Perth – early Metropolitan tracks
In 1910, a successful Irishman and businessman named James Brennan (drapery business), became President of WATA determined to bring organised trotting to Perth. The first committee meeting of the West Australian Trotting Association (WATA) was held in the Bohemia Hall on 22 September 1910 where Brennan was appointed President.
The 1910 Royal Show at the Claremont Showgrounds (550 yds) programmed trotting events under the joint auspices of the Royal Agricultural Society (RAS) and the WATA using the Victorian Trotting Association’s rules. Prior to this, the only regular harness racing was conducted at the annual Perth Royal Show. These trotting events included a series of time tests over one mile for a stake of £63 to be shared amongst owners of the three fastest horses. On 3 November 1910, Big Ben created history becoming the first WA standardbred to cover the mile in 2:30.0 the standard necessary for inclusion in the USTA Stud Book.
The WATA held its inaugural race meeting on Christmas Eve Saturday 24 December 2010 in front of a fair attendance at the Belmont Park Racecourse (1699m) where thoroughbred racing to date has been conducted for over one hundred and twenty years. A total of twenty one horses contested the seven race programme with winners being : Mr T Humphrie’s mare Princess Huon in the first; Goldspray; Wilkes G (two wins); Dusky Belle; Heather Bells and Capel Tracey. The races consisted of four heats and three finals with all winners except Goldspray and Dusky Belle starting on four occasions.
In January 1911 the first aeroplane flight in Western Australia was conducted from here and served as Perth’s first regular landing area until a more suitable site was found at Langley Park in 1919.
The WATA continued to conduct race meetings on a fortnightly basis, using both Belmont Park and the Claremont Showgrounds as venues. A ground rental charge of £25 per meeting by the RAS placed a heavy financial burden on the WATA to the extent that following negotiations with the West Australian Cricket Association (WACA), harness racing commenced on the WACA Ground track, on 28 June 1913 – see below.
Another track at Midland Junction (440yds) held the first of its thirty two meetings on 6 September 1914 (majority under electric light) with a final meeting on 26 September 1916.
WACA –
The West Australian Cricket Association Grounds in East Perth, opposite the current Gloucester Park track became the first permanent base for Perth trotting. Reaching an agreement with the WACA for an initial five year lease (option for 5 year right of renewal) of £250 for twenty six meetings over a twelve month period, twenty of those meetings being Saturdays. The lease finalised on 11 April 1913 allowed any of the twenty six meetings to be held at night (great foresight) on payment of an additional £5 and additional dates available on payment of a further £10 for each date. On payment of £26 per annum, a horse could be trained on the track during the week.
Financing for the WACA development was provided with James Brennan, James Nicholls and Henry A Hummerston standing as guarantors for the five year lease period. Once the finances were agreed, construction of the track (650yds) and facilities commenced as a joint operation between the trotting and cricket associations. Completed within three months of commencement including drainage work, the first meeting was able to be held on Saturday 28 June 1913. Trotting was conducted at the Western Australian Cricket Association’s ground until 28 January 1929.
Mr AW Walder, President of the WATA at its opening meeting, with Mr H Annear’s 4yo mare Sweet Nell (won two races on the day) winner of the inaugural race. This meeting was the only time the one hundred sovereign Walder Cup was run, Lord Denman being the winner as a result of disqualification of Wallace Tracey.
Brennan very much an ideas man, the establishment of night trotting at the West Australian Cricket Association’s (WACA) grounds in 1914 owed much to his leadership. The WATA called for tenders on 4 November 1913, accepting a quote of £379 from Leo Walton’s Perth Electrical Wiring Company on 2 January 1914. Amazingly the course was lit for the first “electric light” meeting on Saturday 24 January 1914 with an estimated crowd of 2,000 in attendance. This was the start of the only Australian state with continuous night time metropolitan meetings. The meeting featured five races with winners over 1m in Battler (2:44.1MR, driven by Alfred Fox winning the first event), Majestic (2:48MR), The Easter Gift (3:30MR); 1½m Ringleader (3:57 overall time), Greylad (4:13 overall time, off 275yd handicap winning by fifty lengths). Proving popular another meeting under lights was held a week later. Night trotting quickly became more popular than thoroughbred racing conducted over the other side of the Swan River.
