For a course with such a long history, there’s precious little evidence of it left. ‘The gallops’ are marked out on the A-Z and although a number of the stables still stand, they’ve long since been converted into houses. The farriers have all gone out of business and the haymakers have found another line of work. Even up at Cuckoo Bottom there’s not much to see, and the grandstand is now just a terrace of houses. But out in what was once the paddock, if you look hard enough, you’ll find the headstone of Shaun Spadah, marking the grave of Lewes’ last Grand National winner. Or maybe make that the latest: horses are still being trained up there, so perhaps Lewes might one day produce another Aintree legend. JM

*Shaun Spadah was such a famous horse in its time that its name became used in 20’s Cockney rhyming slang to mean ‘car’ as in: ‘Blimey, I nearly got run over by that bleedin’ Shaun Spadah’.

If you are mourning the demise of the Lewes racecourse, you can still experience a local race at nearby Plumpton. The next meeting is the ‘Moorcroft Charity Raceday’ on Monday 16th October. Gates open at 11.30am, and the first race is 2.10pm.