Yes or No...

This evening I'm a guest at The Jockey Club Rooms, a private members' club in Newmarket founded in 1750.

The photo is a voting box originally used by members to vote to accept or reject new members. Famous members from the past include Charles, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Prime Minster 1765-66, Randolph Churchill (father of Sir Winston Churchill who inherited membership) and four other Prime Ministers.

This evening my colleague and I took a tour of the Rooms including the Coffee House where members used to bet on two-horse races along the High Street for a 6 mile race where in the 1700s a wealthy England vibrant on trade and imports attracted bets up to the equivalent of £45 million in today's money! Hard to imagine.

The art collection in the Rooms is worth £93 million with one painting in the Morning Room worth £23 million depicting a race horse being cleaned using hay after a race.

I spotted one comical painting of a race steward on a donkey, commonplace among the earlier races to define stature, and another portrait of HM The Queen unveiled last year.

Interesting objects adorned the rooms from chandeliers to trophies to a whip dating back to Charles II's reign and gold plated horses hooves included one from Eclipse, the British racehorse whose blood can be traced in 95% of today's racehorses.

Tomorrow morning at 730am is a visit to The Gallops to see some training in action then breakfast in the Dining Room among the trophies before a recce of Newmarket Racecourse itself. I can't wait...