OVER SIXTY YEARS OF RACING

Chronicle (Levin), 7 November 1946, Page 7

OVER SIXTY YEARS OF RACING

m ■■ ' « » I • . • » A lEvi GLUB'S ROMANTIC HISTORY >-v' - When on Saturday distriet racing enthusiasts gat'her at the spring meeting of the Levin Racing Club, there will be few who will recall how, at a specially convened . meeting on a cettain night over sixty years ago, the fbundations of the Levin Raeing Club's present pTOsperity were laid. One of them, Mr. T. Bevan, of Mako Mako Road, Levin, was directly concerned with the transitionary event, and can now claim to be the only surviving executive member of the original club formed on that i night. *

The meeting, which took place in the commercial room of the Levin Hotel, was the result of a sugges;ion made by the Wellington Racing Club, that the growing distriet of Horowhenua should, as it wantecl a license, combine with the already licensed Manakau Club, and conduct meetings to suit the needs of both, using a blanket licence. Tlie meeting was completely successful and the desired amalgamation resulted. From it was born the Horowhenua Racing Club, parent of the present Levin Racing [Club, and the first meeting was 'held on what is now the Levin golf : course. I Prior to this arrangement unoffljcial meetings were held. Hokio ;Beach was often used as a course, land meetings were also held by the 1 McDonald family about half a mile I north of the Horowhenua Lake. iThe Wellington Racing Club, howlever, issued an order prohibiting 'the holding of meetings without a , permit, and that entailecl com- , plying with the rules of racing as : iaid down by them. • About seven years later a permit was obtained by Messrs. C. Nees, T. Bevan and W. Swainson to run meetings at Manakau. Tliese races were conducted on part of the property of the late Mr. Thomas Ransfield, about two miles north of Manakau. They created widespread , interest and were visited by racing j enthusiasts from other centres. I As the course was adjacant to the main railway line, arrangements were made for trains to stop out;side the entrance to the course. At J the last meeting of-the club over '800 patrons arrived by trains. ! As the town of Levin grew many Iresidents were of the opinion that | meetings should be held there. Among them were Messrs. J. R. McDonald, Senr., John Davis, F. G. Roe, P. Bartholomew, B. R. Gardener, J. Kebbell, R. McDonald and H. McDonald. A course was made on the site of the present Levin golf course, on which the necessary buildings were erected. App.lir cation for a permit was refused by the Wellington Racing Glub. 011 the [grounds that the course was too ;close to that of the Manakau Club. jln view of the fact that Levin was imore central and likely to expand, Jit was suggested that the two clubs jamalgamate. j This course was followed, and the I Manakau Club was compensated i to the extent of £250 for the loss of ;its licence. One of its principle i executive officers, Mr. T. Bevan, was iappointed a steward of the new iclub, which was called the Horoi whenua Hack Racing Club. Its first j secretary was the late Mr. C. 1 1. tWilson, later more widely known as ia member of Parliament. j Three years later it was decided that a new site was necessary and ja more up-to-date course con.jstructed. The choice made was the ; present site, then part of the ; property of the late Mr. P. B. BarItholomew. The price paid for the iland was in the neighbourhood of I £400Q, ;but -eonstructional costs and imp#oveme^ts. brought this figure for the whole project nearer £8000. Unfortunately, it is not possible to give accurate figures, or indeed iprecise factual information, since 'the records of the club were destroyed by fire about 35 years jago. t The road to prosperity proved j hard and long. ' There were meet•ings when only three or four j horses could be mustered for each irace. Indeed on one occasion only ifour horses were nominated for one j race — the Flying Handicap, later jchanged to the J. R. McDonald Memorial Handicap. Only two of jthese, Lord Soult and Kitchen Maid !had accepted when the race was {due to stkrt. When Kitchen Maid jwent into the saddling paddock, •the owner of Lord Soult found to his dismay that the stable door was open, and the horse was rapidly disappearing down the road towards his home in Foxton. The

owner of Kitchen Maid did not take advantage of the rule which entitled him to half the stake if he j completed the course, possibly [ because half the stake was no't j sufficient reward for the exerdon it j would prove to his mount. j On another occasion the club's j finances were at such a low ebb i that with almost £400 to find for I stakes already won, the club had to solicit funds among residents of thej. distriet. Among the donors was a 1 Chinese greengrocer, who gave two! sovereigns ' towards the deficit. In j spite of assiduous endeavours, the t canvass netted only £40 of the j required £400. Tlie balance was j made up by the stewards,-who were; subsequently made life members of : the club. In order to get more money ■ through the totalisator a decision ; was made to pay all stakes and rid- ; ing fees immediately after each j race was over, and the jockey hadi "weighed in." This system appar- , ently worked well for the "tote," but i not always so well for the owners ! or jockeys. One owner, after win- > ning stakes to the value of £75rlater j had to borrow money to get home! again. An official programme of the ; Horowhenua Hack Racing Club ! dated 1908, which is on file at' "The [ Chronicle" office, makes interesting ; reading. The secretary at that time | was the late Mr. F. G. Roe and the' stewards were Messrs. J. R. Mc- j Donald, T. Bevan, Reri Nicholson, j B. Ling, J.-~Ryder, W. Ryder, G. i Potts, Winiata Pataka, B. R. Gard-1 ener, R. A. McDonald, J. Brough- i ton and W. Stickles. An interesting notice appears o'n j the front page. It states: "Applica-! tions for Bookmakers' Licenses for j the second^ day close at 9 a.m. on ! Thursday, September 10." Stakes for one race, the Maiden Hack Race of five furlongs, were 50 sovereigns, and the second horse was to receive 10 sovereigns. There were 18 acceptors, Perchance, Sir Antrim, Bonny Jean, Adventure, Hermia and Ora Pensent were among them, and their names may strike a familiar note to early racegoers. A copy of the New Zealand Turf Regist-er, dated 1898-99, was recently presented to the Levin Racing Club by an early member of j the executive, Mr. Lou Procter, on j the occasion of a complimentary i dinner tendered Mr. J. W. Procter, j Mr. Walter Ryder and Mr. F. A. Nicholson by the club. It contains ] many interesting items. As the old saying goes, "It's a long . road "that has no turning." Better times came for the club, till today it is financially one of the most enviably placed country clubs in New Zealand. At the last meeting at Otaki on November 7, 1945, the totalisator takings exceeded £60,000, which antil recently was the record for a country club outside of the "Auckland province. The club has, how- | ever, had its ups and downs. Like ! all others it was affected by the j depression, during which . period iits turnover dropped to £6000. ! Another and more serious setback j was the suspension of its licence by 'a Royal Commission appointed I about 1910 to investigate a claim ; ihat there were, too many clubs Soperating in the distriet. This i licence was restored before the first j world war, but was withdrawn again during the war years. The recent war, among. many other restrietions, brought "rationed racing," and when the course was later taken over for a military lcamp the club was forced to hold Iits meetings away from home. The ! meeting on Saturday next will be j ihe first on the club's own course ifor several years. ■ j Extensions and improvements jhave been made to the course and j buildings since it was handed back 'by the military authorities, and the jclub now faces its post-war future ; with facilities comparable with imany larger and more widely jknown centres.