Blayney celebrates 50th anniversary

7 May 2023

BLAYNEY Harness Racing Club today celebrates its 50th anniversary of racing at the picturesque Showground Paceway.

Established in 1973, it is quite astonishing that the Blayney Club has had just one President, Max ‘Butch’ Kingham throughout the five decades - which must surely be some sort of record in the sport.

As his nickname suggests, Max was the local butcher and has spent countless hours ensuring harness racing has remained strong in the central west town.

Although these days Butch may not be as active as he once was, he continues to work alongside his brother John, who is the secretary, and good friend Trevor Jones, who manages the Blayney club’s finances.

With recent upgrades to the Blayney track and improvements to infrastructure at the venue, the club was allocated an additional two race meetings and now races four times a year.

Speaking on Harness Racing New South Wales’ Sprint Lane podcast this week, John Kingham said today’s meeting would be a special event to celebrate Blayney’s Golden Anniversary.

“It will be a big day out at the track this afternoon,” he said.

“We have planned plenty for the patrons both on and off the track to make it the best day possible.

“It is only a small committee of six, but we all get there and have a go and I believe we put on a good show.

“Personally, I am looking forward to the feature race today, the Kriden Farms Pace.

“It carries $20,000 in prizemoney and has attracted a nice field of open-class pacers.”

The favoured runner in this afternoon’s feature is the Amanda Turnbull-trained Old Luke, who is backing up from an eye-catching run in the Forbes Diggers Cup on Anzac Day at Eugowra when he ran a close third to Mymatepog.

Amanda has two runners in the race and Old Luke will be partnered by his regular driver Isobel Ross, who has an impressive strike rate of five wins aboard the gelding.

“He has been a very special horse to me,” said Ross.

“I drove him to win two races when he first came over from New Zealand and later won with him at metropolitan level, which was pretty awesome.

“I know he has the task ahead from his barrier 10 draw today but if the breaks go our way, he should be right in the finish.”