Champ de Mars Racecourse

Champ de Mars

The Champ de Mars Racecourse
Location	Port Louis, Mauritius
Coordinates	20°10′09″S 57°30′36″E / 20.169159°S 57.510089°E / -20.169159; 57.510089
Owned by	Mauritius Turf Club
Date opened	1812
Race type	Flat
Notable races	Barbé Cup Duchess of York Cup Duke of York Cup Maiden Cup
Official website

The Champ de Mars Racecourse (French: Hippodrome du Champ de Mars) is a thoroughbred horse race track in Port Louis, Mauritius. The Racecourse was inaugurated on 25 June 1812, by The Mauritius Turf Club (MTC) which was founded earlier the same year by Edward Alured Draper, who served in different capacities, namely as Chief of Police, Colonial Secretary, Collector of Customs, Civil engineer, Registrar of Slaves, Magistrate and Colonial Treasurer. The Mauritius Turf Club is the oldest horse-racing club in the Southern Hemisphere and the second oldest in the world.^[1] The race track follows a very selective right hand oval path and is relatively small in size, with a circumference of 1,298 meters (4,258.5 ft) and width between 12 and 14 meters (39 and 46 feet). The home-straight extends uphill and is 225 meters (738 ft) long. When Mauritius gained independence on 12 March 1968, the event including the flag hoisting ceremony was held here. Since then and for many years, the racecourse has seen the annual celebration of the accession to independence.

Today, the Champ de Mars attracts tens of thousands of people on each racing day during the racing season from late March to early December and has become the ultimate meeting place for racing fanatics from all over the island and even from abroad. The track has also played a fundamental role in propelling horse racing as the most popular sport and form of entertainment among the local population.