The oldest horse race in England has been competed for in every year since 1519. It takes place on the third Thursday of March in a small hamlet in the Yorkshire Wolds near Market Weighton. It starts near to the old disused former railway station and ends at Londesborough Wold Farm. The course is 4 miles on farm tracks and road verges. The winner recieves £50 but the second recieves the entry fees which is often larger than the first prize. In the harsh winter of 1947 no one could get to the start and so a local farmer led a horse round the course in order not to break the continuous record so the race could survive. This was repeated in 2001 when the Foot and Mouth outbreak prevented the movement of animals.

John Reader jockey of Holme on Spalding Moor rode for his uncle Joseph Reader of Beacon Farm.