The first horse racing events in South Australia took place at a well-attended picnic meeting held over 1 and 2 January 1838.[1] In August 1838, riding his grey gelding Charley, Fred Handcock won the first steeplechase event ever held in South Australia.[2] Various racing events (including match races) continued throughout the 1840s, but without a regulating body.
Early foundations of the S.A.J.C.
The first incarnation of the South Australian Jockey Club (S.A.J.C.) was in 1850, when it ran a race programme at Brighton on 14 February.[3] Thomas Shayle was the Hon. Sec. and Edward Strike the Clerk of the Course. Many variously named clubs were subsequently formed and folded, and races were run under Jockey Club rules within and outside these organisations at various locations: Dry Creek, the East Parklands (the "Old Adelaide Racecourse") and Glenelg.
Following several successful race meetings organised by E. M. Bagot and Gabriel Bennett on their grazing property south of Henley Beach Road, Thebarton (where Mile End is today), the first being 6–8 January 1859,[4] and a series of preliminary discussions held in June and July 1861,[5] a new committee was formed, whose members included Sir James Fisher (president), E. M. Bagot, Gabriel Bennett, W. K. Simms, P. B. Coglin (starter) and William Blackler, with James Chambers as judge. They settled on the Thebarton track as their racecourse, with the first Club programme held 1–3 January 1862.[6] The Thebarton course, dubbed the "Butchers' Course", grew increasingly unpopular with both the racing fraternity and the racegoing public. It was difficult of access compared with the "Old Course" on the East Parklands; moreover it could be unpleasant (depending on wind direction) on account of smells emanating from nearby animal processing industries on the banks of the Torrens. It was, however, supplied gratis by Bagot and Bennett, whereas P. B. Coglin, who had the lease for the "Old Course", demanded £1,500 for its use.[7] A notable race held in this period was the 1865 Grand Steeplechase won by the horseman-poet Adam Lindsay Gordon on Cadger.[8]
The Club folded in 1869 through bankruptcy[9] then was revived in 1873 after its debts were paid by a consortium of businessmen.[10]
The second S.A.J.C.
The Club was re-formed in 1875 with Stewards: Sir John Morphett, Sir Henry Ayers, John Crozier M.L.C., W. Cavenagh, MP., and Philip Levi. The Committee consisted of: G. Bennett, W. K. Simms, MP. Judge: Mr. E. M. Bagot. Starters: Henry Hughes and G. Bennett. Clerk of the Course: J. Boase.[11] The first handicapping committee consisted of W. B. Rounsevell, G. Bennett and H. Hughes.[12] Longtime handicapper Henry Hughes was succeeded by his son William Charles Hughes.[13]
Seth Ferry and W. H. Formby (c. 1818–1892) were commissioned to investigate the suitability of (later Sir) Thomas Elder's property at Morphettville, then marshland known as "Bay of Biscay Flat" (alluding to its unpleasant clay soil), for a racecourse. They reported that the area was susceptible to flooding from the nearby Brownhill Creek, and that it was littered with dips and gulleys, but both problems could be overcome with earthworks and there was no shortage of sand nearby, and in other ways was an ideal location. In March 1874 the South Australian Jockey Club Company (Limited) was founded with Simeon Barnard as secretary and share capital of £1000;[14] Ferry was one of the original purchases of a £5[15] or £10[16] share. Elder leased at peppercorn rental, later donated, the 160 acres (65ha) property on the Glenelg railway (later tram) line, near the Morphett Arms Hotel, to be known as the "South Australian Course" or "Elder Course" (and to the less charitable, the "Bay of Biscay course"), to the Company. The directors elected at the first general meeting of the Company were Sir Henry Ayers, Sir John Morphett, Thomas Elder, John Crozier, R. C. Baker, Philip Levi, Joseph Gilbert, E. W. Pitts, and H. B. Hughes, all highly influential gentlemen and racing enthusiasts. The Company promptly spent the subscribed money establishing racing facilities at Morphettville. The course was laid out by R. C. Bagot,[17] first secretary of the Victoria Racing Club. The course was partly walled in, a ladies' lawn laid, and a grand stand, judge's box, stewards' stand, telegraph office, loose boxes erected.
On 7 August 1874 the Club signed the lease of the course from the Company for one year, with a right of renewal from year to year for five years at a rental of 6 per cent. on the outlay. Their first race meeting was held there on 23 September 1875? 3 January 1876?[18] Due to the track being waterlogged their May 1875 meeting had to be held at the "Old Adelaide Racecourse" (later known as Victoria Park), hired from the Adelaide City Council at a cost of £40.[19] The sum of £1,000 was found to be inadequate and the Company decided to increase the capital to £7,000. The Company then sought from Sir Thomas Elder, and received, conversion of the peppercorn rental to freehold purchase of the Morphettville land so they had the ability to borrow against the value of the land.
