Decades passed when no new racecourses opened in Britain, and then just like London buses, three came along together: Fontwell Park in 1924, Hamilton Park in 1926 and Taunton in 1927.

Correspondence with Alfred Day, who built Fontwell Park within the grounds of his racehorse training yard, survive at the Singleton Open Air Museum in Sussex. The sport’s officialdom was initially reluctant to sanction Day’s plans to construct a steeplechase track “in the French style” – by which he meant a figure of eight. But being a true romantic, he pressed ahead with his dreams, building whimsical follies in the garden that surrounded the Member’s dining room.

Horses made their way to the track across a lawn in front the dining room, which was built as an extension to a traditional brick and flint cottage, featuring four large doric pillars reclaimed from the Comte de Paris’s house in Richmond. On the other side of the lawn Day planted an intricate maze formed of box hedging and yew topiary, based on labyrinth of Greek myths – which were further referenced in a mural above the fireplace in the dining room (painted by Day’s sister Daisy) featuring Bellerophon, astride Pegasus, slaying the Chimera.

While Fontwell Park’s unusual track layout was a matter of choice, the shape of Hamilton Park, where they celebrate 100 years of racing this week, was dictated by the available space within the grounds of Hamilton Palace and the need to avoid mining works.

Writing in his Northern Turf History, published in 1973, Major Fairfax-Blakeborough recalled discussions with Lord Hamilton of Dalzell, Sir Loftus Bates and Col. Robertson-Aikman as they sought to resurrect the previously defunct Hamilton Racecourse. “More than once, on mornings preceding Lanark Races, we walked over the Palace grounds to discover where a new track could be laid down to miss mining inundations and be in view of what must obviously be a delightful site for the paddock and main stands.

“Eventually the ground was decided upon, higher up the hill from the River Clyde than the old track. It was not easy to plan, and to get the straight run-in demanded by the Jockey Club conditions for a licence, . Eventually the difficulty was overcome by laying down a course rather in the shape of a button-hook, or tennis-racquet.”

Despite being one of the youngest racecourse’s in Britain, Hamilton Park hosts a race for one of the sport’s oldest trophies: the Lanark Silver Bell, reputed to date from the 12th Century.

The winner of last year’s Lanark Silver Bell was trained by Iain Jardine, who happens to be the trainer of this week’s selection: Mr Lincoln in the Cartmel Novices Limited Handicap Hurdle.

Despite having previous form on the Flat at Hamilton Park, Mr Lincoln can’t ply his trade there over hurdles, due to the fact that runners double back on themselves on the button-hook track – and hurdles can only be jumped in one direction. Not to mention the fact that the track would be too short. Hamilton Park is therefore not just Scotland’s youngest racecourse, it’s also the only one that exclusively stages Flat racing.