Having categorised the racetracks of New South Wales into two main sections : Metropolitan Sydney and Country (regional) New South Wales, this particular review continues our look at the later years of Sydney’s metropolitan area track at Harold Park.
Harold Park –
Harold Park Paceway harness racing track in Forest Lodge, New South Wales was in use from 1890 to 2010 under its various names. The inaugural meeting under the Harold Park name was held on 25 March 1929. On 21 March 1929 due to confusion of the name with the Sydney suburb of Epping, the track was renamed Harold Park. Most historians claim the track was named after the Kentucky bred trotter Childe Harold imported from Glasgow, Scotland by Andrew Town of Richmond – Childe Harold died in 1889. He was one of the great progenitors of the stock of the early days of trotting in Sydney.
The horse was probably named after Lord Byron’s poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. However the story does not fit with newspaper reports of the time. What is most likely is the Harold Park syndicate, which had owned Byrne’s Bush had been named after the horse. Then Byrne’s Bush was renamed after the syndicate and Epping Race course after the land at Botany. So it could be said the Epping Racecourse was also named after the horse by extension. In 1929 Botany Council decided to recommend that Byrne’s Bush should be utilised as a residential area and it was eventually sold to a developer who built houses on it.
In the late 1930’s the terraces were concreted and roofed while in 1949 the terraces were extended further along the home straight to the Ross St entrance. After the closure of the Victoria Park racecourse (final meeting 11 April 1942) Harold Park hosted several of their major races until the end of WWII.
In order to obtain its licence for night trotting, NSWTC as part of the Parliamentary Act, had to surrender its greyhound racing licence in 1949 to the Greyhound Breeders and Owners Association who raced at Harold Park until 1987. The new Act allocated forty meetings to the NSWTC who could then race at night with betting permitted.
Lights –
On 2 December 1948 the NSW State Parliament with the support of all parties passed the Racing Bill to allow night trotting to commence on 1 October 1949. The final day meeting of seven races took place on Saturday 18 December 1948 after which Harold Park was reconstructed and lights installed from 1 October 1949 with a rectangular track size of 743m (reduction from 4½ furlongs to 810 yds). Harold Park from that time become known internationally as the mecca of Australian harness racing. Public viewing included paddock, flat and leger sections. The centre of the raceway was used for car parking for members and public with the greyhound track also used for larger crowds. During Interdominion carnivals the centre car park was fenced to allow public access, bookmakers and totes installed in the infield.
Amazingly after having been the second locality to hold a night trotting meeting when known as Lillie Bridge (first was National Association Sports Ground (Exhibition Grounds) in Brisbane, night meeting on Wednesday 24 July 1889), it was almost another sixty years before night trotting returned to Sydney. Events were run under lights over one mile, 9 furlongs and 170 yards, 11 and three quarter furlongs, 13 furlongs and 98 yards and 15 furlongs and 92 yards – these distances were all for standing starts.
The initial lights designed by British General Electric in 1949 consisted of 400 lamps each of 1,000 watts. Night trials of the lights held in the weeks leading up to opening night attracted crowds of up to 8,000 spectators. On Saturday 1 October 1949 Harold Park’s first night trotting meeting with 15,000 patrons in attendance (postponed from Saturday 24 September due to rain) was held. No patrons under the age of eighteen were granted admission although this was reduced to fourteen within weeks. The first winner at night at Harold Park was Altivolo (Spring Hcp) in the hands of S. McMillan (3/1), mile rate of 2:11 3/5. Other winners on the inaugural nights card were Head Man, Oro Bay (NSW Sapling, Derby heat), Machine Wood, Jack Hope (ID Pacing heat, Harold Park), Moro Robert and Spruso King.
It is interesting to note that attendances averaged 17,500 for the next ten years with 1959/60 averaging 18,900 over 40 meetings meaning the boom years of trotting in Australia especially at Harold Park were the 1950’s/1960’s. Until the advent of off course betting via the TAB in 1964/5 season, punters had to attend on track to place a legal bet which included bookmakers. Meetings held initially on Saturday evenings with occasional some mid-week meetings. After trying out Friday night racing, the decision was made to move permanently to Friday nights as the main fixture date for Harold Park meetings.
The initial totalisator buildings at Harold Park in this era were disused trams installed as totes until the club was able to erect concrete block single story buildings for use as totes at night meetings and club offices during daytime when the administration offices moved from Sydney CBD to the track in 1956/7.
Swabbing was introduced at Harold Park in the early nineteen fifties, a first for Australian harness racing. Within two weeks of the announcement of swabbing, the first positive test had been returned. Random testing was undertaken for the first twelve months from 1950 before in September 1951 all Harold Park horses were tested.
The first pacer to record a sub two minute mile in Australia, Ribands did so at Harold Park on 27 January 1954 (1:58.7TT).
Quinella betting was first introduced in 1957 at Harold Park.