A breakaway group, formed in 1870 following collapse of the first S.A.J.C., had acquired at minimal cost, but with substantial obligations as to improvements, the lease to the "Old Course" from the Council. They became in 1879 the Adelaide Racing Club, and until amalgamation of the two rival clubs continued to hold race meetings there.
In 1880 use of the totalizator on South Australian racecourses was legalized (or more correctly exempted from certain provisions of the Gaming Act), and Barnard and R. C. Baker introduced a simple totalizator, which was conducted on a large sheet of cardboard in the secretary's office. A commercial totalizator, from Hill & Schinnerling of Melbourne, was trialled in 1879,[20] but appears to have gone no further. After a problem which arose in 1881 when a winning horse, Dan O'Dea's D.O.D., paid out £836/16s to its only backer, a Woolford totalizator (for Adelaide inventor Robert Woolford) was installed. It worked admirably until 1921, when it was replaced,[21] and whose only drawback was that it did not show the grand total invested for each race. The "tote" was a success but the S.A.J.C. did not prosper as expected, largely due to competition from the Adelaide Racing Club. Then in 1883 Parliament passed the Totalizator Repeal Act, which had the immediate effect of making South Australian racecourses much less profitable. The Club continued to lease the course, and to conduct meetings, but with reduced prizes, patronage and profits. This coincided with the severe South Australian drought of 1884–1886 and a consequent financial downturn. In December 1884 the South Australian Jockey Club Company (Limited) was voluntarily wound up, with Barnard appointed liquidator,[22] and carried out the secretarial duties of the S.A.J.C. in an honorary capacity. Morphettville racecourse was placed in the hands of the Queensland Mortgage Company, and fell into a state of disrepair. The Club, whose finances were in a precarious state, in desperation ran the 1885 Adelaide Cup at Flemington. The Company was then forced to relinquish the Morphettville property to the Queensland Mortgage Company[23] and the Club was defunct.
The S.A.J.C went into recess and held no meetings for four years. Barnard acted as honorary secretary.
The current S.A.J.C.
In 1888 Parliament reversed its ban on the Totalizator. The property was then purchased for £8,000 by T. F. Wigley, R. B. Pell,[24] and Sylvester Browne.[25] Browne subsequently purchased Pell's interest and in July 1889 Wigley and Browne placed the racecourse on the market[26] in order to close the partnership; it was purchased by Browne.[27]
A. O. Whitington, who had previously had a supervisory role at race meetings,[28] and whose employers John and William Pile were prominent racegoers, was approached by T. F. Wigley[29] to help revive the Club, and Whitington convened a meeting in the arbitration room of the Stock Exchange in Pirie street on 19 September 1888, presided by Sir Richard Baker.[29] Those present included Sir Richard Baker, Tom Barnfield, William Blackler, Irwin A. Bleechmore, P. Frederick Bonnin, Dr. Thomas Cawley, Hugh Chambers, John Deeney, Daniel Dunlevie, James A. Ellery, William Filgate, James Hay, Ernest W. Howard, Henry Hughes, Philip Lee, W. B. Rounsevell, A. Simms, H. Simms, W. K. Simms and T. F. Wigley. The outcome of the meeting was that Whitington was appointed Club Secretary, Baker, Rounsevell, Wigley, Pile, Chambers, Bonnin, and Ellery were appointed committee members, and agreed to lease the Morphettville course from Browne for £900 per annum with a right to purchase after four years for £12,000.[30] Racing by the S.A.J.C. was revived at Morphettville on 1 January 1889, despite a downpour.
The S.A.J.C. continued to lease the course until 1895 when, thanks to "the tote" and Whitington's careful stewardship, the S.A.J.C. was able to exercise its "right to purchase" from Browne[31] the freehold was acquired by Sir R. C. Baker, W. B. Rounsevell, William Pile, H. Chambers, P. F. Bonnin, Fred Ayers (son of Henry Ayers), and J. A. Ellery,[32] who constituted the S.A.J.C. committee, so at last the course was the property of the S.A.J.C.[33]
The Adelaide Cup is a South Australian Jockey Club Group 2 Thoroughbred handicap horse race for three-year-olds and older, run over 3,200 metres at Morphettville Racecourse in Adelaide, Australia on the second Monday in March. Total prize money for the race is A$302,250.
