The Town Purse Handicap was run at Brighton between 1971 and 1997. This, I assume was a nod to the local authority, which owns the course. The prize money might have come from Council funds but was probably outweighed by the profit that they made from the course, which they certainly did in the 1960s. Management was subcontracted to Pratt & Co, who at that time also looked after Plumpton, Folkestone, Fontwell and Lingfield. Nowadays it is leased to Arena Racing.
The inaugural race took place at a new meeting on 26 April, the course’s then-earliest start to a season. The weather was bitterly cold and the card got under way with Division 1 of the Town Purse Handicap, which was won by Lester Piggott riding Barbary Chief. Also on that programme were races named Conflans, the Prince of Wales and Orleans (qv all). The Conflans, Town Purse and Orleans disappeared after the 1997 meeting. The lure of sponsorship from Manny Bernstein Bookmakers meant that all the races on the equivalent card in 1998 were much less picturesquely named.