Mobiles –
A mobile barrier was first used at Harold Park on 2 November 1956 in a mile race won by Mineral Spring in 2:01.2. However the barrier was deemed unsafe after two races and it took a further nine years before further attempts were made. The prototype hydraulically operated mobile barrier was introduced into NSW in 1963 by William (Bill) George Smith, a Sydney motor vehicle body builder who had a passion for harness racing and wanted to make it more exciting for the public and punters.
On 14 October 1970 in an article on the success of the Miracle Mile, the Sydney Morning Herald reflected on the introduction of the new barrier in 1965. The article stated that after months of testing the barrier at Sunday gymkhanas, shows and trials during 1964 and 1965 it was then decided to introduce the barrier at Harold Park. Harold Park trialled and approved the use of the Smith designed barrier on 21 May 1965. Once mobile start racing began in earnest, distances run were one mile, 9 and a half furlongs and 11 and a half furlongs.
Race filming commenced in the mid 1960’s at Harold Park.
In 1966 an additional grandstand was completed standing alongside the James Barnes Stand while in 1987 a new complex was completed that together with all other old buildings and grandstands were replaced by a modern grandstand in 1996/7, part of a $22m redevelopment overseen by Peter V’Landys.
The 1970 Metric Conversion Act saw the change from imperial distances to those in metrics (metres) in the 1973/4 season i.e. for standing starts
9 furs 170 yds = 1,960m 11¾ furs = 2,350m
13 furs 98 yds = 2,700m 15 furs 92 yds = 3,090m
In 1975 the Racecourse Development Fund provided for a new lighting design to replace the original overhead system of 365 incandescent globes. The twenty stanchion’s, three of which were twenty three metres high, provided lighting ten times greater than the original set. Shortly thereafter this lighting system was adopted in 1976 at Moonee Valley when night trotting commenced at the Melbourne, Victoria venue.
A further track reconstruction in early 1996 enlarged the track to 805m (half mile) with races at the track run at distances of 1,760m, 2,160m, 2,565m and occasionally 2,965m. Harold Park celebrated fifty years of racing under lights in 1999.
Miracle Mile –
Late in 1966 the NSWTC Ltd and tobacco company H O & W D Wills promoted a new feature race called the Craven Filter Miracle Mile, a race conceived by former Harold Park Chief Executive Len Smith. The idea was to break the two minute mile and for Australian horses to gain worldwide recognition. The first Miracle Mile was held at Harold Park on 3 March 1967 and the New Zealand mare Robin Dundee won by breaking the two minute barrier at 1:59.0, recording the first ever sub two minute race mile in Australia..
Winners have included some of the most successful pacing horses in Australasian harness history among them Young Quinn, Hondo Grattan, Mount Eden, Halwes, Paleface Adios, Chokin, Westburn Grant, Village Kid, Christian Cullen, Holmes DG, Sokyola and Smooth Satin. Paleface Adios contested the race for seven consecutive years from 1974 to 1980 winning in 1976. The Harold Park race record was held by the New Zealand champion Iraklis (1:54.2 mile rate for 1760m). The last Miracle Mile run at Harold Park was won by Divisive on 28 November 2008 prior to HRNSW moving to Men angle Park in 2009 after the sale of Harold Park.
Interdominions –
Harold Park hosted several Interdominion Championships starting with the 1952 Pacers edition won by Avian Derby.
The Globe Derby connection continued with Gentleman John’s victory in 1956 before possibly Harold Park’s greatest Interdominion in 1960. On Saturday 13 February 1960, the “mighty atom” Caduceus from New Zealand competing in his sixth Interdominion defeated Australia’s Apmat in the final of the Pacers Inter Dominions in front of a world record crowd of 50,346. Both horses having earned eleven points in the heats to finish joint leading point’s scorers.
Spectators filled the inside greyhound circuit and the centre course carpark and those who were unable to see in the grandstand tore down timber and three-ply partitions in the main grandstand to get a better view. Police were forced to post a house full sign. One hundred and forty bookmakers were in attendance on Grand Final night – seventy each in the Paddock and Leger enclosures.
Caduceus passed the post half a length ahead of Apmat whose driver lodged a protest against the result which was dismissed by the stewards with Caduceus being declared the winner. Caduceus had started off 36 yds for owner’s brothers Dennis and Dudley Moore, trainer/driver Jack Litten while Apmat began off 12 yds. for Bert Alley. The Grand Final carried the richest prize money of any race staged in Australasia to that time, thoroughbred or standardbred. At £15,600, it was £100 more than the 1959 Melbourne Cup worth £15,500. The win made Caduceus the highest stake winner, galloper or trotter racing in Australasia at the time, ahead of Tulloch and second only to Redcraze of all time winners. Caduceus Clubs throughout Australasia celebrate this particular champion pacer.
1966 was the first Trotters Championship held at Harold Park with Yamamoto being successful for NSW’s Colin Watts (driver) and his father Jack Watts (trainer). Tasmanian Chamfers Star annexed the Pacers title in a clean sweep of the heats and final for driver Brian Forrester and Bankstown trainer Max Treuer. Grand Final night 1966 saw the first live screening of night trotting on ABC Television. 1973 saw Hondo Grattan win the first of his two Interdominions (1974 Gloucester Park, Perth) for trainer/driver Tony Turnbull, while NZer Precocious in the hands of trainer Jack Carmichael won the Trotters Grand Final.
