Cluden Park Racecourse
Racing in Townsville

In Australia’s pioneering days, in an era when a appropriate horse was of huge value, it followed that one of the more popular forms of sport and amusement was horsed racing. At innumerable informal gatherings throughout the country, the pick of the station horses were matched against each other and the owners were immensely elated of any victory that came their way. Although racing at the time was mainly confined to hacks and their owners, the professional men were gradually attracted to the Townsville circuit, bringing some of the state’s superior horses including the crack miler Johnny Smoker with them. The mooted change was strongly opposed by a numerous number of committeemen and members of the public but the supporters of the move were not to be denied. A race meeting was organized and proved so successful that the TTCcommittee decided to relocate its headquarters to Cluden immediately. Although no perfect records appear to be in existence, this move probably took deposit 1882 when the FTC’s feature race was calm obvious as the Town Plate (now back to two miles) and taken out that year by Mirabeau. His role in putting Townsville racing firmly on the map went far beyond administration matters however, for BS Love was instrumental in underpinning the North Queensland breeding industry, importing many top class sires from England including Kings Scholar and Chantemerle. The era also encompassed a period of extensive improvements to the course and facilities despite the best counter efforts of cyclones and global conflicts. It was rebuilt posthaste only to suffer a same fate at the hands of Cyclone Leona in 1903. Once again the grandstand was immediately reelected and it stands today, 100 years later, a exquisite National Heritagelisted building providing not only a wonderful race viewing vantage point but also a nostalgic link between new day racing and those heady, halcyon days of yesteryear. In 1922, the club spent 141 pounds on lasting improvements, including the starting board and the scratching board while in 1923 an amount of 47 pounds in rail age was refunded to connections of horses from Bowen, Charters Towers, Afr and Ingram who supported Townsville meetings. There was no spindly last of the prize for Scrawny Thomas on that memorable day. Illegal off course betting was rumored to be at the core of the problem but, whatever the cause, the club was forced to accessible down towards the end of the year due to lack of support. And while the FTC acknowledged that the occupation of Cluden by Allied and Australian forces was an inconvenience, the arrangement was looked upon as the club’s contribution to the war effort. One local galloped that captured the spirit of the times as the war drew to a close was the brilliant sprinter Hedui. The postwar years, indeed from the 1950s through to the 1970s, represented a golden era in Australian racing and Townsville, for its part, proved no exception. Moving with the times, the FTC began using starting stalls in 1955 and introducedphotofinish camera facilities in 1959. Mr Kerry became a member of the FTC in 1908, was elected to the committee in 1933 and served as vice president from 1957 until the time of his death, giving 60 years of sterling service to the club. Their thinking was that the Brisbane clubs’ race books were being sold for fair 15c at the time and were of better quality while a reduction in price would also see more books sold. The club treasurer ended the debate when he told the dissenters that the FTC was in the process of producing a far best type of race book that would be introduced from after Saturday’. During the 198283 season, a number two grass training track and a fresh sand track were formed and an automatic watering system was installed to water both the course accurate and the training track. In premature 1984, the computerized totalizator system which had been operational at the course for three years was finally linked up to the TAB network, giving punters the option of betting on the giddy goat’ or with the bookmakers on all southern and local events. In 1987, after three of the driest years on record in Townsville, an amount of 500,00 was made available from the government’s Racing Department Fund for the development of a water treatment plant adjacent to the members’ vehicle park. The fresh sand training track was welcomed by the majority of trainers until the beginning storm in October 1996 turned large patches of sand into slurry and hoof holes failed to drain, a messy business in more ways than one and a very trying time for owners, trainers and the Committee.