On July 31, 1875, the natural obstacle course was opened with the first horse race 🐎 🏇. The Irish-born William Thomas Mulvany had acquired the old moated castle (Haus Goldschmiedling) as a summer residence in 1872 and quickly had the idea of building an obstacle course based on the English model on the extensive grounds. The former English racer James Toole was commissioned to do this.
The first race day took place on July 31, 1875. A magnet for the masses was born, this natural obstacle course in Castrop-Rauxel was a mecca for friends of equestrian sports for 95 years!
The race was suspended during the First World War. A total of 97 races took place here over the decades, each attracting up to 30,000 enthusiastic spectators.
On June 28, 1970, the 97th and last Castrop race took place in front of just 421 spectators.
The competition in the surrounding area (Recklinghausen, Gelsenkirchen and Dortmund) was too great and the drastically reduced number of spectators and the associated drop in income made it unattractive to maintain this pure racing series.
From 1997, the city of Castrop-Rauxel began to convert the Arial into a local recreation area, while at the same time preserving the historical significance and history of the race track to some extent. With this in mind, parts of the natural obstacle course were restored. This includes the finish tower, from which there is now a perfect panoramic view of the former course. The interior walls of the tower are decorated with historical pictures and information about the races. Parts of the race track and spectator areas were made visible using white bollards, while hedges and gabions mark the locations of the former obstacles.