WAIRARAPA RACING CLUB

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 December 1940, Page 3

WAIRARAPA RACING CLUB

FIFTY YEARS OF EXISTENCE. SOME INTERESTING HISTORY. The Wairarapa Racing Club has been known under that name since 1890 when the amalgamation took place oi the old Wairarapa Jockey Club and the South Wairarapa Racing Club, the result being the Club as at present constituted. , . Prior to that, time the Wairarapa Jockey Chib had been in existence for very many years —according to Mr J. Drummond it had been started in the ’forties’, the exact time of its foundation being not at present ascertainable. The late Mr J. P. Russell, formerly of Wangaimoana, first came to the Wanarapa somewhere about 1855. and said the Club had been established sorpe years before his arrival- There would appear to be good grounds then for the Wairarapa Racing Club to claim that it is one of the oldest Clubs, if not the oldest in New Zealand. After Mr Russell settled in the District, the late W. H. Donald (Manaia), R. Collins (Te Ore Ore) and C. VMlance ’Kahumingi) used to come down and mee(t the late C. R. Bidwill, Senr. (Pihautea), and himself at the Dry River and make arrangements for holding the race meetings. Each of them subscribed £25 to the funds. and these subscribers comprised the Wairarapa Jockey Club. The late Mrs Smith, of Huangarua Station, also assisted by collecting, funds from her friends, and by providing the purse for a race entitled "The Ladies Purse,” a favourite race at the old-time meetings. Subscription lists were also circulated, so that anyone who desired to do so could contribute towards the Race Fund. These meetings were held at various places in the Lower Valley, viz., at Tuhitarata, on the Wharekaka Plain, and on Waihenga Flat, between the present bridge site and the backwater. Although prior to 1864 racing was conducted by what was called “The Wairarapa Jockey Club,” it was not till 1864 that the Club was regularly constituted and rules adopted. A meeting was held in Greytown on April 21, 1864. Mr W. H. Donald in the chair, when the following resolution was passed: “That a Club be established, to be called ‘The Wairarapa Jockey Club’.” In 1860 the Wairarapa Jockey Club held a meeting on the Moroa Plain, and continued to race there till 1870, and from that year the Club held no meetings till February, 1874, when the new racecourse at Tauherenikau was opened. Owing to the number of holes made by the earthquake in 1855, it was a very dangerous piece of land to ride oyer. In 1865, Mr Robert Rowe, who was then leasing the Tauherenikau Hotel and Ferry Reserve, considered that if the reserve could be converted into a racecourse, it would be good not only for his hotel, but for the district, and he obtained the consent of Mr C. Potts for that purpose. After consultation with the late Mr Henry Bunny, then member for the district, the latter had a Bill brought before the Provincial Council in 1866, whereby trustees were appointed to control the Wairarapa Racecourse Reserve. For a year or two after this nothing was done towards making a racecourse, as the trustees had no money with which to carry out improvements, when Mr Potts, who was again in possession of the Tauherenikau Hotel, made an offer to the trustees to make a racecourse on condition that he was granted a lease of the ground (100 acres) for 21 years, at a small rental. The offer was accepted, and it was understood that the Wairarapa Jockey Club would hold races at Tauherenikau as soon as the ground was fit to race upon. When the work of fencing and forming the course was completed, it was considered that Mr Potts had carried out the work in a capable manner, and in 1874, as stated before, the Wairarapa Racing Club held its first meeting on the Tauherenikau Course. Racing was continued at Tauherenikau until 1885, when on account of trouble with the river, a change was made to Greytown in 1886. on a new eburse which the Club had leased from Mr Kempton. After several meetings had been held at Greytown it was found that the transfer had not been to the financial advantage of the Club, and general opinion favoured another change. After the Wairarapa Jockey Club left Tauherenikau, two clubs sprung up in the Featherston district, viz., the Featherston Hack Racing Club racing on November 9, on the late W. H. Nicol’s property (Gumgrove), and the South Wairarapa Racing Club, holding its meetings at Tauherenikau on January 1. Negotiations between these clubs brought about amalgamation in 1890.

A meeting of members of the Wairarapa Jockey Club, and also of the South Wairarapa Racing Club, was held at Featherston, on November 15, 1890. Mr J. P. Russell was in the chair, and stated that the object of the meeting was to confirm the amalgamation of the two clubs, and he proposed a motion to that effect which was carried unanimously. It was resolved to name the new Club “The Wairarapa Racing Club.” The first race meeting under the auspices of the new Club was held at Tauherenikau Racecourse on January 1. 1891, when a programme of 7 races was competed for, the total stakes being £275, and the tote investments amounting to £2462. The principal race on this occasion was the Wairarapa Cup, run over a distance of about I. 1 , miles, with a stake of £lOO.