Horse racing -- Australia -- History; Race horses -- Australia -- History; Stainforth, Martin, 1866-1957
Totalisator buildings has severely taxed the already somewhat
overcrowded accommodation, and the problem of expansion is one which the
A.J.C. will have to seriously consider. However, the policy of the Club
has always been a progressive one, so we need not fear.
The Club now pays over £24,000 in wages annually, and to add to this big
figure there is a Totalisator staff of over 400 when the machines are in
work. Hitches at Randwick are unknown, and everything goes like
clockwork from the time the turnstiles are opened on race days until the
day’s racing is over. The starting is in the capable hands of Mr. Harry
Mackellar, who not only has the confidence of the jockeys, from the
smallest apprentice upwards, but is a thorough horseman in the truest
sense of the word, and a starter by instinct. The important position of
handicapper is filled by Mr. Fred Wilson, for many years the present
Secretary’s right-hand man in the office, and now an established success
as a weight adjuster. The Club is lucky in having two such officials.
One of the highest tributes the course has received in its long history
comes from the present Prince of Wales, who during his visit to Sydney
spent some of his happiest days riding impromptu races at Randwick.
It is the Mecca of Australia to the true horse-lover, and, sitting under
its shady fig-trees, one may see the bronzed men of the far Northern
Territory who have come thousands of miles to swell the cosmopolitan
crowds which tread the green lawns and back their fancies. In the
paddock the strangest conglomeration of people assembles, for racing is
the greatest class leveller in the world. There is much truth in the
saying that all men are equal both on the turf and under it.
THE VICTORIAN RACING CLUB AND FLEMINGTON
By Dr. W. H. LANG
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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