From humble beginnings, which started with three men and a dream, the Tuncurry Forster Jockey Club is set to hold its first official TAB meeting later this month.
On August 29, the club is set to have its first official meeting under ‘TAB 2′ acceptance, as opposed to the regular picnic races that have taken place.
It’s been a long time coming for the club which Norm Roberts, John Darcy and Don Creighton formed in 1980, with Les Dunk and Rusty Begg joining the board in 1984.
In 1985 Roberts found land suitable for the future club, and a development application was submitted for 34 blocks which went for sale from around $25,000 to $35,000.
The men spent the next 15 years volunteering around 50 hours a week to help build the racecourse. They purchased a small dredge and organised the selling of sand so that the racecourse could continue to be built.
In 2001 there was the election of a new committee and a development application was submitted to the Great Lakes Council. These plans outlined the infrastructure for the building of the jockeys’ change rooms, stewards’ towers, viewing rooms and a betting ring.
Following the sale of the sand dredge, the committee had to look at a different source of income and the current committee, elected in early 2006, provided an income through the driving range which is also run by club volunteers.
The club also rents out the stables, with various trainers using the track.
One of the features of this beautiful track is a hill that overlooks the racecourse. I had the pleasure of visiting the racecourse in 2012 and it was one of the most enjoyable experiences I have had on track.
There would always be the doubters who said that the dream would never be realised, and as you can see it’s been quite a long time waiting for acceptance.
In fact even the picnic races haven’t been around for long, with the club granted a license on October 1, 2008, by the Minister for Racing, Kevin Greene, giving the Tuncurry Forster club an official license to start racing on January 17, 2009.
The club holds three races per year, but there are hopes that with further improvement there will be more.
Following the inaugural TAB meeting there will be meetings held on September 12 (non-TAB), as well as January 16 and February 20, 2016.
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