Thirsk Racecourse is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, England. The course is a left handed oval of about 1 mile 2 furlongs with a 3 furlong finishing straight and a 6 furlong chute. The present course opened in 1855, but racing had taken place on the old course at nearby Black Hambleton over 200 years earlier.
It would be visited by Edward, Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) in October 1895, which saw the construction of the Royal Stand and drew in a large crowd, but the course would close for nine years from 1914 to 1923 due to the First World War. It reopened in 1924 with the newly constructed Hambleton Stand, still in use today.
In 1940 it staged the war-time substitute St. Leger, which was won by Turkham, owned by the Aga Khan.
The main road from Ripon to Thirsk runs past the course, and it is very popular with northern trainers, with racing taking place from April to September.
The Thirsk Hunt Cup (run over a distance of one mile) is worth ã60,000 as of 2026 and has been won by some high-profile horses, including Farhh in 2012, who would go on to finish second to Frankel in the Juddmonte International at York later that year. Thirsk also stages the Summer Cup over six furlongs in August, which was worth ã30,000 in 2025.