Horse Racing

‘They’re Racing at Randwick’ (Lawrence, Joan. Pictorial History Randwick (Sydney, NSW: Kingslcear Books, 2001 p. 24)

Steeplechasing began in Australia with a five mile event between Botany and Coogee in 1832. In 1833 the Colonial Secretary, Edward Deas Thompson chose the site for the course, which was planned by Colonial Architect, Lewis Mortimer. The first race was a private match between horses owned by Edward Fagan and Thomas Smithers. Fagan won. 1n 1833 the first registered horse race was held on an imported horse, Whisker, owned by Henry Bayley, won the Governor’s Cup. From 1860 there were regular and organised races. The course became known as ‘The Old Sandy track. In 1861 John Dillon built the Newmarket Hotel near Young Street. In 1863 Randwick Racecourse was vested in Trustees, including Deas Thompson, a friend of Simeon Pearce, and businessmen. On a hot day in 1865 the first Derby Day was held, enthusiastically attended by some 12 000 men and women, who travelled along the road from Sydney in a variety of horse drawn vehicles.

Blacksmiths, farriers, saddle and harness makers, breeders, trainers, veterinarians and stable hands moved to Randwick. The Australian Jockey Club (AJC) formed in January 1842 and after the 1870s organises events at Randwick. The Sydney Omnibus Company, who operated horse and buses to Randwick, established their Cranebrook Stables on 10 acres near the Newmarket Hotel in the 1870s. James White, Grazier, and Chairman of the AJC, acquired both the Hotel and the site of Big Stable’. White built ‘Big Stable, in the 1880s of cathedral proportions, with ornamental ironwork and a celestory. Here the yearling sales were held and in 1889 the Newmarket Precinct passed to Thomas Payten, then Jim Pike and in 1918 to William Inglis and Son. WJ Smith both owned and leased the stable. In 1959 it was purchased by the Inglis family, who restored the buildings and returned them to their original use. During World War Two Big Stable served as a detention barracks and post war became a Laminex factory. Many jockeys and strappers lived around a nearby area known as Struggletown. [Replacing the early poor market gardening families.]

Several jockeys killed at Randwick were buried at Waverley Cemetery, including 27-year-old Alec Robertson whose skull was broken in a bad accident in 1888.

In 1910 am ornate Members Stand was erected, designed by architects, Robertson and Marks, at Randwick Racecourse. It is listed by the National Trust and registered on the National Estate. During World War One Randwick took a leading role in the development of automatic totalisators, introduced at Randwick in 1917. Racing’s popularity increased during the 1920s, and in the 1930s when live radio broadcasts commenced. Race callers became household names, such as Cyril Angles, one of the first horse racing broadcasters in Australia and Ken Howard (1913-1976) who used the phrase ‘London to a brick on…” Howard used it to unofficially announce winners in a tight finish while awaiting the official decisions. In racing parlance, it is a statement of betting odds in which a punter is so certain of the outcome that they are willing to bet London to win a measly brick.

During World War Two races at Randwick were restricted to one meeting a month. In 1868 during the Royal visit of Queen Victoria’s son, the Duke of Edinburgh, visited Randwick Racecourse and in 1954 Queen Elizabeth II witnessed the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at the course. In 1969 a newly completed stand was named the Queen Elizabeth grandstand. In 1955, 20 out of 30 AJC meetings were held at Randwick. The Queen returned in 1970 and 1992. In 1992 she not only opened the new grandstand named in her honour, but she also bestowed the right on the racecourse to call itself "Royal" Randwick. This is a rare privilege.

In late 1997 legendary jockey Darby Munro’s stables, in Doncaster Avenue, became a construction site. Munro is buried at Randwick General Cemetery. During the twentieth Century thousands of punters have arrived by the old tram network [and now the new light rail system] to witness major races such as the Doncaster Handicap and the AJC Australian Derby.