277 x 205 mm. View of the 'grandstand' of the race course, a small wooden pavilion with tiled and pyramidal hipped roof whose ridges project over the eaves and are curled upwards in Chinese style. Race-goers, officials and jockeys are posed for the photographer on the verandah and in front of the stand, while other spectators are seated in the background on the embanked slope overlooking the track. The first race course in Shanghai was on a plot of land known as the Old Park, with the earliest recorded meeting taking place in 1850. For the first few years English ponies were imported but after 1854, when a larger ground was purchased, Mongolian ponies were used exclusively at the two meetings in May and November. The course seen here lay just outside the International Settlement area to the south of Defence Creek, and was purchased in 1858, with the first meeting taking place in 1860.