Between the hustle of Bayswater and Dorset roads sits a trots oasis that wants to draw its surrounding community in. Croydon Light Harness Club will fling open its gates on April 15, when president Paul Stokes and secretary David Collins will invite the public to take in races and demonstrations at the Eastfield Park training facility, which stables harness racing horses.
“We are hoping to engage the local community and harness racing people as well and get more participation at the club,” Mr Collins said.
“We are hoping to grow and get a more social aspect to the club and be more interactive within our community.”
In addition to its trots track the complex hosts 28 stables of which 18 are permanently occupied by 14 trainers.
“It allows people who are more or less landlocked in Melbourne to have an interest in harness racing,” Mr Collins said.
“It’s a good little facility to support hobby trainers who don’t have the capital to set up their own training complex.”
The popular nearby Tarralla Creek Trial and various Eastfield Park walkways create a great interaction between the club and the community.
“We’ve got spectators visiting all the time. There are always people coming by to watch the horses work,” he said.
“The trainers are generous and let the public have a hat and they will often give a tour of the facilities. Some people even bring carrots down to feed the horses. It brings a bit of a rural atmosphere to the place.”
That will all be on display at the club’s April 15 open day, when from 9am-noon it will present demonstrations on horse massage, shoeing and harnessing, and then after a barbecue lunch the track will host exhibition and pony trot races.
The day is held in conjunction with the Mountain District Horse and Pony Club, the oldest horse and pony club in Victoria, and continues a long tradition on the land, once Cliff Thomas’ farm from which he trained harness horses.
Trainers wishing to support the day by involving their horses in exhibition races can call Mr Collins on 0403 924 240.
Trots Media – Michael Howard