jumps-only Exeter is said to be higher.

2. In the mid-19th century, Bath’s May fixture a week before Epsom became a regular port of call for Derby contenders. Caractacus won the 1862 Derby after scoring at Bath over “two miles and a distance”, so at least they knew he'd stay at Epsom.

3. The best horse ever to run at Bath was the great Tudor Minstrel, who won the Somerset Stakes at odds of 6-100 in April 1947; he won the 2,000 Guineas by a record margin of eight lengths next time out. Abernant, considered by many the greatest sprinter of the 20th century, won the same Bath race in 1949 at odds of 1-25.