HRH Prince Of Wales (the future King Edward VIII ascending the throne in January 1936, abdicating without being crowned to marry American socialite Wallis Simpson with his title changing to Duke of Windsor) attended night trots at the WACA on 2 July 1920, before a crowd of 5-6,000. The only member of British royalty to start a harness race in Australia by firing the starting pistol, previously having witnessed a trotting race in Canada but this was the first occasion under lights. The Prince of Wales Cup was won by Steel Bell (five consecutive Goldfields Easter Cups and two Goldfields Cups at Kalgoorlie).
Another idea of Brennan’s came into being with the Australasian Championships held at WACA, Perth in March 1925 and March 1926. The forerunner to the Interdominions, the 1925 championships with stake money of £2,600 attracted interstate horses from NSW (1), VIC/NZ (2) and three from the home state of WA. These championships were being run at a disastrous financial loss to the WATA with transportation of horses to Perth being one of several issues. Raced over three nights, consisting of two heats and a final each evening, at distances of ten furlongs, twelve furlongs and two miles, the winners received points based on the nightly finals only – 4, 2, 1 with highest points scorer receiving a £425 bonus :
1925 – Grand Champion : Great Hope (NZ 7 points); Vin Direct (VIC 6), Kola Girl (WA 4), Globepool (NSW 2), Taraire (NZ 2). The other three contenders were Monarch (WA), Virus (WA) and Delavan (VIC).
1926 – Due to Taraire and Great Bingen being tied on 8 points each a runoff over 12 furlongs was required on Monday 22 March – a crowd of 6,000 were in attendance to witness Taraire defeat Great Bingen by 1½ yards. Grand Champion : Taraire (WA 8 points); Great Bingen (NZ 8), Vin Direct (VIC 4), Quartz (WA 1) with the other four contenders being Delavan (VIC), Yard On (NSW), Willowdean (WA) and Globepool (NSW).
Another notable performer during the days of racing at the WACA was 1911 NZ born Kola Girl. Winning nineteen races in Perth (eighteen at WACA and one at Midland Junction) plus several on Eastern state tracks including defeating Globe Derby, she was the first West Australian (only other is Mount Eden) to hold the Australian mile record : 2:07.8TT (held from 1923 – 1931; mares record 1923 – 1945). A winner of the 1918 WA Pacing Cup, she won two heats of the inaugural Australasian Championships in 1925 when aged fourteen.
Brennan/Gloucester Park –
Brennan who the first to envisage that the purchase of a mosquito infested area of swamplands near the Swan River would provide the establishment of what would become Gloucester Park. As early as 1914, moves were being made to purchase and construct the WATA’s own course in Perth. Over the next fifteen years numerous land purchases were made that would form the new track with suitable facilities added.
Fourteen and a half acres of WACA land at a cost of £6,000 were purchased in July 1915; £100 deposit, further £100 at end of six month option with repayments spread being over six years. The land purchased was not sufficient for the purposed track and in the ensuing six years to 1921 purchases from smaller land owners were necessary before the requisite amount of land was obtained (30 acres).
Considerable reclamation was required of the purchased land, stage one taking three years from 1917 -1920 with the Perth City Council using the site as a rubbish tip. On 6 May 1920 Powell and Cameron were appointed architects and surveyors for the new track construction with AT Brine and Sons winning the reclamation and drainage contract. The original reclamation contract had to be extended into 1925 (original completion date June 1921) due to pump breakdowns and under estimation of time and cost involved in completing the necessary work. A further six months was required to allow for the fill to settle prior to track construction.
