FINE RECORD OF PROGRESS IN 25 YEARS

Southland Times, Issue 24011, 29 December 1939, Page 8

FINE RECORD OF PROGRESS IN 25 YEARS

Winton District Is Important Trotting Centre CLUB WAS FIRST FORMED IN 1905 Although the Winton Trotting Club held its inaugural meeting on May 24, 1905, it was not until December 1, 1915, that the club held its first totalizator fixture. Tomorrow the club will hold its twenty-fifth totalizator meeting and arrangements have been made to celebrate fittingly the silver jubilee of the club. Early records are obscure but the Winton Club has established itself as one of the leading light harness bodies in Southland. The club at the present time has cash assets of more than £2OOO in value while it has contributed more than £3OOO to improvements and buildings on the Winton Racecourse reserve. The Winton Club can rightly claim to have played an important part in the progress of the trotting sport in Southland. The club has been fortunate in that it senses a district which is keenly interested in light harness racing and probably in no other centre in the province is trotting 'so enthusiastically followed as in the Central district. For 10 years the club raced as a non-totalizator body before it secured a permit in 1915 and from that year onwards it has made great progress and at the present time its annual fixture is one of the most important one-day meetings held in New Zealand.