3 minute read

Allan “Pudd” MacDonald recalls it as if it was yesterday.

As a youngster, MacDonald would scale the back fence and marvel at the deeds of the local champ Columbus around the Mildura track.

"We lived about 300 yards from the track and over the fence I would go and watch Columbus come off 120 yards and round them up," MacDonald said.

The Mildura Harness Racing Club president has been doing his share of reminiscing as the club prepares to celebrate 100 years of racing on Friday.

The roots of the sport run deep in the Hub of the Sunraysia.

"All the races are named in honour of families who have had a 60 to 70-year connection with the Mildura Harness Racing Club," he said.

One of the races (Tom Mccarthy-Miss Estelle Pace) is named in recognition of the horse and driver who won the first race at the club's inaugural race meeting on November 15, 1924.

"Karen Francis, who is on our committee, is a member of one of those families and she has done a lot of work in sourcing the club's history," he said.

The on-track highlights during MacDonald's lifetime are plentiful.

"Sokyola's three Mildura Cup wins stand out as does the crowd favorite Bernie Winkle, who holds the record for the most number of wins at the track (42)," he said.

MacDonald rates the multiple Grand Circuit winner Quite Famous as the best horse bred in Mildura.

"I remember when Jimmy O'Sullivan came up to drive him when one of his clients had offered $35,000 for him as a three-year-old, which was a lot of money in those days," he said.

"Jimmy sooled him out of the mobile, never let up and won by 40 metres. This led Jimmy to say 'I think I've got a cheapie'."

Quite Famous finished his stellar career with almost $550,000 in stake earnings from 45 wins.

"He was bred by the Charles family, who won a mare named Shoosla in a raffle and sent her to Knowing Fame. The result was Quite Famous," MacDonald said.

Each winning trainer at Friday's meeting will receive a $100 voucher to spend at the bistro while successful drivers will be sent home with a bottle of Zilzie wine.

MacDonald said harness racing's economic legacy in the Sunraysia was significant.

"We give out around $70,000 in prizemoney each meeting and we race 46 times during the year with a healthy percentage of those wins going to local stables," he said.

"Add to that the money spent in the region by visitors attending harness racing, including the Cup carnival."