Thursday, February 20, 2025

Allora Jockey Club posters

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History has been discovered in the walls of the old Clifton Courier Building.

With the move into new premises from the old Clifton Courier building staff unearthed historic articles such as these large Allora Jockey Club posters. Glued to the wall and partly covered by a timber beam, these two posters (glued back to back) are of great interest to Allora. Other items found were Allora Jockey Club Race Books from 1935.

Excerpt from The Allora Advertiser 10/11/2016 

“The Allora Jockey Club was formed at a meeting held in Allora’s Princess of Wales Hotel on October 6th, 1888. Horse racing was held continuously at Allora after that date including “Patriotic Meetings” during WWI. Racing may have been suspended in Allora during the Second World War, the first reference to a race meeting after the war was a New Year’s Meeting held on the 2nd January 1949.

The first “Allora Cup” appears to have occurred at a meeting held on October 8th, 1949 when the cup was run for overall prize money of £45 and a cup valued at £10/10. The race club secretary in 1949 and for the next eleven years at least, was the Allora railway station master, Jack Hilton. The winner of the inaugural Allora Cup was ‘Nobleman’ owned by Tom Cowley, trained by Dick Byrne and ridden by Joe Murphy.

Local racing historian Shirley Murray recently reminisced that the cup meeting was a huge event in Allora with a half-day holiday granted. Top race caller, Vince Curry, would call the races from the back of a utility backed up to the course fence. From 1956 the Allora Cup was run on Melbourne Cup Day, and the 1956 winner was “Bubbatonga” owned by Bob Armstrong. The final Allora Cup meeting appears to have been run on the 3rd November 1959.”

Allora Advertiser 2 October 2024

This article appeared in the Allora Advertiser, 2 October 2024.

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For all the news from the Allora Advertiser, go to https://www.our-news.com.au/allora-advertiser