Capt. Fraser of the R.H.A.
was now given the task of turning a waste piece of ground on the
western side of the town into a racecourse, and, by dint of much
hard work and begging of materials, he completed a quite good
course of four furlongs. The Royal Engineers erected a grand stand
of sandbags, and a totalisator. The first Aleppo Race Meeting was
held on March 8th, and a goodly representative gathering of the
army and civilian inhabitants of Aleppo assembled. After this, race
meetings were held regularly every alternate Saturday throughout
the summer. The course was laid on fairly level ground, and at the
start of the season had a thin covering of grass, which,
unfortunately, soon was burnt up by the fierce sun and worn bare by
frequent use, being replaced afterwards by litter. Though at first
only a four furlong 'scurry,' the course has now been extended to
eight furlongs, and laid much in the same fashion as Kempton Park
with a 'straight' of four furlongs and the remainder an oval. One
drawback to this course is that it crosses a high road in two
places. On race days mounted military police are stationed outside
the rails to keep order, and British troops are on duty in the
enclosures keeping the gates, serving refreshments, and assisting
in the totalisator.
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