RACING First Racing At Omoto Was 100 Years Ago

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31540, 30 November 1967, Page 4

RACING First Racing At Omoto Was 100 Years Ago

One hundred years of racing at Omoto, home of the Greymouth Jockey Club, went comparatively unnoticed this year. Racing started at Hokitika, on the beach, in 1865, and two years later the Westland Racing Club was formed.

The Westland club opened its centennial meeting last week-end. The first meeting at Omoto was held on St Patrick’s Day, March 17,1867, but club officials believe the club was not officially constituted until 1868.

The Greymouth Jockey Club will, therefore, have its centenary next year.

For the first meeting at Omoto there were no roads, not even a track from Greymouth to the course; and patrons travelled up the Grey River in barges pulled by horses.

The barges were also used to carry coal down the river from Brunner.

For the inaugural meeting at Omoto the barges were fitted with seats, and each carried about 30 passengers who disembarked at the mouth of the Omoto Creek and walked through the bush to the course. Such was the novelty of the occasion that, it was stated, “all Greymouth" attended.

A working bee had erected a rough platform as a grandstand, but this proved to be too small. Among those present were the Maori chief, Tainui, his wife, and diggers from all parts of the country. Most of the diggers were reported to have with them plenty of gold. The meeting, according to the records, was wellequipped with stewards. Twenty-one were listed, and the judge was the Goldfields Commissioner, Mr W. H. Revell. But the stewards were not sure of the procedure at a race meeting, and they “imported” from Christchurch a Mr F. D. Hamilton, described as “an English racing expert,” who was the clerk of the course and conducted the meeting “to the satisfaction of the club and, incidentally, to himself.” There were numerous sideshows, the most popular being the Under and Over and the Spinning Jenny. The card trick men, and the man with the thimble and pea had many patrons, while the numerous booths ensured that those wishing to celebrate St Patrick’s Day and the first Omoto races had adequate opportunities. There were five races, and one had only three starters,

but the meeting did not finish until dark. The opening event, at weight-for-age over a mile and a half, was the Trial Stakes, of 50 sovereigns, “for horses the property of bona fide residents in Westland.” An eight-horse field was carded, the top-weight with lOst 111 b being Mr G. Mason’s aged brown gelding, Selim. His jockey wore a green jacket with white sash and a black cap. Selim gave a stone to the next horse, Mr J. Paul’s chestnut mare, Mocking Bird, whose rider was* in a yellow jacket with a black cap. Seven of the eight riders were listed as wearing black caps. The Backer's Purse, of 25 sovereigns “and a new pack saddle for the second horse,” also at weight for age, was run over one mile. It was listed in beats, but there were only five starters. A similar field contested the Town Plate, of 50 sovereigns, open to all horses, and run over two miles. The last event was a hurdle race, of 50 sovereigns. Winners of the various events are not recorded. The reports of the day gave the racing only passing mention in an article devoted to the excellent weather, the bush scenery and the amenities. It was, however, noted that the flotilla of race patrons returned to Greymouth after 8 p.m. and that Captain Riigg, who was in charge of the boats, “landed one and all safe and sound, and received the congratulations and thanks of the whole community, who voted the meeting a great success." By 1873, the club was well established, and a report of that St Patrick’s Day meeting at least included the results, although they were added to a two-column report of the scenery and the weather. But even about the results, the reporter of the day was not too sure. After one result, he wrote: “The persons who would pretend to know or at any rate remember the relative positions of the different horses in this race must be cleverer than the majority

on the grandstand.” After elaborating on this he added that “the accepted and correct result is understood to be Dolly, ridden by Joyce, 1; Ranger (Marshall) 2; and Tommy (Mackay) 3.

The first event was said to be a walk-over. Two horses withdrew and the two remaining were both owned by a Mr Walters. Although Mr Walters was declared to win with Yatterina, the crowd was disappointed, but the later races were “close throughout and smart in pace and sent the people home satisfied with more than one event of the day.” There was only one incident “calculated to substitute for enjoyment a touch of excitement or alarm.” This was a collision in the Westland Hurdle Handicap, between Septimus and Commodore. “Fortunately, the favour on the part of providence which is extended to jockeys and drunken men was maintained in this instance,” the reporter wrote. The two riders were said to have been shaken, but not to the extent where they were “beyond the power of medicine.”

There were only three starters, and the third, Dick Turpin, raced away to an easy win. The rider of Septimus, a jockey named Krafft, “picked himself and his horse together quickly,” and gained second place. Commodore, apparently, did mot continue. The report continued that it was surprising that more accidents had not occurred on the newly-formed road from the town to the racecourse, because of the heavy traffic. Mr George Hayward, of Hokitika, broke his leg when he jumped from a coach. The road was newly opened, but walking on it was not advised for those with tight boots.

The 1873 report spent another column describing the booths, the food stalls, and “wonderfully garmented” patrons, and said there were games of skill and chance to occupy the 1200 patrons between the races, and, of course, bookmakers. “One gentleman, whose roof was a piece of leather affixed to his hat, with the word ‘Bookmaker’ painted thereon, and who, perched prominently on a gin-case, proclaimed himself, with lungs of brass, ready to risk anything in the way of odds, had for most of the day an audience attracted

by his noise, but there was no apparent anxiety to invest extravagantly. There seemed to be a suspicion that on the big event, the Jockey Club Handicap, there had been a mistake in the calculations somewhere," said the report. Stakes had increased, and the Jockey Club Handicap was worth 175 sovereigns. Today, it would be said the weather for the meeting was fine and mild. In those days, it was “not only not wet, or windy, or raw, or cold, or hot, or any other thing to which an evil expletive could be applied, but there was genial sunshine, tempered by a light breeze, and one of those brightest of bright skies, under which the bush country of the West Coast looks so beautiful.

“At a shilling a head, or even five, it was worth while being driven out to the clearing, which constitutes at cnee an oasis in the uncultivated desert. “If there were no horses to be seen, or veils to peer through, or claret punch to sip and subsequently swear at, or sinful sweepstakes and silly swindles, there was sufficient to enjoy in the contemplation of the natural surroundings, in swallowing a few pounds weight of ozone, and in lying stretched lazily at one’s length on the sward, chewing the cud of contentment and white clover.” After further comment the racing was mentioned. “The racing was in keeping with the weather. It was highly respectable. It was not after the fashion of the circus, where the plot is all pre-arranged, but was, as far as these virtues usually go on the racecourse, earnest and honest on the part both of horses and men.”

The report spoke of “quiet enjoyment at witnessing a few good horses racing and being ridden meritoriously.”