Into History. Pacific Line and JP van der Merwe carve their niche in SA turf history (Coastal Photos)
Sixty three years of history, drama, thrills and spills, and colourful legends ended rather abruptly last Friday when the final chapter of Arlington Racecourse in Port Elizabeth was written.
The track joins the casualty list of Gosforth Park, Newmarket, Bloemfontein and Milnerton as racecourses that have closed in the modern era, where the sport is run as a business and by Accountants.
Thoroughbred horseracing took place in PE prior to 1850, but officially started in 1857, when the Port Elizabeth Turf Club was formed.
In order to establish set rules for racing, the Jockey Club of South Africa was also founded in the region in 1882
Arlington itself, previously St Andrews Racing Club, was opened on Saturday 23 December 1950, by the then Mayor of PE, Mr J.C.K. ‘Boet’ Erasmus.
In October 2007, a new stabling complex was completed at Fairview and all the trainers based at Arlington moved across.
Apart from the new stabling complex, Fairview boasts a number of training tracks and facilities, and is also Phumelela’s regional head office.
A new Polytrack was opened at Fairview two months ago.
The disposal and closure of Arlington has been on the cards for some time, and Phumelela originally proposed that the Nelson Mandela Metro buy the race-course and use the land for the development of affordable housing.
With the improvements to Fairview and a few tough years, Arlington eventually became superfluous to needs.
Phumelela has consistently maintained that the only way to ensure the viability of horseracing following the introduction of the national lottery and the legalisation of casinos and limited payout machines, was to invest in and upgrade infrastructure.
The Last. Arwa and Warren Kennedy are the last combination to cross the Arlington winning line (Coastal Photos)
The overall plan also meant rationalising the available infrastructure.
Trainer Dorrie Sham and jockey JP van der Merwe, with their owner John Finlayson, made history by winning the last race on Friday, a rather modest MR 66 Handicap of R55 000 run over 1400m.
Van der Merwe rode a great race to get the Way West filly Pacific Line up in the final stages.
Trainer Mitch Wiese and jockey Warren Kennedy will also feel a part of the final chapter of Arlington’s history and will have a photograph for their pubs at home..
Kennedy rode the Wiese trained Windrush filly Arwa, who finished last of the sixteen runners and 23,50 lengths behind in the final race.
Arwa thus took her place in history as the last ever horse to officially pass the Arlington winning post.
