Te Akau: Little Piece of History

Horse racing is an ancient sport. Its origins date back to about 4500 BC among the nomadic tribesmen of Central Asia (who first domesticated the horse). Since then, horse racing has flourished, originally as the sport of kings. In the modern day, horse racing is one of the few forms of gambling that is legal throughout most of the world.

Horse racing is one of the most widely attended spectator sports in America. In 1989, over 50 million people attended 8,000 days of racing and wagered over $9 billion. Horse racing is also a popular sport in Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, the Middle East, South America, Australia and New Zealand.

In the United States, the most popular races comprise of thoroughbred horses racing over flat courses between 3/4 of a mile and 1 1/4 miles. Quarter horses are also popular as well as harness racing.

Thoroughbred Racing

Since the beginning of recorded history, horse racing was an organised sport for all major civilizations around the globe. The ancient Greek Olympics had events for both chariot and mounted horse racing. The sport was also very popular in the Roman Empire.

The origins of modern racing lie in the 12th century, when English knights returned from the Crusades with swift Arab horses. During the next four centuries, an increasing number of Arab stallions were imported and bred to English mares in order to produce horses that possessed both speed and endurance. The nobility would wager privately on match races between the fastest of these horses.

During the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714), horse racing began to become a professional sport and in fact it was this Queen who established Royal Ascot.  Match racing evolved into multi-horse races on which the spectators wagered. Racecourses emerged all over England, offering increasingly large purses to attract the best horses. The purses made breeding and owning horses for racing more profitable. The rapid expansion of the sport created the need for a central governing authority. In 1750 racing's elite met at Newmarket to form the Jockey Club. This organisation still regulates English racing to this day.

The Jockey Club wrote rules of racing and sanctioned racecourses to conduct meetings. Standards defining the quality of races resulted in the designation of specific races as the ultimate tests of excellence. Since 1814, five races for 3 year olds have been called "classics." The English Triple Crown is made up of three races (open to colts and fillies): the 2,000 Guineas, the Epsom Derby and the St. Leger Stakes. There are two classic races open to fillies only: the 1,000 Guineas and the Epsom Oaks.

The Jockey Club also worked to regulate racehorse breeding. James Weatherby, whose family did accounting for members of the Jockey Club, was given the duty of tracing the pedigree of every racehorse in England. In 1791, he published the results of his research as the Introduction to the General Stud Book. From 1793 to today, members of the Weatherby family have recorded the pedigree of every descendant of those racehorses in subsequent volumes of the General Stud Book. By the early 1800s, the only horses that were allowed to race were those who descended from the horses listed in the General Stud Book.

There horses were called "Thoroughbreds". Every thoroughbred can be traced back to one of three stallions, called the "foundation sires." These stallions were the Byerley Turk (foaled c.1679), the Darley Arabian (foaled c.1700) and the Godolphin Arabian (foaled c.1724).

Thoroughbred Racing in America

British settlers brought horses (and horse racing) to America. The first racetrack was laid out on Long Island in 1665.  Although the sport was a popular local sport for some time, organised racing did not exist until after the Civil War in 1868 (when the American Stud Book was started).  For the next several decades, during the industrial expansion, gambling on racehorses, and horse racing itself, exploded. By 1890, there were 314 tracks operating across the United States.

The rapid growth of horse racing without a governing authority led to the domination of many tracks by criminal elements. In 1894, the nation's biggest track and stable owners met in New York to form an American Jockey Club. This organisation was modelled on the English and it soon ruled racing with an iron fist and eliminated much of the corruption.

In the early 1900s, racing in the United States was almost wiped out by antigambling sentiment that led almost all states to ban bookmaking. By 1908, only 25 tracks remained. That same year, pari-mutuel betting on the Kentucky Derby was introduced and it created a turnaround for the sport. Many state legislatures agreed to legaliae pari-mutuel betting in exchange for a cut of the money wagered.

Pari-mutuel betting is the most common form of horse race betting. The term actually originated in France, and literally translates “to wager amongst ourselves”. Unlike most other forms of betting, the odds are not fixed. Rather than placing a bet against the race track, like one would with a bookie, horse racing bettors are wagering against each other. For this reason, the payouts on a single wager could range anywhere from less than the actual amount wagered, to astronomical amounts. A horse racing track takes a minimal commission from all wagers as a fee for handling horse racing bets. It does not collect anything else when a bettor loses.
As a result of this, more tracks opened. By the end of World War I, prosperity and great horses like Man o' War brought spectators flocking to racetracks. Horse racing flourished until World War II. The sport then lost popularity during the 1950s and 1960s. There was a resurgence in the 1970s triggered by the huge popularity of great horses such as Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed. Each of these horses won the American Triple Crown (the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes). However, during the late 1980s which was attributed to the fact that there had been a long drought without a Triple Crown winner.