Lighting for the new track was claimed to be the largest single lighting system in the world consisting of some 750 miles of wiring and 180 tons of equipment suspended over the track. The lighting system installed by Perth firm Bear and Doonan was in use for nearly fifty years. Supply of 30,000 cubic yards of shell was required for the track with the racing surface not completed until mid-1927.
At this stage £50,000 had been spent on track construction with another £50,000 required over the next twelve months to provide for buildings such as totalisators, admin offices, grandstands and fencing. The lease for the WACA track was due to run out mid-1929 and was further complicated by a new lease granted to Perth Speedways Ltd, a rival to the Claremont Speedway syndicate.
Financing to complete the new track again proved burdensome but finally on 5 February 1929, James Brennan, Quenton Whyte and John Stratton met the Bank Of New South Wales guarantor requirements for a loan (secured over WATA’s property and securities for first mortgage with three guarantors for £5,000 annual repayments) which allowed completion of the track and facilities e.g. a stand originally modelled on the one at Addington in Christchurch, NZ at cost of £25,000 was replaced with a smaller £7,200 stand modelled on the one at Perth’s Kings Park Tennis Club . The final total cost of the new track and facilities amounted to £200,000.
It was thanks primarily to James Brennan that this magnificent trotting course was available for patron’s enjoyment. Known affectionately as the “ribbon of light”, Brennan Park, named to acknowledge the contribution of “the father of WA Trotting” James Brennan for establishing trotting on a firm footing in Perth, holding its first night meeting on Thursday 26 December 1929. The track was 88yds short of a half mile (792yds; 724.5m). A full dress rehearsal was held on the track prior to the first Christmas meeting to ensure everything was up to standard. The first race won by Alween (dr. F. Mackander) in front of a crowd of approximately 12,500 patrons with a seven race programme, all raced at one mile and three furlongs except a solitary 1¼m event.
The official opening of Brennan Park did not take place until 15 March 1930 with 8,000 patrons in attendance. Feature races on the night’s card were the Brennan and Stratton Handicaps named for the men who commenced the work on the course and whose financial support brought its completion to fruition.
Brennan’s health deteriorated and he stepped down after serving sixteen of the previous twenty years as WATA President (16 yrs) and four years as vice president at which point Victorian born JP (John) Stratton succeeded him. John Stratton succeeded in having the course name changed to Gloucester Park in November 1935 in honour of the Duke of Gloucester’s marriage and his visit to the trotting races in Perth on 6 October 1934. Not a universally popular move but Stratton had succeeded in getting the name change effective prior to the commencement of Australasia’s greatest horse racing series, the Interdominion Championships in Perth in February 1936.
Taking over as President from Brennan in 1930, Stratton commenced an unprecedented three decades (36 years) in power until his death in 1966. Having acted as financial co guarantor for WATA/Gloucester Park in the 1930’s again with John Tyler and Tom Simpson, he again in 1941 rescued the club financially. In 1947 resurrected the Interdominions after a seven year break due to World War II’s intervention. It is a little surprising that JP Stratton is not an inductee of the WA Hall of Fame, although the debacle over the change of name of Brennan Park to Gloucester Park lost him considerable goodwill.
Interdominion Championships – first held at Gloucester Park in February 1936, the Interdominion Championships were to become the pinnacle of attainment for all aspiring horse people Australasia wide. The keen Trans-Tasman rivalry, competitiveness and camaraderie between Kiwis and Australians was obvious for all to see.
Whilst Stratton devoted a lengthy period to leading the WATA and later the Interdominion Trotting Council, he would never attain the popularity of his predecessor James Brennan. It was Stratton who resurrected the idea of a major championship realising that it would require the support of other states plus New Zealand with a view to rotating the venue around the major tracks.
Stratton called a meeting of representatives (14) from all Australian states and New Zealand held in Sydney on 18 June 1935 to discuss his proposal. At the Australasian Trotting Conference, agreement was reached for an annual championship to be run. Stratton was elected as initial Chairman of the first all Australian Conference. Perth was allocated the honour of holding the first championship where total prize money was £4,000/final £1,500 (plus Gold Cup valued at 100 guineas, £105). Gloucester Park together with Wayville, Adelaide were at the time the only major tracks racing under lights.
