It held England's first summer jumps race meeting, but though the owners had grand ambitions to capitalise on visitors to the town, it proved difficult to attract runners and the course closed shortly after the outbreak of the First World War.
According to the West Lancashire Gazette the course was to be prepared "on a scale to compete with the highest class of steeplechase racing in France.”[1] The architect was Robert Butcher Mather.
[3][4] The first meeting took place on 1 August 1911, the first summer steeplechases ever held in England, and preceding the traditional opening of the jumps season at Newton Abbot.
[2] Despite the setback in terms of big name horses, the opening day crowd of 20,000 was the biggest seen at an event in the town since the previous year's aviation carnival.
The town's Gazette called the new venue "magnificent"[5] and the meeting a “brilliant beginning.”[1] The stylish attire of the attendees was said to outdo the Sunday morning parade on the North Pier.
The committee complained that management had wasted investment on disproportionately high prize money, which was consequently reduced, further exacerbating the shortage of entrants.
Horse racing did briefly return to the town when a trotting racecourse was developed at Highfield Road, opening on 6 April 1928, but this continued only into the early 1930s.