WINTER RECORD
39,000 PEOPLE AT ELLERSLIE O.C. AUCKLAND, This Day. There was a record winter crowd at the opening of the Auckland Racing Club's Winter Meeting at Ellerslie on Saturday. The attendance was 39,000, easily the largest ever seen in New Zealand at a jumping meeting, and the totalisator investments were over £218,000, a figure that easily surpassed the previous record for a winter's day at Ellerslie of £174,667 10s, reached on the second day of last year's Winter Meeting, when the attendance was 30,000. The extent to which the people were prepared to wager caught the officials napping. The club printed 31,000 race cards, a supply that was speedily exhausted and, from the fourth race onwards, hundreds of people were shut out from the totalisator. It was almost impossible to watch a race, collect a dividend, and use the proceeds to back a horse in the next event. Substantial queues were formed long before the totalisator was due to open. • The sum of £28,500 was wagered on the Great Northern Steeplechase and £36.900 on the Cornwall Handicap, the chief flat event of the day.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 130, 4 June 1945, Page 6
Word Count
185WINTER RECORD Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 130, 4 June 1945, Page 6
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