The meeting decided that at least three horses would represent Victoria, NSW, SA and New Zealand. The championships would be determined over three distances of 1 mile, 1½ miles and 2 miles, using moving starts with visiting horses receiving expenses less any stakes won.
The championship would be awarded to the most consistent horse with points allocated for heats and final for first three placings (3 -2 – 1) and three fastest times (3 – 2 – 1). The idea was to reward a “champion” whose handicap made it difficult to place with points for registering the fastest times. Complications with this points system were not foreseen but it was persevered with for the first six ID’s (1936 – 1940 and 1947) before being replaced with new conditions in 1948 where the winner of the Grand Final was declared Interdominion champion.
A shipping strike throughout Australia resulted in the carnival being delayed a week. From the original seven NZ nominees only Roi l’Or remained but in Melbourne being entrained for Perth he was injured and did not proceed further. His driver Freeman Holmes continued onto Perth. In total, eight interstate and twelve local horses took part in the February 1936 heats.
Logan Derby won all his heats and the final to remain unbeaten at the carnival (won two races in Perth prior to ID’s) but would not be crowned Grand Champion. This honour went to Evicus whose points tally was added to by recording fast times throughout.
Following the success of the first IDs, Perth has at the time of this article hosted sixteen Championships, all loyal to the original concept of three rounds of heats and a Grand Final. Such loyalty has been rewarded with Perth already awarded the centennial Interdominions of 2036.
Winners of ID’s since the 1936 event have been : Grand Mogul, 1940 (points); mare Bandbox, 1947 (points); two time winner Captain Sandy, 1953 (Melbourne 1950); Radiant Venture, 1957; James Scott, 1962 (clean sweep of heats/final); Binshaw, 1967; two time winner Hondo Grattan, 1974 (1973 Sydney); Rhetts Law, 1982; mare Jodie’s Babe, 1988; Young Mister Charles, 1996; Jofess, 2004; three time winner Im Themightyquinn (all heats/final 2012; 2011 Auckland following disqualification of Smoken Up; 2013 Sydney); Lennytheshark, 2015; Smolda, 2016 and Lazarus, 2017.
Other matters of interest concerning Gloucester Park include :
Racing features a mix of standing and mobile starts. The rubber strand method of starting horses from a stand was brought to Western Australia in 1935 by a seventy year old Victorian called H Brenning. Racing had previously been started by a pistol shot.
Racing was held on Saturday afternoons during World War II and at times only fortnightly, due to a sharing agreement over dates with the WA Turf Club which raced alternate Saturdays. All night racing was banned due to the fear of air attack by the Japanese.
Photo finish facilities were introduced and used for the first time to decide the outcome of a race on 20th August 1949.
Gloucester Park first used the mobile gate on Monday 24 May 1958, the winner being the unruly Edward Scott. Following little use, the mobiles services were dispensed with until its reintroduction on 15 January 1972 at the running of the inaugural Mount Eden Mile won by Roscott (Fremantle Cup winner) in 1:59.2 (dr. L. Lindau).
Television featured for the first time on 4 November 1960 when the £5,000 Anniversary Cup was replayed to Perth television audiences on the ABC’s Sports Cavalcade programme. Race patrol filming was introduced on 1 October 1971.
A little over a year later, on 21 October 21, 1972, metric race distances were introduced to Gloucester Park, however both mile and kilometre rates were used for a time before kilometre rates were dropped when the Metric Conversion Board was disbanded.
The Gloucester Park track was upgraded to its current size when the old circuit was dug up and a new 804.5 metre oval was installed on 1985. The old track wasn’t slow as evidenced by the 1:54.9TT of Classic Garry’s on 11 March 1983, the first sub 1:55 time/track in Australia.
