Caulfield Racecourse - Caulfield East 6.17

4.2 star(s) from 312 votes
Station Street
Caulfield East, VIC 3145
Australia

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The first chapter of the VATC story was written in 1875 - at 7pm on Wednesday October 13 to be precise - when six thoroughbred enthusiasts assembled at Craig's Hotel in the township of Ballarat, situated just over 100 kilometres west of Melbourne.

The purpose of the meeting - involving Ballarat Turf Club Secretary E.C. Moore, Norman Wilson, his brother Hector, Herbert Power, A.E. French and F.D. McLeod - was to discuss the idea of establishing a racing club to provide opportunities for the swelling number of amateur riders who were keen for competition.

E.C. Moore and Norman Wilson had corresponded regularly by letter during 1875 and the duo were driving force behind the formation of the new Club. The latter was a prominent 26-year-old landowner, a prototype of what many saw as all that was best (or worst) in the character and pursuits of the squatters, a class who occupied large tracts of land in rural Victoria.

When the convivial gathering at Craig's Hotel concluded eight hours after its commencement the previous evening, those founding fathers had agreed on the framework for the establishment of the Victoria Amateur Turf Club.

E.C. Moore was made the Club's first Secretary and the inaugural subscription for foundation Members was set at the considerable sum of 25 pounds, a figure subsequently reduced to ten pounds in 1876 and five pounds the following year as Membership numbers increased.

Ballarat's Dowling Forest Racecourse was the location for the first VATC race meeting on Friday, March 24th 1876 - a programme that featured six events, five of which were over obstacles.

Buoyed by the success of the meeting, the VATC searched for a permanent Melbourne-based home and quickly focused its attention on the site at Caulfield where, back in 1859, a track had been crudely fashioned from the heath, sand hills and snake-infested swamps.

Sparingly used in its early years prior to being obtained by the VATC through a Crown grant, the course had been almost lost to racing at one point and turned into a cemetery. Laying to rest those uncertain beginnings, it was here where, through the vicissitudes of more than 125 years of VATC occupation, Caulfield Racecourse has grown into an integral feature of Melbourne's sporting and social life.

Having found its Melbourne home, the VATC held its first meeting at Caulfield on August 5th, 1876, with the card closely resembling the inaugural fixture at Ballarat.

The Club soon phased out the programming of amateur events and by 1879 had introduced the Caulfield Cup into its Autumn schedule.

In 1881, the Club introduced the Caulfield Guineas for three-year-olds and the Toorak Handicap, a mile race for open age horses. Even more significantly, the Caulfield Cup was switched to the Spring and the race was held twice in the same year - once in the Autumn and again in the Spring.

This programming masterstroke created the exalted Cups double that underpins Melbourne's Spring Racing Carnival - the Caulfield Cup followed by the Victoria Racing Club's famous Melbourne Cup at Flemington - a pair of staying handicap races that, along with the Moonee Valley Racing Club's Cox Plate, remain the pinnacle of achievement in Australian racing to this day.

The VATC and its flagship race continued to make great strides through the turn of the century. A sensational incident on the eve of the 1922 Caulfield Cup saw fire destroy the Members' Stand, Judge's Box, Weighing Room, Committee Room, Stewards' Room, Secretary's Office, Press Reserve, Telegraph and Telephone Office.

Despite the devastation, the Club demonstrated great resolve, rallying together to ensure the Cup meeting progressed. Although never proven, suspicion for the fire was directed towards notorious Melbourne criminal figure Leslie "Squizzy" Taylor. Five years later fire destroyed the Guineas Stand at Caulfield on Oakleigh Plate Day, although this time there were no suspicious circumstances.

An important chapter in the Club's history was written during World War 2, when the use of Caulfield Racecourse was temporarily donated to the Army to assist the war effort.

In March 1940, the military commenced its occupation of the course and VATC meetings were transferred to Flemington. The Army used Caulfield Racecourse as a recruiting depot and barracks, but its primary function was as a 'clearing house' for recruits who were put through a medical examination before being passed to serve their country.

Caulfield Racecourse was returned to the VATC in February, 1944 and racing resumed at the track in August of that year. Off-course totalisator betting was introduced in 1961 and two years later the original Melbourne Racing Club was incorporated into the VATC. The Melbourne Racing Club itself had been formed out of an amalgamation 15 years earlier of the Williamstown Racing Club, which lost its course after the war, and the Victorian Trotting and Racing Association, which raced at Ascot and Mentone.

The Melbourne Racing Club had encountered financial difficulties in developing a new racecourse at Sandown in Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs, a project which was given the impetus to continue through to completion following the 1963 merger with the VATC.

Sandown Racecourse was opened on June 19th, 1965 and a record crowd of 52,379 created a chaotic traffic jam as they converged on the new track.

In 1989, Caulfield became the beneficiary of modernisation through the commencement of the development of the Rupert Clarke Grandstand to replace the main grandstand which had stood since the 1920s. Constructed in two major phases, the three-level glass-fronted Rupert Clarke Grandstand was completed in 1992.

That same year, the Club spread its wings into the gaming market, opening the Caulfield Racecourse Tabaret which was followed five years later by a second venue - Highways Tabaret - situated in the north-east corner of Sandown Racecourse.

Also in 1997, the permanent Quarantine Centre at Sandown was completed and used to house visiting international horses for the first time.

A major upgrade of facilities at Sandown Racecourse was completed during 1999 and its premier race - the Sandown Cup - was reinvented as the Sandown Classic, with increased prize money and a change from handicap to weight-for-age conditions.

The arrival of the new Millennium brought a development of enormous proportions, as Carlton and United Breweries, which had sponsored its first Caulfield Cup in 1984, announced a massive $17.5 million sponsorship of the Club over a seven year period.

One year later in 2001, the VATC celebrated 125 years of racing at Caulfield with two special themed days - one for Members and one for the public - to commemorate the anniversary.

But once again, the need for change was on the horizon as on Tuesday October 9th 2001 the incumbent Club Chairman at that time Kevin Hayes unveiled Project Manikato, a five year strategic plan containing a series of pioneering initiatives that formed the Club's vision for the future at both Caulfield and Sandown.

Designed to re-position the two venues to capitalise on the opportunities of the new century, the $20 million scheme also heralded a revival of a name that had been dormant whilst in the Club's possession for 38 years.

Mr. Hayes saved the announcement of the name change to the finale of his address. "Finally, from January 1st 2002," he said after outlining the details of Project Manikato. "The VATC will be known as the Melbourne Racing Club." And so began the next installment in the Club's long, colourful and at times controversial racing history, a past steeped in the noblest of turf traditions.

On August 1st 2010, the Melbourne Racing Club merged with the Mornington Racing Club.

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