Epsom Downs Racecourse the turf. In the summer of 1779 Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby, organised a race for himself and his friends to race their three-year-old fillies. He named it the Oaks after his nearby estate. The race became so successful that in the following year 1780 a new race was added for three-year old colts and fillies—-the Derby. In 1784 the course was extended to its current distance of a mile and a half and Tattenham Corner was introduced. Henry Dorling, step-father to cookery writer Mrs Beeton, was a Clerk of the Course at Epsom, appointed in 1840. In 1913
Union Race Course Trotting Park' but the increasing value of the land for housing proved too much. The final horse race was run at Union Race Course on July 18, 1863. The positioning of this race course, as well as the earlier built race course called Pioneer Race Course appear to have affected the placement of the San Francisco-San Jose Railway. Union Race Course Union Race Course was a horse racing track opened in the 1850s in San Francisco, California located in the Mission District. There were two horse race courses in the Mission District at this time, the other being Pioneer Race