Night Trotting - Harold Park (NSW HRC)

Harold Park Function Centre | Miracle Mile | Menangle Markets

NIGHT TROTTING

Strikes, building restrictions and excessive rain combined to continually delay the opening of night trotting at Harold Park. But Sydney's first night trotting meeting was eventually held on Saturday, October 1, 1949.

The long delayed opening was eagerly awaited by all connected with the sport throughout Australia, Sydney in particular.

The opening meeting proved very successful for the NSW Trotting Club with the crowd estimated at 15,500. Night trotting took off from that opening night, and a lot was still to come.

It is perhaps timely to recall one of the track's proudest moments in Inter-Dominion competition, which was the 1960 Series.

It was Harold Park's third Inter Dominion series and the attendance records set then, have not been threatened in Australia or New Zealand since, nor are they ever likely to be.

The total crowd for the four nights was 126,570, an average of 31,642. But it was the mammoth attendance of 50,346 on Grand Final night that set the scene for the sensations that were to follow.

Harold Park practically burst to the seams as the biggest crowd to attend a trotting meeting in the Southern Hemisphere, fought and struggled for vantage points to watch the race.

However, Harold Park relived some of those magic memories in 2002, with the Inter Dominion Grand Final night yet again attracting one of the biggest crowds for many years to the Glebe track.

The biggest crowd to attend an Inter Dominion Grand Final night in almost a decade, gave the "Bathurst Bullet", Smooth Satin, a standing ovation in his victory over the Victorian, Shakamaker, in the Pacer's Grand Final.

Over the years since 1949, night trotting has entertained fans with generations of champions.

To the present day, night trotting at Harold Park continues to be a big success with new champions emerging who continue to entertain the new generations of harness racing supporters Australia-wide.