CHARLESTON
the Nine-mile was sometimes termed, on 13th and 14th January, 1869. The principal event on the first day was a challenge race, for £15 aside, between a horse named Sulky, owned by C. Lyons, and a horse Charos, owned by S. J. Loring, of Tauranga Bay and Totara; otherwise the stakes for the meeting were obtained by subscription, a canvass of the town resulting in the collection of £39/18/-. The Westport Times records a large attendance from Westport and Charleston, that Hall’s Garden was extensively decorated, providing a pleasant, shady retreat between races, the day being extremely hot, and that the Casino band provided pleasing music.
Another race-meeting, or rather a combined race-and-sports meeting, was held in April of the same year to celebrate the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh to the Coast. The Duke, in H.M.S. Galatea, arrived at Nelson on 19th April, and left on 21st April, 1869. In Charleston a public holiday was declared, and the race-meeting was held upon the School Reserve in Darkie’s Terrace Road, the necessary nearby hotel (probably the Junction Hotel kept by Margaret Hannah and John McEwen) being the house later acquired by Isaac Hardley and converted by him into a workshop and residence. A procession of over 800 persons marched from Constant Bay to the flat, preceded by marshals on horseback, viz., Messrs. Thos. Kelly, Thos. Dwan, J. Hennelly, and Captain Beveridge. In the evening a barbecue was staged in the Camp grounds; a bullock “of over 700 pounds in weight” being roasted above a huge fire, slices therefrom handed around with bread and flagons of beer, and the remainder sold as joints.
A comparatively important meeting was held on the Nine-mile Beach during the Christmas period of 1871. The stakes being high for those days, horses came from many parts, including two from Redwood’s stable at Nelson, and one from Auckland, while visitors attended from all portions of the Coast. To the delight of Charlestonians, a local horse owned by Messrs. Maloney and McKittrick won the principal event. The officials were: Judge, Charles Broad; Secretary, H. Jones; Starter, J. Fenton; Clerk of Course, P. Scanlon; Stewards, H.
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