It is a handicap race, and it is scheduled to take place each year on Boxing Day.
The event is named in honour of Rowland Meyrick, who was appointed Clerk of the course at Wetherby in 1920.
At this time Meyrick was also a member of the Wetherby Race Company, an organisation which was formed to purchase the lease of the racecourse.
The Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase held Grade 3 status from 2005, though it arguably reached its peak in the 1980s when Forgive 'n Forget and The Thinker both won it in the same season they would win the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The race was re-classified as a Premier Handicap from the 2022 running when Grade 3 status was renamed by the British Horseracing Authority.