A History of Australian Horse Racing
Monday, September 1st, 2014
We know you guys love horse racing – and with this year’s Australian Spring Racing Carnival in full swing, we thought we’d give you the rundown on the history of the sport. Horse racing is at the very heart of the Australian sporting world, with a ton of rich history and some amazing stories. Get your teeth into this timeline as we take you from Australian horse racing’s humble beginnings, right up to this season’s Spring Racing action.
Our beloved horse racing was one of the very first sporting activities ever organised in Australia, with the first horses to arrive in Australia brought from a British convict ship back in January, 1788 at Port Jackson – a stallion, four mares, a colt and two fillies.
The first official horse race meeting was organised by Governor Philip and held at Hyde Park, Sydney in October 1810. By modern standards, the format of this race would be considered odd, consisting of three two-mile races over three race days, with all horses competing in each race and the winner being the horse with the best overall performance. The winner of this very first meeting was a black horse by the name of Scratch, with his rider receiving a purse from the Governor’s wife as reward. This moment is considered the foundation of Australian horse racing, with popularity rapidly increasing from here, as labourers in the colony were given race days off to allow them to watch and wager on the ever-increasing number of races.
Unsurprisingly, little Hyde Park soon became inadequate for hosting race meetings, due to the insane rise in popularity – so, in 1833, some land on Botany Rd, Randwick was chosen as the new and improved location. An extract from the Sydney Herald regarding the selection of a new location in 28 January 1833 can be seen below.
One of the longest running races held at Randwick is the Randwick Derby Stakes, which is what us sports fans now call the Australian Derby, beginning in 1861.
In the same year, ‘the race that stops the nation’ was inaugurated at the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne Victoria. The Melbourne Cup, as you guys know, is Australia’s greatest race and it can be said that the vast majority of the entire Australian population have participated in this event, at least in the sweepstakes. Seventeen horses participated in the debut event with the winner being awarded 710 gold sovereigns and a hand-beaten gold watch. To attract the crowds to the event, the Victorian Racing Club issued members with two ladies’ tickets, judging “where ladies went, men would follow” – and they weren’t wrong. 4,000 men and women turned up to see a stallion named Archer – ridden by John Cutts – take the win. From the outset, Archer was thought only to have an outside chance of winning the Cup, totally dismissed by the bookies – a decision which meant Archer took a whole lot of money away from Melbourne.
This year, the Australian Spring Racing Carnival is almost upon us, with a grand array of horses and jockeys hoping to make a name for themselves in this year’s Melbourne Cup. However, while the Melbourne Cup is the main attraction of the carnival, we’ve got a way to go before we get there. Lead up races include the Caulfield Cup – first run in 1879, and now the world’s richest 2400 metre handicap – and then the second of the big three events of the carnival, the Cox Plate – Australia’s premier weight-for-age race, established in 1922. The carnival attracts nationwide sweepstakes where one lucky punter will walk away with all that prize money, and it’s estimated that 70% of Australians participate in some form of betting. Why not get in on the Spring Racing action by trying Panda Sweeps’ quick, easy and exciting sweepstakes?
Dunaden (yellow jersey) defeated Red Cadeauz (red) in the closest finish in Melbourne Cup’s history back in 2011.
The rich history of Australian horse racing is filled with legendary horses, heroic jockeys and trainers who undoubtedly make Australia the world’s foremost horse racing nation.
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