Trotting In Early Canterbury

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30286, 12 November 1963, Page 20

Trotting In Early Canterbury

The growth of trotting in New Zealand over the years has been closely linked with the progress of the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club. While not the oldest club in the Dominion, this has been the most important for more than 50 years. This is due to the tremendous interest, particularly on the breeding side, in horse racing in Canterbury.

The club has been known as the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club only since 1899 when it shifted from Lancaster Park, a ground famous throughout the world as the scene of many important sporting events.

In 1886 a group of cricketing enthusiasts turned to trotting to provide them with funds for the acqusition and maintenance of their new ground. The first meeting of the Lancaster Park Trotting Club was held on May 29, 1886. It was originally arranged for May 15, but had to be postponed because the Avon rose four feet and caused heavy flooding in the city.

When the meeting was held on May 29, attendance was 1100, £3B was taken at the gate and £ 1512 was invested on the totalisator. For this meeting the track

was on the oval inside the cinder track and was covered with tan. The dressing room in the pavilion became the weighing room and the lawn to the east of the pavilion, was the stabling paddock. The totalisator was close to the entrance gates and there was a bar in the pavilion as well as a booth outside. Total prizemoney was £ 125 for the first five races. The principal event, the Lancaster Park Trot of three miles, was won by B. Edward’s Fidget, taking the £4O prize. The riders wore numbers on their right sleeves and, as the course was one-third of a mile in length, the horses were constantly before the public all the way.

The Lancaster Park Trotting Club had rather a varied history. It struggled along for the first few years, and by 1890 had be-

come controlled entirely by the trotting enthusiasts. Trotting continued at the park until 1899. The formation of the club was, of course, not without difficulties. At an annual meeting of the body responsible for its formation, one member stated that it had been admitted that the profit from the first meeting was £9O 12s 6d, and that this was entirely due to the totalisator. The feeling was expressed that there should not be the opportunity for gambling so close to the city.

One humourous incident occurred at this first meeting. A “Sydney spieler’’ playing the three-card trick refused to pay out a lucky winner and was mobbed by the crowd. He managed to dodge his pursuers and scramble over a fence. In 1899 the club obtained a lease of land on Lincoln road belonging to the Twigger Estate, This course, now generally known as Addington, was opened in show week of 1899 mainly through the efforts of the club’s first secretary A. I. Rattray.