‘THE POINT’ BALLINA CUP: Thursday, September 10 2009

ONE of the most popular Country Cups in New South Wales will be run at Ballina on Thursday, September 10 and will this year be sponsored for the first time by The Point Restaurant and Bar.

“The club has entered into a 12-month sponsorship arrangement with ‘the Point’ and we are looking forward to a longer term arrangement,” Ballina Jockey Club chief executive officer, Sarah Wills, said.

“This marks the first time for some years that Carlton has not sponsored our Cup and we are very thankful for their past involvement and support. It is not the end of our relationship with Carlton and Fosters Brewing Group as they will continue to hold pouring rights and will continue to support the club in other areas.”

Officials are confident of eclipsing the success of last year’s Cup, which was won in an upset by the Les-Kelly trained Bann Ruby from Montana Hilton and Burgundy Prince.

This will be the first Cup to be run since Ms Wills took over as chief executive last December. She brings to the club a lifetime of experience in the racing and breeding industries.

After commencing work with her father, who is a trainer in New Zealand, Ms Wills travelled the world for six years working with horses in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and Australia where she was stud secretary at Coolmore for 11 years.

Ballina races 17 times a year with its major draw-card the Cup meeting each September attracting strong fields and big crowds. Other feature race days include: the Byron Bay Cup, Boxing Day and the Iris Nielsen/Coolmore Ladies Invitation Day, which attracts some of the best lady riders in the land.

The Iris Nielsen Invitation Race was held for the second time in January with lady jockeys from Queensland and New South Wales honoring the determination of a pioneer in their field. This year’s race was won by the Casino-trained Winston, ridden by Tasha Chambers from the Gold Coast.

The day proved to be a huge success with a record number of nominations resulting in 200 acceptances and, even after a 10-race card was programmed with full fields in each, over 50 horses had to be balloted out. The club plans to make this a premium event on its calendar.

The BJC is a major regional training centre with up to 185 horses using its facilities on a regular basis. These horses are either housed in the club's own stables or in privately owned complexes within the racecourse precinct. It is estimated that up to a further 400 thoroughbreds are either in pre training or spelling facilities in the surrounding area.

Some nice horses have raced at Ballina over the years with the longest standing track record held by the outstanding sprinter, Tiny’s Finito. He created the 1400m track record in 1989 carrying the steadier of 58kg following wins at Eagle Farm (twice) and Moree.

Tiny’s Finito won 40 races from 83 starts and earnt almost $800,000 in stakes for the Doolan family of Glen Innes. His feature wins included a Grafton Ramornie, Toowoomba Weetwood, Lightning Handicap at Eagle Farm, BTC Sprint and Bribie Handicap.

Ballina is 750km north of Sydney and 200km south of Brisbane on the Pacific Highway. The township was established on the northern shore of the Richmond River (near Cape Byron, Australia's most easterly point) in the 1840s and boasts some of the most beautiful surfing beaches and picturesque headlands on the east coast of Australia.

The Richmond River and its estuaries abound with marine wildlife – a favorite spot for fishermen and water sports enthusiasts. Ballina is close to Byron Bay and only an hour’s drive south of the Gold Coast. It has a population of over 10,000.

THE CLUB HISTORY TRACES BACK MORE THAN A CENTURY

THE Ballina racetrack is located two kilometers from the town centre. The club has a history dating back 110 years. The course, set amongst attractive gardens, has modern facilities, offering a choice of three air-conditioned reception areas.

The original 85-acre site of the racecourse was notified in the New South Wales Government Gazette of November 24, 1888, with additional land added a year later. From this time until the first recorded minutes of the Ballina Turf Club Committee on October 27, 1900, little is known about the use of the land.

The racecourse was built in a very low lying area using sand excavated when the canal was dug in the 1890’s. All the filling was done with horse and drays carrying one yard of fill at a time. The original track was built on a base of oyster shells, left by the Aborigines, which had built up over many years along the banks of North Creek.

Buildings were constructed on the northern side of the track because it was the only high land in the area. These consisted of a wooden grandstand, publican’s booth, stables for about 20 horses and a large judge’s box.

In the early thirties it was decided to move the buildings to the southern side of the course to avoid the need to cross the course proper in two places, which had resulted in the track being badly cut up by wheeled vehicles. To accomplish this, an acre of mangrove swamp had to be filled in using horses and drays and shoveling by hand.

The Club had to borrow a considerable amount of money to fund this work and it was only shortly after it was completed that the depression of the 30’s came and racing went into the doldrums. Fortune, however, seemed to shine on the Club as set out in the Publication: ‘A History of the Ballina Racecourse 100 Years 1895-1995’ by C.J. Skimmings, who wrote:

“There seemed no way out of the financial mess until the buildings, which were well insured, caught fire and were totally destroyed. The insurance money was sufficient to clear the debt at the bank.”

The first race meeting was held on Boxing Day of December 1900 with a six-event program. There were three races over six furlongs, two over a mile and one over a mile and a quarter.

In these early days it appears as if a number of clubs, Ballina Turf Club, Ballina and War Memorial Race Club, Ballina Diggers Race Club, and Ballina Jockey Club all used the Ballina racecourse.

Historically, Boxing Day has been an important day for the Club as it was the date of the first meetings and one of the few dates to be used consistently for racing down the years.

The most important event was the Ballina Cup and this was first run on Boxing Day 1914. The winner was a horse called Poor Tom.  There is no record of a Cup in 1915, presumably because of the War, but it was run again in 1916, 1917 and 1918. The prize money in 1917 was a dizzy $190.

In January 1945, the Club resolved to affiliate with the Northern Rivers Racing Association and the Ballina Racecourse continued to be used by this Club until 1950. In September of that year a resolution was passed that a primary club would be formed and this led to the establishment in November of 1950 of the Ballina Jockey Club as a Primary Race Club affiliated with the Australian Jockey Club.

At the first meeting amenities were provided from a temporary shelter consisting of tarpaulins supported by tea-tree paper-bark poles and patrons, even at this early stage of the club’s development, required improvements to be made.

Following the establishment of the BJC the track was upgraded and a wooden running rail erected along with a new winning post. An administration block comprising the totalizator, a manually operated totalizator board, stewards’ room, jockeys’ room, and caretaker’s living quarters followed.

A timber grandstand was constructed on the site of the current public grandstand and contained tea rooms for patrons. At the end of the day sandwiches would be purchased by the club and taken to the administration building where owners and trainers would be entertained. This custom continues today after the completion of every race.

Behind the tea room was a wooden publican’s bar and adjacent to it an oyster bar with wooden benches where people sat at a bar table. The oyster bar became famous and was a gourmet delight for patrons.

The track had a wonderful wet weather reputation. Although 12 inches of rain fell on one New Year’s Eve, it held up for racing the following day.

On course stable accommodation has always been a priority. Even during the early days of the new club it was always an important consideration to provide stables that could be rented by trainers using the track. As a result of this foresight Ballina has become one of the biggest bases in the Northern Rivers Racing Association for horses stabled at or near a racecourse.

During the past 30 years most of these structures have been demolished to make way for the amenities that exist today. The track has been rebuilt and a grass training track and a sand track established.

A new grandstand, members’ area, more stables and day stalls have been built and the club has plans to improve existing facilities and continue to expand for the benefit of its members and all stakeholders.

THE PHOTOGRAPHS USED IN THIS ARTICLE WERE KINDLY SUPPLIED BY THE BALLINA JOCKEY CLUB