It owns 15 of Britain's famous racecourses, including Aintree, Cheltenham, Epsom Downs and both the Rowley Mile and July Course in Newmarket, amongst other horse racing assets such as the National Stud, and the property and land management company, Jockey Club Estates.

[3] A notice of 1729 records that "The Jockey Club, consisting of several Noblemen and Gentlemen, are to meet one Day next Week at Hackwood, the Duke of Bolton's Seat in Hampshire, to consider of the Methods for the better keeping of their respective Strings of Horses at New Market.

[5] The club's first meetings were held at the "Star and Garter" tavern in Pall Mall, London, before later moving to Newmarket;[6] a town known in the United Kingdom as "The Home of Racing".

The Jockey Club refused to grant training licences to women trainers until Florence Nagle, supported by the Fawcett Society sought legal redress.

"[9][10] Of the Jockey Club itself, the Law Lords pronounced that "The rights of a person to work should not be prevented by the dictatorial powers of a body which holds a monopoly.

"[9] Faced with the court's ruling,[11] the Jockey Club was forced to capitulate, and on 3 August 1966, Nagle and Norah Wilmot became the first women in Britain to receive licences to train racehorses.

In February 2023, the organisation dropped the formal dress code at all its 15 racecourses and 342 fixtures, except for the Queen Elizabeth II Stand at Epsom on Derby Day.