A Disreputable Sport
Before the Pony Turf Club (PTC) was founded, pony races were often mixed with races for larger horses and there widespread dishonesty. Because of its reputation, any horse and owner taking part in these so-called 'flapping' meetings was disqualified for life from ordinary racing.
Skulduggery & Corruption
Stories abound of the widespread skulduggery. On one famous occasion, the backers of the most fancied horse, seeing the 'wrong' horse was about to win, pushed over the judge's box, trapping him inside and sat on it until the race ended. The stewards then declared the race null and void, and backed the winner when it was re-run.
Major Alexander Forms the PTC
Major R G Alexander, practically single-handed, formed the PTC in 1923 to regulate the sport and encourage its development. In 1924, Lord Derby was persuaded to put the case for recognition of the PTC to the Jockey Club and this was granted in 1925.
Regulation
The PTC regulated the sport in the same way as the Jockey Club regulated flat racing. By 1929 Lord Derby had helped to give the pony racing world respectability and class. The Stewards of the PTC for that year were The Earl of Carnarvon, Major-General C L Gregory, Major F B Stapleton-Bretherton, Major R J Alexander, Sir William Bass Bart., and Viscount Lascelles K.G., the King's son-in-law.
The Small Thoroughbred
Racing under PTC Rules was similar to racing under English Jockey Club rules, except that the horse had to be of 15 hands or under. This did not mean that racehorses eligible for pony racing were not able to race under Jockey Club rules and a number of smaller racehorses started under both sets of rules.
Pony Courses In The Twenties & Thirties
Leonard Jayne traced the pony courses of the twenties from old form books. Racing in 1923 is recorded at Greenford, and throughout the West Country: at Wadebridge (Cornwall), Plymouth, Bideford, Bovey Tracey, Dawlish, Crediton, Lambert's Castle (Dorset), Glastonbury, Weymouth, Bude and Dartmoor. In 1926 racing was also recorded at Christchurch and Exeter.
However, without the arrival of W A Read, the building of Northolt Park, and the newly legalised Tote, pony racing would not have developed beyond a minor country sport.
Aside from Northolt Park, pony races were also run regularly throughout the Thirties at Wymering Park, (also known as Portsmouth Park). Other minor courses were at Southend, Chelmsford, Worthing, at Sketty Park near Swansea, and Lilleshall Hall, Shropshire.
Cheaper Racing
Pony racing was much cheaper for owners than racing under Jockey Club rules. An article in the 1933 Sporting Life compares the costs. The estimated annual racing expenses under PTC rules were £150 compared with £600 in training fees, entries, travelling expenses etc. to race a horse under Jockey Club rules. However, with a middle class family earning £500 to £600 a year in 1937, owning and racing was still limited to the rich. One owner, Miss E B Jayne of Batchworth House, Rickmansworth, reputedly lost £8,000 (about £250,000 today!) in a single year's racing in the late thirties.
The PTC Fades Away
After surviving fitfully at Hawthorn Hill, near Maidenhead Berkshire, and at Shirley Park, Birmingham, after the Second World War, the PTC finally folded in the early sixties.
Page top
|
