[eastsussexred]

Charles James Apperley was born to a wealthy family, in 1778, at Pas Gronow (now demolished) near Wrexham. From an early age, he spent much of his childhood riding horses, but he was sent away to be educated at Rugby School in Warwickshire, in 1790, before joining the Ancient British Light Dragoons, under the command of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, in 1798.
After serving in Ireland, he married the daughter of a Caernarvonshire landowner in 1801, and then settled in Warwickshire, where he devoted himself to fox hunting and the chase.
In 1813, he became the agent for his brother-in-law's estates, and he moved to Llanbeblig, near Caernarvon, where he began to contribute a series of articles to The Sporting Magazine, covering horse racing and hunt meetings, under the pseudenym of "Nimrod".
For the next 20 years, Nimrod published a series of sporting memoirs and reminiscences, and in 1842, the year before his death, he published the memoirs of his early life in Wrexham, in a general and literary journal, known as Fraser's Magazine (attached).
He recalls his childhood friendships with the sons of a Gresford Vicar- Mr Newcome, and recounts a day when the boys were eager to leave the table after eating, as they wished to ride into Wrexham, where the Wrexham Races were taking place.
Charles (Nimrod) wrote that Wrexham Races now (1842) ranked high amonst provincial meetings of the kind, but recalled that in his boyhood days the "race meetings were only in their infancy at that time, little better indeed than what are called leather-plate races."
His memoirs in this instance referred to the days prior to his schooling at Rugby in 1790, and as he was a sports writer and an ex serviceman in Sir Watkin William Wynn's dragoons, he would most likely have made reference if the races in his early days took place at a different location in Wrexham than the Raceces he later referred to.

The Wrexham Races 'on the new course' in the year 1800 (attached previously) appear to have been well established, and organised with the first three days of the meeting each resulting in the prizes of a piece of plate to the value of 50 Guineas each, with the fourth day providing sweepstakes of 5 Guineas each, whereas, the 'leather-plate' races that Charles had refered to, were traditionaly, a much rougher affair, with few rules, enabling jockeys to strike each other and resort to pretty much any behaviour that enabled the jockey to win the race.
This suggests that The Wrexham Races evolved from earlier, less controled meetings, with a new course being developed on the existing venue, probably during the 1780's, although, as previously posted, the earlier meetings date back, prior to the year 1700.