THE Mount Gambier Harness Racing Club will celebrate 70 years of harness racing at the Mount Gambier Showgrounds tonight for the running of the Gold Cup.
With a record nine races listed for tonight’s event, organisers are expecting an exiting night of “pacing” to mark the special anniversary.
“On January 22, 1949, we had our very first meeting at the showgrounds and this weekend we are having our Gold Cup almost exactly 70 years to the day,” vice president Neil Shepherd said.
“People come from Adelaide and central Victoria to be here for the Gold Cup, so it is fantastic we can celebrate the anniversary at this event.”
President Phil Wood said the record number of races in 2019 is a reflection of the ongoing strength of harness racing in Mount Gambier.
He believes it is one of the best supported tracks in the country.
“When you look at the other clubs across the border, we seem to get the biggest following and support at our meeting,” Wood said.
“Mount Gambier’s trotting meetings have a great atmosphere – you can go on an ordinary race night and there will be hundreds of people.
“The spectators are right next to the track, so they feel like they are apart of it.”
Reflecting on the history of the track, Shepherd highlighted how far they had come since the very first meeting at the showgrounds.
“When you go back to the very first race meeting, we had some horses which would compete twice on the same day,” he said.
“That would never happen in these days.
“They also used to race around Olympic Park – where the swimming pool is – in the years before moving to the showgrounds.”
Shepherd also touched on the way the sport has changed in the last 70 years.
“Horses have just got so much more refined and they are so much faster,” he said.
“We have also gone from daylight racing to now racing under lights, which is a great spectacle.
“A lot has changed.”
Shepherd said since the early days, the harness racing community in Mount Gambier has always been a tight-nit family.
“We have some families who now have their fifth generation coming to the trots at Mount Gambier,” he said.
“It’s a great group of people and during summer in particular there’s probably three to four days a week where everyone involved will be together.”
The 70-year history of the track is currently being showcased at the Main Corner, with a number of historical items on display.
On display for the duration of January, Shepherd said it has already attracted a number of visitors from within the community.
“We have some wonderful historical items at the Main Corner,” he said.
“On the wall we have the colours of the drivers from the very first meeting at the track and all the history.
“We certainly encourage people to get along and have a look at what is on display.”
Expectations for this weekend’s anniversary meeting are building and Wood said he expected a fantastic main event tonight.
“The favourite will probably come from Adelaide or Terang and it should be a really competitive race,” he said.
The Mount Gambier Harness Racing Club will host a calcutta at the Blue Lake Golf Club tonight before the pacing kicks off tomorrow night.
