Manchester races were at a low ebb in the 1880s when two local businessmen, John Edward Davies and Mark Price, joined the board. They transformed the fortunes of the course at New Barns.
In 1901 they sold the New Barns land to developers wanting to extend the Manchester Ship Canal, which had proved a great success soon after its opening five years before. They got a good price for it, but already had a new venue at Castle Irwell lined up. So healthy were the company finances that they had bought 132 acres there well before receiving the proceeds of the New Barns sale. Price had retired since then but Davies was to be a mainstay in roles including managing director and chairman for over 30 years.
Lord Legh, the owner of the loss-making Newton races, was impressed by Davies’ acumen and enlisted him to set up a replacement course at Haydock in 1899. The old track’s premier race transferred to the new one, and is still going strong as the Old Newton Cup.
His son John Davies junior was being groomed as his successor but died in 1908. The First World War interrupted racing and Davies senior’s last great achievement was to get Manchester raceable in time for a Victory Meeting on 1-2 January 1919, just two months after hostilities ended. He died two months later aged 83. In addition to the activities mentioned above he had been Chairman of Sale Council, a Justice of the Peace, and a leading light in the Salford Liberal Association.
Davies didn’t get on with his son’s successor Robert Busby, which may account for the absence of a commemorative race until after the latter’s death. The John Davies Handicap began at Haydock in May 1947 and was last run on Sunday 10 May 1998. In 1999 the fixture list changed and the race title disappeared.
Several other John Davies races have been run, but these relate to other individuals.
Sources include:
Stud & Stable article written in 1963 by W P Frith, clerk of the course at Manchester, before its imminent closure
Farewell Manchester (Caroline Ramsden)