 Racing was established at Chester, the oldest surviving racecourse in England, by 1540.In the 1580s Queen Elizabeth I is recorded as attending races on Salisbury Plain.. Leith Races were established by 1591, and at Doncaster by 1595.During the reign of Elizabeth, interest in horse racing appears to have waned, for reasons unrecorded, although she is noted to have attended races on Salisbury Plain in the 1580s.