User:Manou108/trad2

The Petit Port’s racecourse is located in Nantes, in Loire-Atlantique, in the district of Nantes Nord. Inaugurated in 1875, this 35 hectares racecourse is opened to gallop thanks to a 2065 meters track made of grass and to trot thanks to a 1 411 meters pozzolan track with a rope at the left. Tribunes were build in 1972 and can receive 5 000 people, they are equipped with a panoramic restaurant that can receive 350 persons.

History
On 11th of May 1875, the city of Nantes purchased a 35 hectares ground in order to build a race track and, according to an agreement with the army, a shooting range and a ground for manoeuvres. The first one was located on the island of la Prairie-au-Duc (after being located on la prairie de Mauves close to Nantes’ railway station) and was too close from 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, were frightening the officers’ horses.