CROMWELL RACES

Lake County Mail, Issue 38, 25 February 1948, Page 5

CROMWELL RACES

Cromwell made History in

the Racing World Th» first racing club too inslituto a Derby in New Zealand, the second oldest club in New Zealand-the CromWeU lockey Clul>—will hold its seventy-seventh annual meeting on Match 5 and 6. If *the club-had not' gone into recess during the war, from 1940 to 1945, then this would have been its. eighty-first annual meeting. And that is no mean record in the country's racing history. Patrons to ! thfrr; the Ceritennicil -Meeting, wiil b^ 1 using the original grand sttoH/ which they will appreciate as a relic of the early days of racing in Otago. They will be only a short distance from the scene of the Dominion-famed gold rush of 1932, the greatest alluvial gold discovery for 50 years. Therefore, it is fitting IhfcFWd Should turfc bacfc the pdges of history to the daytTwheii-fh*Cromwell races foUowed in the wake of the first gold rush, BEST TRACK IN THE ISLANDS Cromwell's race track is recognised as one of the biggest tracks on the-'circuit andblto andfbesft in the islands. , Its big advantage is that it is capable of running the full limit of horses at ftiSst'oHts staring* bdfriei£ Prominent racing men consider it to be one of the fastest tracks in the Dominion. It *is elow^lnde*g»a»|•%ri&tMS^•4clJM^yl^d^■•dcfy , will be in excellent condition, stated the president of the Cromwell jockey Club,' Mr J. R.Lawrie, when interviewed recently.

DAYS OF'THE'ROARING ’SIXTIES

The existing spirit of racing in those d*yf' : %£»‘ ff one tO' be * admired fK and ond to 'belied. Both sprftig' 1 " *nd summer meetings were held, and, if after a two-day meeting the club found it had sufficient funds in hand,it would 1 riiif"thi-ee : rates ’thfe-'foHdwirig day—a” Sdtfda^!* All work would automatically cease, and patrons would make their way to Cromwell by bullock waggoW/ horsed back, or foot, some" having to travel by their primitive means for two or three

days. j We learn also that horses came from faf afield to attend the meetings and there being no other means of transport, they had to be walked. Even so, some of the greatest horses of the day made their appearance at Cromwell. It was not uncommon for horses to be walked from Christchurch, through the Lindis Pass, following the Canterbury meeting, i Yes, the tentacles of New Zealand’s leading ispdft ’extend back very many years to the days of the sturdy pioneers —to the gold rush days of Cromwell,

Two Days Racing, March 5 and 6