Gloucester Park has been used for Telstra Rally Australia; between 1977 and 1979 it was a venue for World Series Cricket matches and between September 2015 and April 2017, the drop-in wickets for Optus Stadium were built and maintained in the centre of Gloucester Park.
When racing ceased permanently at Richmond Raceway in 1991, the Fremantle club began conducting their meetings at Gloucester Park. The Fremantle Harness Racing Club and Western Australian Trotting Association merged in 2011 to form Gloucester Park Harness Racing.
Feature races at Gloucester Park are the two Grand Circuit events – WA Pacing Cup, run since 1913 (1913 – 1929 WACA; 1930 – 1934 Brennan Park and 1935 to date at Gloucester Park) and Fremantle Cup run at Gloucester Park since December 1991.
Other local horses apart from ID Champions listed earlier that have made their mark at Gloucester Park include : Kolect; Beau Don; Frosty Nelson; Radiant Oro; Dainty’s Daughter; Blue Pennant; Renaud; Mount Eden; Pure Steel; Satinover, Black Irish; The Falcon Strike; Washakie; Chicago Bull … among many others as well as horseperson’s such as the Kersley’s, Phil Coulson, Jim Schrader, Chris Lewis, Gary Hall snr/jnr to name just a few.
Their exploits are too numerous to list in this article.
Richmond Raceway –
An attempt to form a trotting club to race on the Fremantle Oval occurred in July 1919, the local council sat on the fence choosing to send the proposal to a referendum at the local Perth/Fremantle elections in November. Due to considerable local opposition to such a plan, the club was effectively stillborn.
The Fremantle Trotting Cub (FTC) did however manage to organise a gymkhana on the Fremantle Oval on Saturday night 6 September 1919. Races were held for pacers, trotters, riders, hacks, bicycles, athletes, kids and adults – Tradesmen Trot, Midget Trot, Open Hcp Trot, Pony Trot, Consolation Trot and a one mile Bicycle race.
On 26 September 1919, Brennan and the WATA rejected a bid by the FTC to affiliate with them. Another gymkhana was held on a Saturday afternoon in June 1920 – Open Hcp Trot (two heats/final), State Hcp, Tradesmen Trot. A further attempt by the FTC was made in August 1923, to race on the polo grounds in East Fremantle. The club was frustrated in its attempts to gain approval for dates on which to race. In 1925, an approach was made to the State Parliament which eventually led to the FTC being registered by the WATA in January 1926.
Eventually in February 1928 a ceremony was held at which James Brennan erected Fremantle’s winning post. The FTC held its first meeting on Monday 23 July 1928, following postponement due to bad weather from Saturday 21 July. A seven race programme over varying distances of 11, 12, 13 and 16 furlongs was held. The official opening of Richmond Raceway’s (formerly Richmond Park) 710 yd track (700m) took place on Saturday 29 September 1928, a meeting at which the inaugural Fremantle Cup (£140) over 1½m was won by Bay Patch (nine race metropolitan winner in Adelaide).
The FTC raced once a month which allowed for maintenance of the track in Perth. Some disruption to racing occurred during WWII with the club racing at Gloucester Park.
Richmond Raceway trotting ground in East Fremantle was bounded by Marmion, Silas, George and Moss Streets. It ceased racing in 1991 (final meeting 14 April 1991; last race won by NZ bred Speedy Cheval, tr Ross Oliveri, dr Phil Coulson). The track was demolished in 1994 with most of the area now housing estates with Raceway Park in the centre of the area – road around Raceway Park follows the route of the old track. Also retained are parts of the entrance gates on the Marmion/Silas corner (with signage, Marjorie Green Park) and George/Moss corner with turnstiles, George Booth Park named after FTC President 1943 – 1958.
After racing ceased at Richmond Raceway, the Fremantle club conducted their meetings at Gloucester Park. In 2011 the Fremantle Harness Racing Club and Western Australian Trotting Association merged to form Gloucester Park Harness Racing.
Peter Craig
16 June 2021
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
