Sport
21 December, 2023
Peter Pascoe recounts 50 years of incredible harness racing anecdotes
There are just 24 people listed as life members at the Maryborough Harness Racing Club (MHRC). Peter Pascoe is one of them, and after 50 years of standing on the committee at the MHRC, his health has forced him to stand down. Not that he wanted to...
There are just 24 people listed as life members at the Maryborough Harness Racing Club (MHRC).
Peter Pascoe is one of them, and after 50 years of standing on the committee at the MHRC, his health has forced him to stand down.
Not that he wanted to, in any case.
“It means everything to me. It’s been my life for 50 years, and I am finding it very hard to let go. I’ve loved every minute of it, and I have known every brick in the place,” he said.
It didn’t take very long for Pascoe to start his time on the committee, following the end of his football playing days at Maryborough.
“I love my sport. I played a lot of football, and I had just finished playing with Maryborough, and I had a knock on the door from the Maryborough Harness Racing Club,” he said.
“They asked if I was interested in standing on the committee, and I said I had to think it over. But I didn’t take that long — that was 50 years ago, and away I went.”
In that time, Pascoe says the biggest change has been the gradual leap into a powerhouse in harness racing circles from a volunteer-run organisation, thanks to the likes of former president Leo Crameri, who Pascoe rates incredibly highly.
“When I started here, we had a sixty-foot army hut for a dining room, an old-school house we shifted in for the secretary’s office and we had a betting ring, that was about it,” he said.
“We had a dynamic in those days, in that we only had 12 meetings, and we had part-time secretaries.
“It’s wonderful that we’ve moved up to having 31 meetings a year, and developed some full-time secretaries which changed the scene altogether.
“Back in the day, it was all part-time, everyone volunteered. We had a dynamic president in Leo Crameri back in the day, but so much has changed. But it was wonderful seeing the club go from strength to strength, I haven’t regretted one thing about joining it.
“I judged for 10 years, was vice-president for about 10 or 12 years, acting president for two years, and then I was president of the owners and trainers’ for about 10 to 12 years. I loved all that.”
Naturally, then, Pascoe has an incredible amount of anecdotes he could tell about his time within the MHRC.
The biggest, one could argue, is how the Peter Pascoe Pie Shop came about — a celebrated part of Maryborough’s trials, which is something Pascoe looks back on with a sense of pride.
“Our trials are something that I’m very proud of. I get up at 6 am every Sunday morning for these trials, and I believe they are the best in the state,” he said.
“They came from everywhere — Ballarat, Bendigo, Kyneton. Places like Ballarat might have four or five trials and then they call them off, but we’ve never had that problem here in Maryborough. There’s a dedicated few that come every Sunday and it runs very smoothly.
“The pie shop was a numbers room. But I had in my mind when I built the numbers room to make it a dual-purpose facility. I didn’t tell the harness racing board I was going to make it a pie shop.
“I had in mind to build a canteen, as I knew people would need something to eat on a Sunday morning. The last thing you would think of is pies, but they love them. They’re appetites at their best, pies and pasties, and I’ve sold five or six dozen on a Sunday morning.
“That was good income for the club, and we had a license to sell beer too for people to sit around and have a drink.”
Some of his highlights are the impact the MHRC has made on the community as a club that stepped up to help others in their time of need.
Pascoe says when drought hit, the club were quick to help out organisations such as the Highland Society and the Talbot Bowling Club to help keep their lawn greens alive.
“When there were the droughts, the Highland Society were going to lose their greens, and we used lots and lots of water to keep the track moist when we were racing,” he said.
“The Highland Society was in terrible trouble and so was the Talbot Bowling Club — they were going to lose their greens.
“So, we supplied them with water, continually, and the Highland Society appreciated it so much, they made us automatic affiliated members in appreciation for what we did for them.”
Another story is when Maryborough secured the backing of Ansett Australia to sponsor their Cup.
“Leo said to me one afternoon, we have to get this Cup going. He said he had an uncle who was the chairman of Ansett,” Pascoe said.
“He said he hadn’t seen him for years, and then asked to give him a ring. I rung him and said ‘little humble Maryborough would like to have Ansett sponsor our cup.’ They were the biggest airline in the country at the time.
“The chairman said he couldn’t do too much, but he would put it to the board that looks after our advertising, and he must have given us a good recommendation.
“He then said he had everything for us, aeroplanes, helicopters and goodness knows what. I’d never had so much fun.
“That was the story of how we got the Ansett Cup.”
Another story Pascoe takes pride in is how the club proved the doubters wrong when it came to how they would run the Redwood carnival.
“I’m proud to be part of the Redwood carnival. When we approached the board about having square-gaiting, they told us we’d never have enough horses to run such a meeting,” he said.
“But we thought we could do it. Not only did we do it, but they were elated. We ran two meetings of square-gaiters on the Friday. It was our own idea to take that on.”
Pascoe believes the biggest secret of success Maryborough has is how uniquely it operates compared to other clubs around the state. It’s something that Pascoe reflects on with plenty of pride when he looks back on his time at the club, knowing they had the full support of the town behind it.
“I think Maryborough’s success is that the town gets behind it, in terms of volunteers and the work that’s been done,” he said.
“When we built this track — it’s a bit hard to explain and I haven’t told too many people — but we couldn’t build the stand to match the finishing line.
“When the horses go past, people are watching and they never know who wins. It makes everyone excited because you see them all standing and they don’t know who wins until the numbers go up.
“I thought we would have some trouble with this, but we never got a complaint about it. It makes it a lot better and more exciting that no one knows who has won until the last minute.
“When the board members come here, they sit with the crowd and they love it. It’s more exciting for them than to be stuck in a little room full of people. It makes us different, and I’m proud of that. We do it our way.”
And, to put it succinctly, Pascoe would love to see the younger generation continue on the good work that those before him had put incredible work into.
“It’s a wonderful sport. My family go right back — that’s how I got involved. They always raced horses and dogs. I always used to go to the dog racing and the gallops as a kid,” he said.
“I look back at the people I’ve met and it brings tears to my eyes. There’s many that have put in a lot of work, and loved the place.”