NEW ZEALAND RACING - from the beginning to 1900

The first horses to be landed in New Zealand were probably those brought from Australia by the Rev. Samuel Marsden to Rangihoua in the Bay of Islands on 23 December 1814 from the ship Active. They were from New South Wales, the gift of Governor Macquarie to the Maoris. Horses from New South Wales were to have an important place in the establishment of thoroughbred breeding in New Zealand.
There are few records of the very early importations. Horses came with the military garrisons and it is recorded that the first horses arrived in Wellington on 2 March 1840. The first acknowledged thoroughbred horse Figaro landed in Wellington. He was bred by T. Icely of Cooming, New South Wales, a celebrated breeder of the time.

Horse racing was quickly introduced to the early settlements. It was a feature of the first anniversary celebrations in Wellington, Auckland, Nelson, Otago, and Canterbury.

Race meetings soon became important social and sporting events. The first were perhaps held around 1840 by the military garrison at Auckland. The soldiers ran meetings at Auckland and Onehunga using their own troop horses, the officers acting as officials.
On 5 January 1841 the citizens of Auckland and Manukau held a meeting at Epsom, the principal event being the Auckland Town Plate by subscription of 3 sovereigns each. The stewards were listed as Lieutenant Smart (28th Regiment), Dr Gaumise (80th Regiment), and W. Young, Esq., the last named having been chairman of a meeting of interested citizens the previous November when it was resolved that the Auckland races take place at Epsom racecourse.

From 1842 to 1849 the races at Auckland were controlled by “The Committee”, comprising mainly officers of the Militia. Interest in these early meetings was heightened by owners very often riding their own horses. Edward William Stafford, one of the early Premiers, was among those who did this.
The first anniversary of the settlement of Wellington in January 1841 included a hurdle race on the third day of the celebrations. It was won by Henry Petre riding his own horse, Calmuc Tartar. A jockey club was formed for the meeting but it lapsed after a few years. The first formal meeting was held at Petone beach on 20 October 1842, when the imported horse Figaro beat Calmuc Tartar in a 10-guinea sweepstake run in heats over a mile and a half. Racing later took place at Hutt Park and Burnham Water (the site of a former Miramar lagoon). The latter was probably the first racecourse in New Zealand and had a grandstand.
A hurdle race was run on the first anniversary of Nelson “through fern and flax, up hill and down hill”. Nelson first placed racing on a sound footing. There was a good course, with thoroughbreds imported for racing and breeding, and horses trained and brought out to race in something like “condition”. The course was at Stoke, four miles from Nelson. It was first used on 3 February 1845.
There was a meeting in Wanganui on 28 December 1848 and there too the officers of the Militia had a hand in starting the sport. The first races in Dunedin were held on 23 March 1849 as part of the Anniversary Day celebrations, with the eccentric Dr Manning a prominent owner. Following the gold discoveries in the province, Otago was, for a time, the strongest racing centre in New Zealand.
The celebrations on the first anniversary of the Canterbury settlement on 16 December 1851 included four horse races over a course in Hagley Park facing the road running from the Riccarton Hotel to the Fendalton Bridge. The course was still in its native tussock. There was also early racing on the West Coast and in Taranaki but not in Hawke's Bay (a district later to play an important part in New Zealand racing) until 1 January 1857.
The early race meetings in New Zealand were controlled by local committees elected for the meeting only, generally at a public meeting of interested citizens. Those elected made the arrangements, drew up the rules, and appointed the officials. In the larger towns the establishment of a racing club generally followed. These local clubs had their own locally varying rules, but based in common on those of the English Jockey Club. Until the late 1860s each club was a separate identity, with little coordination because of the difficulties of travel and communication.
Consequently, disqualifications imposed by one club would not apply at another.
The first attempts to introduce some form of unified control were made by the metropolitan clubs, a rather grandiose title for the times. It is not clear how certain clubs came to be so designated and to assume a limited control over the racing within their districts. But the metropolitan clubs of the 1860s and early 1870s did correspond with the main towns of the provincial districts.
It is possible that there was some direction given from the Colonial Secretary at Wellington, since at that time permits for race meetings were issued by his office, and programmes in each district were approved by the Resident Magistrate. In early minute books there are instances of the Resident Magistrate referring programmes back to the metropolitan club because they had not first had that body's approval. So probably the sheer need for a responsible body to give guidance on those matters and to settle disputes forced the metropolitan clubs to act as a miniature jockey club.
After racing had been established for 30 years, the metropolitan clubs realised the need for some governing body to obtain uniform rules of racing and a uniform scale of weights. The first recorded move was made by the Canterbury Jockey Club in 1875 and on 11 November 1876, during the course of the Canterbury Jockey Club race meetings, a meeting of delegates resolved “That it was desirable to establish a New Zealand Jockey Club, to frame rules and make a scale of weights to be used by all clubs running under the rules”.
There was obviously some dissatisfaction at the time, for in 1877 the Canterbury Jockey Club resolved to recognise only the Dunedin, Wellington, Auckland and Hawke's Bay Clubs. This made Wanganui and Taranaki hostile.
The first truly constructive move came from the Hawke's Bay Jockey Club which on 12 July 1883 decided to set up a subcommittee consisting of Captain W.R. Russell (later to be the first President of the Racing Conference), R.U. Burke, and C.B. Winter (the mover of the proposal), “to consider the establishment of a New Zealand Racing Association, and the drafting of Rules for same, and that the matter be submitted to the clubs already mentioned and the Taranaki and Wanganui Jockey Clubs, which were to be the Metropolitan Clubs for the proposed Districts the colony would be divided into”. The proposal also suggested the monthly publication of a racing calendar, the registration of colours, and a turf register.
The New Zealand Racing Conference finally developed very much as the Hawke's Bay Jockey Club had proposed but a general move was not made for 13 years, when the Canterbury Jockey Club in 1882 organised a further meeting of delegates to revise the rules. Representatives of the Canterbury and Dunedin Clubs met for a similar purpose in July 1886. The minutes of these meetings have disappeared.
More significant progress was made the following year. Many clubs realised the potential of a steady income from the totalisator to supplement their funds. But the issue of permits to too many clubs, some virtually individuals running proprietary meetings, was being widely criticised. There were countless abuses.