Morphettville Racecourse is the main horse racing course for the Australian state of South Australia, incorporating two separate tracks. It is situated in the Adelaide suburb of Morphettville, and is about 10 km from the Adelaide city centre, and is home to the South Australian Jockey Club.
The South Australian Derby is a South Australian Jockey Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds, at set weights, run over a distance of 2,500 metres at Morphettville Racecourse in Adelaide, Australia during the SAJC Autumn Carnival.
Victoria Park / Pakapakanthi, also known as Park 16, is a park located in the Southeastern Park Lands of the South Australian capital of Adelaide. It is bordered by Fullarton Road, Greenhill Road, East Terrace and Wakefield Road. Before 1897 it was known as the Old Adelaide Racecourse.
Cheltenham Park Racecourse was a horse racing track located in the suburb of Cheltenham in Adelaide, South Australia, between around 1921 and 2009.
Edward Meade "Ned" Bagot was a pastoralist and developer who held large properties in Central Australia.
Adelaide Racing Club was a horse racing club which had its origins around 1870 but founded in 1879 in competition with the South Australian Jockey Club. The A.R.C. held their race meetings on the "Old Adelaide Racecourse" which they rented from the Adelaide City Council, while the S.A.J.C. owned Morphettville Racecourse freehold.
William Knox Simms was a brewer, businessman and politician in the early days of South Australia.
Arthur Onslow Whitington, generally known as A. O. Whitington or simply "A.O.", was a businessman and sportsman in South Australia, the highly regarded founding secretary of the revived South Australian Jockey Club, serving from 1888 to 1919.
William Smallpeice Whitington was an early English settler in South Australia, founder of the shipping company Whitington & Co. He emigrated on his own ship New Holland, arriving in South Australia in July 1840. That cargo, which made for him a tidy profit, included Falklandina and Actæon, the colony's first thoroughbred mare and stallion, the basis of John Baker's racing stud. He brought in South Australia's first steamers: Corsair and Courier, and the brig Enterprise for trading between the colony's ports. The ships went into service just as overland routes were opening up, and proved a costly mistake. He later invested in a number of mining ventures, at a substantial loss. His descendants included a number of notable individuals.
The Adelaide Hunt Club is an Australian fox hunting club founded in the 1840s.
Gabriel Bennett was an auctioneer, stock and cattle salesman and horse breeder in South Australia. He was a founder of the stock and station agents Bennett and Fisher.
William Blackler was a horse breeder and sportsman in the early days of the British colony of South Australia.
The first Tattersall's Club in Adelaide was founded in 1879 and folded in 1886. It was revived as the South Australian Tattersalls Club in 1888 and prospered as a gentlemen's club, whose membership was chiefly composed of men who enjoyed gambling on horse races.
Seth "The Master" Ferry was a prominent rider, dealer, owner and trainer of racehorses in South Australia.
John Eden Savill, generally known as J. E. Savill or J. Eden Savill, was an Englishman who had a short but successful career in South Australia as a racehorse owner and trainer, culminating in his horse winning the 1882 Melbourne Cup.
Simeon Barnard was a horse racing official in South Australia, one of the founders of the South Australian Jockey Club and its secretary from 1874 to 1884, and acted in an honorary capacity for four years while the Club was in recess.
Thomas Francis Wigley was a lawyer and horse racing official in South Australia.
Arthur Vaux Kewney was an Australian thoroughbred horseracing official, secretary of the Victoria Racing Club for 21 years.
The Queen's Cup, formerly King's Cup, is a horse race run in different locations across Australia from 1927 in most years until the present day. It was originally held in each of the six states of Australia in rotation each year, but has not been held in strict rotation in recent decades. The length of the race is 2,400 m (1.5 mi), and since the 1990s it has been a Group 3 race. As of 2022, the most recent race was run in March 2022 at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in Sydney.
↑ "Sporting". South Australian Register. Adelaide. 15 July 1873. p.7 Supplement: Supplement to the South Australian Register. Retrieved 16 September 2012– via National Library of Australia.
↑ Reginald Bradford "Reg" Pell (c. 1860 – 1 July 1916), second son of Professor Pell of Sydney University, was handicapper in Broken Hill then for W.A.T.C. in Perth.
↑ James Albert Ellery (1844–1905) was father of T. G. Ellery (1872–1923) town clerk of Adelaide. He was a member of both the S.A.J.C. and A.R.C., later publican of Mac's Hotel, Mount Gambier
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