Ellerslie Racecourse

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ellerslie Racecourse is the main racecourse in Ellerslie, Auckland, New Zealand for thoroughbred racehorses. It is an undulating, grass circuit of approximately 1900m.

[edit] History

The first race meeting was held at Ellerslie on the 25th of May 1874. At this time the racecourse was a considerable distance outside the city and it took Aucklanders several hours to get to the course by carriage. Now, the course is well within the city and only a matter of minutes away from the CBD.

Ellerslie Racecourse was the location of the first mechanical totalisator, designed by George Julius and installed in 1913.

From fairly modest beginnings, compared to the thriving Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch, Ellersle developed into one of the finest racecourses in the country and, arguably, the world.

Ellerslie's turf has been graced by most of New Zealand's champion racehorses. Kindergarten set astonishing weight-carrying and race time records in the Easter Handicap and Auckland Cup, and the likes of Balmerino, Bonecrusher, Uncle Remus, Japan Cup winner Horlicks, Il Tempo, Mr Tiz and countless other all-time greats have achieved Group One glory at Ellerslie.

It is now home to two of New Zealand's best racing carnivals - the Summer Carnival and Auckland Cup Week. The Summer Carnival is run in the Christmas-New Year period and features an abundance of stakes races on what are traditional race-going days for Aucklanders. Boxing Day and New Year's Day used to be home to the New Zealand Derby and Auckland Cup respectively, but they now reside in the new Auckland Cup Week in March, which took place for the first time with great success in 2006.

[edit] Steeplechasing

Although Ellerslie's best races take place over summer, it has a truly spectacular steeplechase course which is a serious rival to any other in the world, featuring the world-famous Ellerslie hill on the back straight which towers over the course. The course's most famous steeplechase, the Great Northern Steeplechase, requires the horses to climb this hill 3 times in the gruelling 6400m event. Although it is one of the toughest steeplechases in the world, the jumps are all fair and reasonable which provides a wonderful spectacle of jumping.

In 2001 the race produced the astonishing result of a dead-heat for first - after more than seven minutes even the examination of the photo finish with a magnifying glass failed to split Smart Hunter and Sir Avion.

Ken Browne, who died in 2006, is one of the all-time legends of Ellerslie racecourse for his feats in jumps racing and particularly steeplechases on the course. He owned, trained and rode a considerable number of winners of the Great Northern, and he is honoured by having the jump at the foot of the famous hill named after him, as well as the Ken Browne Hurdle race run in June.

[edit] Races

The following is a list of Group races which are run at Ellerslie Racecourse.

Grp	Race Name	Age	Sex	Weight	Distance	Date
1	Zabeel Classic	Open	Open	wfa	2000	December
1	Railway Handicap	Open	Open	hcp	1200	January
1	New Zealand Derby	3YO	Open	sw	2400	March
1	Auckland Cup	Open	Open	hcp	3200	March
1	Diamond Stakes	2YO	Open	sw	1200	March
1	New Zealand Stakes	Open	Open	wfa	2000	March
1	Easter Handicap	Open	Open	hcp	1600	April
2	Counties Cup	Open	Open	hcp	2100	November
2	Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders' Stakes	Open	F&M	wfa	1400	November
2	Eight Carat Classic	3YO	Fillies	sw	1600	December
2	Great Northern Guineas	3YO	Open	sw	2000	December
2	Royal Stakes	3YO	Fillies	sw	2000	January
2	City of Auckland Cup	Open	Open	hcp	2400	January
2	Rich Hill Mile	Open	Open	hcp	1600	January
2	Championship Stakes	3YO	Open	sw	2100	February
3	Lindauer Stakes	Open	Open	wfa	2000	November
3	Great Northern Challenge Stakes	Open	Open	wfa	1600	November
3	Eclipse Stakes	2YO	Open	sw	1200	January
3	Darley Plate	Open	Open	wfa	1200	March