Correct and why didn't they? I should have said 1969 or 1970 but then you'd pull me up on the size of the fields and once again miss the point.
I was there at the Hororata Domain track in 1971 to see Arapaho win the Hororata Cup beating another good horse in Robalan who was off 24 yards. A 16 horse field. The fields that day were huge - 17, 18, 14, 19, 16, 18, 16, 9, 16. 143 in total! The TAB app wouldn't cope and you'd need a 95 inch TV just to see the win odds!
The last race was in 1980 with 4,000 people oncourse and a turnover in excess of $600k. Which takes us back to the Topic. Has does that turnover compare with Addington today?
Hororata –
Whilst not strictly classified as Mid Canterbury, Hororata (situated on the north western edge of Canterbury plains), has been included in Mid Canterbury section as they now hold their annual meeting at Methven’s Mt Harding track.
The club formed on 11 September 1951, held matinee meetings from 26 March 1952 on Hororata Domain (1 mile grass, 1½f straight), non-tote meetings from 8 January 1955 until 6 October 1956 before their inaugural totalisator meeting on 26 April 1958.
Prior to this the Hororata RC (formed 1875, trotting races since 1885) programmed trotting events at the Domain from 9 January 1891 until 8 December 1956 (meetings Riccarton 24 March 1923; 16 December 1933; 14 December 1946 and Waihora Domain. Motukarara 15 December 1945). The Racing Club invited the Trotting Club to assume a half share in its assets with no interest payable for the first three years. The Racing Club is now a ward of the Canterbury JC and races at Riccarton. The Trotting Club continued to race at Hororata Domain until forced to close and move elsewhere with its final meeting 10 March 1984.
In 1985, the Hororata TC commenced racing on the all-weather track at Ashburton until its annual meeting of 4 March 2001; moved to Addington 1 March 2002 – 22 February 2013 and since the annual meeting of 22 February 2014; has returned to its roots of grass track racing on the Mt Harding course at Methven.