The Cowra Harness Racing Club will be celebrating 100 Years of Racing at the Cowra Showground, Racecourse and Paceway, with a race meeting on Sunday, September 8.
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Over the next few weeks the Cowra Guardian will be running a series of articles that arranges archival newspaper clippings and the club's historical records into stories looking at the faces and sponsors behind the club, the big events and any other curious moments that have occurred during the club's centenary.
The club finds its feet
Like any community initiative, it took several years for the Harness Racing Club to find the momentum that has carried it forward to the here and now.
The race meet was held on September 6, 1919 with a seven race program, and reports from the Cowra Free Press that suggested the event was an outstanding success.
"The postponed meeting of the above Club on Saturday last was very successful indeed, both from a racing and financial standpoint, and it is now certain that this club will be one of the town's established and recognised institutions," proclaimed the newspaper in its September 10 edition.
However, there was also plenty of behind the scenes action before and after that event that helped to establish the sport as ongoing concern in the area.
In fact, it reaches back into the early days. Mr Walter Riddle and his sons were closely identified with the growth of the sport in Cowra.
For instance, Peter Riddle became the premier reinsman of Australia, and later settled in New Zealand, while Ted Hogan, who owned many good horses, the most well known being Van Roy, held the Australasian record for two miles for many years.
Furthermore, Cowra-bred horses won many races all over the country, with the 1925 and 1926 Melbourne Derby races taken out by Cowra district horses.
However, despite these achievements, it wasn't all smooth sailing for racing in Cowra, with one undated attempt failing to generate interest, and after a single meeting, died a natural death.
The 1919 attempt, by contrast, led by Mr JF Mackenny as President, did last for a couple of years, running with what was described as "varying success" until 1921.
The Club finds its momentum
The club then took a break for a couple of years, but in 1923, through the efforts of some locals, the Cowra Trotting Club was re-formed with Mr PH Brien as President.
From there, Cowra's reputation as a strong trotting destination continued to grow, with horses described as being "some of the greatest champions of the world" coming out of the area: Lawn Derby, bred by Mr Mackenny at the Roselawn Stud and Ribands, who was bred by Frank Smith.
These two champions helped to establish Cowra as the breeding ground of champion trotters.
Jack Pearce: An early and notable harness racing personality
Another notable racing personality that was well known in the area was Jack Pearce. Not only a breeder and driver, in 1931, he also trained his horses on a track that was located in the Cowra Golf course.
Another notable incident occurred in 1942. Mr Pearce's 83 year old father John Pearce took four days to drive Mr EH Houghton's Lawn Wilks to a Sydney meet, all the way from Cowra.
Night Trotter Club forms
In 1947, the club constructed its half-mile track, which would go on to be a fixture for several years of the club's existence.
Day time trotting was held there until 1954, when the club decided to erect over-head lighting to conduct night trotting.
The inaugural meeting of the Cowra Night Trotting Club, with Frank Smith as President, was held on Friday September 17, and had a total prize pool of 650 pounds.
Cowra was the 12th town in NSW to introduce trotting under lights, but more significantly, was the first country club to be granted a night trotting license in the state.
Trotting continued for several years under lights, with some of the country's best horses, such as Paleface Adios, Hondo Grattan and many others, racing for significant amounts of prize money.
Connecting the past to the present
While there are plenty of other unique historical touchstones from the club's 100 years, which we'll touch on in coming weeks, the club itself, in paying tribute to its long lineage, would like to emulate that successful 1919 event.
For the forthcoming September 8 meet, the club would like to extend an open invitation to as many ex-presidents, administrators, committee members, ladies auxiliary members, owners, trainers and drivers, as well as supporters from the town of Cowra and further afield, who have kept this club going for the past 100 years.
Entry to the meeting will be by gold coin donation to the Cowra Hospital Ladies' Auxiliary, while there will also be mini trotting and entertainment for kids and adults, plus food, coffee vans and bar facilities.
There will be an eight race program, with prize money of $7000 per race.
However, the day's feature event, the Centenary Cup, will be run with a pool of $10,000 over a distance of 2970m, promising a great spectacle for patrons who attend the day.
The club is also still searching for any memorabilia, regardless of whether it's from the early days or the present: Race books, photos, racing colours, write-ups that people may have tucked away somewhere, that could be used to set up a display to celebrate the occasion.
If you have such materials, don't hesitate to email the club at cowraharnessracing@outlook.com
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