In January 1887 A.J. Parsons, of the Wanganui Jockey Club, expressed concern at totalisator abuses and asked a Wellington conference of delegates from all the metropolitan clubs to consider the matter. At the suggestion of the Auckland Racing Club, this historic meeting was held at Napier on 15 and 16 March 1887, when Messrs W. Percival (Auckland), C.J. Penfold (Canterbury), Hon. G. McLean (Dunedin), C.B. Winter (Hawke's Bay), R.H. Nolan (Taranaki), Dr R.C. Earle (Wanganui), and H.M. Lyon (Wellington) met under the chairmanship of the Hon. G. McLean.
The only record of this meeting is a letter addressed by the chairman to the Colonial Secretary. The letter declared that the purpose of the meeting was to help racing as a whole, pointed out certain advantages to the country in using the totalisator confined within its lawful limits, and suggested ways of controlling the totalisator and of encouraging the breeding industry. The Colonial Secretary's reply pointed out to the chairman that legislation would be necessary to give metropolitan clubs a defined and legal status under the Gaming and Lotteries Act before the suggestions could be acted on.

The Colonial Secretary proposed that the delegates' recommendations could best be carried out by formulating them in a Bill, which might then be introduced into either House of the Legislature by some member interested in racing. No Bill has ever been introduced; the authority of the Racing Conference is still not enforced by Statute.
From 1887 to 1891 metropolitan club representatives met every year and sometimes twice a year, with some meetings being attended by representatives of the Greymouth, Nelson, and Marlborough clubs. Many of the early meetings were held in Parliament Buildings, and several of those early delegates were members of either the House of Representatives or the Legislative Council. The Hon. G. McLean, M.L.C. chaired the first meeting and, except for the Hon. J.D. Ormond, the Hon. W.R. Russell (who became a member of the House of Representatives) chaired all the other early meetings. F.D. Luckie, of Hawke's Bay, became the conference secretary. The Hon. E. Mitchelson, the Hon. O. Samuel, Dr Earle, Freeman R. Jackson, R.H. Nolan, Francis Henry Dillon Bell, and above all, Sir George Clifford, were prominent in helping the Racing Conference to gain its high standing as quickly as it did.
The first 25 years of the Racing Conference brought many difficulties, as there were strongly opposing views about the form the governing body should take. The formation of a New Zealand Jockey Club was strongly favoured and, at a meeting on 13 July 1891, Clifford moved for the establishment of such a club to come into existence on 1 January 1892. The motion was carried against strong opposition from the Dunedin and Taranaki clubs which were successful in having consideration of the draft rules deferred and, by continued opposition, forced the eventual withdrawal of the motion in 1893.
At the same time the Hon. J.D. Ormond moved for country clubs to be given representation on the conference. Final approval of this came at a meeting in Wellington on 8 July 1893. Rules and regulations for conferences of New Zealand jockey clubs were drawn up, setting out the representation and voting powers of the metropolitan and the district clubs. This meeting truly set the future legislative pattern for racing. The proposed New Zealand Jockey Club had been conceived as a body with no parochial interests, and as a final court of appeal on racing matters.
However the Dunedin and Taranaki clubs had the support of many of the country clubs in their opposition to what they feared would be an autocratic body. It was rather ironical that the last move to form a New Zealand Jockey Club in 1911 came from a country club. In November 1896 Sir George Clifford was elected chairman and, in 1897, W. H. E. Wanklyn became secretary. This was a period when the Racing Conference extended its influence and expanded its administrative functions.

TOMORROW: What happened after 1900 …

CREDIT - excerpts from NZ Racing Hall of Fame