Brian Hancock recorded the first of his two (five overall) Harold Park Pacing ID’s with Koala King in 1980 while Kiwi Hano Direct for tr/dr Doody Townley won the Trotters final. 1988 saw Our Maestro give John Binskin his only Inter-Dominion win for the Bob Knight stable. Brian Hancock’s second Harold Park victory came with Weona Warrior in 1994, a year in which another Kiwi trotter in Diamond Field took out the Trotters championship for trainer Barry Purdon and driver Tony Herlihy.
In 2002 Smooth Satin and trainer/driver Steve Turnbull added the race to his 2001 victories in the Miracle Mile, Ben Hur and Chariots of Fire, all at Harold Park. The trotter’s edition of the series in 2002 was won by Game Bid. This was the last ID series held at Harold Park although the first round of heats for the 2010 series were held there – winners Atomic Ark, Blacks A Fake, Monkey King, Bondi. Grand Final held at Men angle won by Blacks A Fake, his fourth, an ID record.
Harold Park’s sale –
NSW harness racing in New South Wales is controlled by Harness Racing New South Wales (HRNSW). Harold Park located at Glebe in Sydney used to be New South Wales’ premier track and metropolitan headquarters. The tight 804.5m Harold Park track became too small for the speed of the modern pacer and trotter, together with the traffic issues around the Glebe area and falling attendances (huge grandstand and modern facilities only fully utilised on premium nights), led to a decision being necessary on the future of Harold Park.
Following a favourable members vote on 26 October 2008, the sale of Harold Park providing the land could be sold for a minimum of $150 million was approved. Announced on 10 December 2010 that the 10.6 hectares site had been purchased by Mirvac for a reported $187 million to be redeveloped for medium-density housing. Twelve hundred residential apartments built by Mirvac now cover the land where the track was located together with 3.8 hectares of public open space. The adjoining Rozelle Tram Depot was part of the paceway complex being turned into a food centric retail complex opened in September 2016.
The sale enabled the New South Wales Harness Racing Club to relocate to Menangle Park Paceway a property that the Club had owned for many years. A new state of the art 1,400m track ideal for mile racing was built at Menangle during Harold Park’s final months. The last Harold Park Paceway meeting being held on 17 December 2010 before a crowd of 18,103. A ten race programme featured with Karloo Mick winning the final event (his eleventh Harold Park victory), a 3370m standing start. Well respected commentator Kevin Thomson who called races at Harold Park for over thirty years called the final race. A special commemorative race book was issued for the occasion. The winning post was sold for $10,500 to Ray Hadley with the proceeds going to Lifeline. Other souvenirs from the 120-year-old paceway were taken away by attendees. Koala King holds the record for the most wins at Harold Park with a tally of forty victories.
Note – no attempt has been made to fully detail the numerous champions that graced Harold Park in its various guises. To do so would take considerable volumes of material.
Greyhounds at Harold Park –
From May 1927, Harold Park also hosted Greyhound race meetings for enthusiasts however the era of racing at Harold Park finished twenty three years before harness racing when on Monday 19 September 1987 the final race for greyhounds was conducted. For many greyhound people the old Harold Park track offered every animal a genuine chance.
Greyhound racing at Harold Park commenced on a cold Saturday evening, 28 May 1927, with the first greyhound race meeting hosted in Australia under the auspices of the Greyhound Coursing Association (GCA). The GCA was headed by an American with the slightly unfortunate name of Frederick Swindell, who claimed to be a ‘Judge’. The first race was won by Bellamaud while the final event was taken out by Happy Bachelor, who went on to become the first star of the mechanical coursing era.
Lobbying by interest groups such as the cinema industry and horse racing almost brought the new sport of greyhound racing behind a mechanical lure to an end. Speed coursing using trained live hares and later pacemakers was introduced in 1928 but still the anti-greyhound lobbyists tried to have the sport banned by the NSW State government. Certainly, proprietary racing was ended by 1932 but Harold Park greyhounds continued with the licence granted to the NSW Trotting Club.
From 6 December 1933 until 28 August 1936 greyhound racing was conducted on the cinder surface of the harness racing track over distances of 480 yards (439 metres), 600 yards (548 metres), and 880 yards (804 metres). On 5 September 1936 a new sandy loam surface track was opened inside the trotting track. The early 480 yards races were marred by interference and eventually the distance was increased to 500 yards (457 metres).
In 1948, with the introduction of night harness racing, the NSW Trotting Club relinquished its greyhound licence which passed to the NSW Greyhound Breeders’, Owners’ and Trainers’ Association (GBOTA). They conducted greyhound racing at Harold Park from 1948 on a new grass surface until September 1987. It is estimated that approximately thirty thousand greyhound races were run in the sixty year tenure that Harold Park operated as a greyhound track.
Next Article : Menangle Park
Peter Craig
16 March 2022
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
