Editing North East England (section)

===Horse racing===
Early races were mentioned in 1613 at [[Woodham, County Durham|Woodham]] near Aycliffe and were held at Newcastle's Killingworth Moor from 1632 before moving to the Town Moor. The 'Pitmen's Derby' or [[Northumberland Plate]] was held from 1833 and moved to [[Gosforth]] in 1882. Georgian races were held at places like [[Barnard Castle]], [[Bishop Auckland]], [[Blaydon]], [[Chester-le-Street]], [[Darlington]], Durham, Gateshead, [[Hebburn]], [[Heighington, County Durham|Heighington]], [[Lanchester, County Durham|Lanchester]], [[Ryton, Tyne and Wear|Ryton]], Sedgefield, South Shields, Stockton-on-Tees, Sunderland, [[Tanfield, Durham|Tanfield]], [[Whickham]] and [[Witton Gilbert]]. A 1740 Act banned smaller meetings but some meetings like Durham survived into the late 19th or early 20th centuries.<ref>{{cite web|first=Dave|last=Simpson|title=Sport in the North East 1700 to 1999|url=http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/Sport.html|access-date=21 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130209010448/http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/Sport.html|archive-date=9 February 2013}}</ref> 
Racing at Blaydon, which ended in 1916, was commemorated in an 1862 music hall song "[[Blaydon Races]]".
Modern day horse racing is still popular and regular events still take place at Redcar, Newcastle and Sedgefield Race Courses.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Northeast Racecourse Hospitality|title=Racing in the North East|url=http://www.racecoursehospitality.net/Racing_in_the_North_East.aspx|access-date=21 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021011357/http://racecoursehospitality.net/Racing_in_the_North_East.aspx|archive-date=21 October 2013}}</ref>