On this day in 1540 the first recorded race meeting held in England was held at Roodee Fields, Chester. According to official records the Chester course is the oldest race-course still in use in England, and thought to be the smallest racecourse of significance in England at 1 mile and 1 furlong long. Towards the centre of the course is a raised mound, decorated by a small cross known as a ‘rood’. It is from this that the race course derives its name ‘Roodee’; a corruption of ‘Rood Eye’, meaning ‘The Island of the Cross’.