OVER the years, thousands of revellers have frequented Brighton Racecourse to place bets on horses as they hurtle towards the finish line.

After World War 2 there was another boom period where crowds of over 20,000 watched the races.

In the 1960s, the course held a Derby Trial but no runners went on to win the Derby.

A new stand was later built for £400,000 in 1965 before attendance declined as Brighton’s tourist industry did, and the facility became run down.

Being municipally owned, the profits that the racecourse generated were used to keep ratepayers’ bills down.

Do you remember going to the races in the years after the new stand was built and what the atmosphere was like?

Or have you got any memories of placing a winning bet on a top runner?

Prominent racehorse owner, Sheikh Mohammed, had his first winner at Brighton Racecourse on June 20, 1977 when his filly Hatta, trained by John Dunlop, won the £968 Bevendene Maiden Stakes.

Jockey Joe Blanks died after falling from his mount in July 1981 and the course held an annual race in his memory until 2003.

Racecourse owning group Northern Racing took a majority stake in 1998 and spent £4m refurbishing the course.

As of 1999, Northern Racing owned 81 per cent of the course with Brighton & Hove City Council retaining a 19 per cent interest.

Racing merged with Arena Racing in 2012 to become the Arena Racing Company.

Today, Brighton is one of the smaller racecourses in Britain in terms of the quality of racing and prize money offered.

Do you remember what the standard of racing was like before Northern Racing had a majority stake?