Albion Park

 

The Albion Park Harness Racing Club has celebrated over 40 years in racing history.

The Albion Park Trotting Club, as it was known then, commenced racing in September 1968 and it heralded a new era in the industry in more than one way.

Night trotting had now arrived in Brisbane and the venue was only a stone’s throw from Brisbane’s CBD located closely to some of the city’s more affluent suburbs.

The 800 m right-handed track was positioned inside of the unique sand galloping track and the Albion Park Trotting Club became a tenant of the Brisbane Amateur Turf Club which ran thoroughbred racing at Doomben and Albion Park.

This status quo remained until late 1981 when the galloping venue was closed due to declining popularity among thoroughbred participants.

At the same time, the Racing Minister Russ Hinze, a harness racing enthusiast, declared a new complex would be built and harness racing would “graduate” to a 1000m left-handed track with a brand spanking new grandstand.

As such, another milestone was established when the complex was unveiled to a huge crowd in October 1983 and Albion Park was dubbed “the speed pacing capital of Australia”.

The third most significant event to happen to Albion Park occurred in 2008 when the Russ Hinze Grandstand was closed due to safety reasons.

The Albion Park Harness Racing Club has hosted seven Inter Dominions: - 1972 (Welcome Advice); 1977 (Stanley Rio); 1986 (Village Kid); 1993 (Jack Morris); 2001 (Yulestar) and 2009 (Mr Feelgood).

The most recent Inter Dominion was conducted at the Gold Coast Parklands complex due to the prevailing grandstand problems.

History was also created in 2001 when the club conducted the trotters’ series for the first time with Take A Moment capturing the Grand Final.

The club’s founding chairman was Sir Clive Uhr (also the BATC chairman at the time) and others to serve in the prestigious post include Sir Lloyd Rees, Peter Burge, Kevin Seymour, Kevin Bengston, Bob Lette, Dave Knudsen and current chairman Warwick Stansfield.

A clear reflection of the club’s on-going stability and prosperous nature is that only four gentlemen served in the post of secretary-manager or chief executive which included Allan Frost, Milton Hulbert, Damian Raedler and Robert Pearson.

The Albion Park Harness Racing Club is currently going through a challenging period with the future of the complex uncertain but its proud history of the past four decades suggests it will rise to the occasion once again.