Petit Port racecourse
The Petit Port racecourse is a racecourse in Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, France, in the Nantes Nord district.
The racecourse was inaugurated in 1875. It is 35-hectares large, open to gallop on a 2,065-meter grass track and to trot on a 1,411-meter pozzolan track. Grandstands were built in 1972 and can accommodate 5,000 people. They are equipped with a panoramic restaurant with a capacity of 350 persons.
History
On 11 May 1875, the city of Nantes purchased 35 hectares of ground in order to build a race track and, according to an agreement with the army, a shooting range and parade ground. The first one was located on the island of Prairie-au-Duc and was too close to the "ponts de la Vendée" which were in construction. The detonation sounds made by the extractions of the rocks on Saint-Sébastien-Sur-Loire's buttress, necessary to the construction of the bridge, frightened the officers' horses.