Corowa’s most famous racehorse, Front Page, prepares to run at home.
The grand old grandstand, set among rolling grass surrounds and 100-year-old gum trees is the perfect setting for a country racetrack.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
For 150 years, Corowa Race Club has been the home for top-class, thoroughbred horse racing and is considered among the best tracks in country New South Wales.
Over the years the club has been associated with a number of well-known horses.
Leica Falcon, trained by the late Richard Freyer, ran fourth in the 2005 Melbourne Cup behind Makybe Diva and won almost half a million dollars in prizemoney.
Leica Falcon ran fourth in the 2005 Melbourne Cup.
But Corowa’s most famous racehorse was undoubtedly, Front Page, trained by now retired Geoff Duyrea and two-time winner of the Kosciuszko, the world’s richest race for country trained horses.
Corowa Race Club was established in 1875 after the Corowa Wahgunyah Jockey Club, on the Victorian side of the river, was disbanded.
The first race was held in November that year, and the club now holds seven meetings each year, including the Corowa Cup in March and the Melbourne Cup Eve meeting on the first Monday in November.
On November 1, 1960, Corowa Race Club first hosted “the race no one else wanted”, on Melbourne Cup Day.
For 57 years, the club celebrated the race that stops a nation with a meet of its own, then in 2017, the meet was moved to Melbourne Cup Eve and still includes the glamorous Fashions on the Field.
Corowa trainer, Geoff Duyrea, retired in 2023 after a long and successful career as a jockey and trainer. Pictured at 17 with 1969 Miss World, Penny Plummer and his most famous horse, Front Page.
Corowa Race Club is one of the leading race clubs in the Southern District Racing Association area.
Over the years, it has held up to 11 meetings a year, with one a TAB meeting, the rest being community meetings with much smaller prizemoney on offer.
Although there are less meetings today, all are TAB meetings with greater prizemoney.
The club, situated on the corner of Adams and Cotton Street in Corowa, offers a high standard of racing on an all-weather track with excellent dining and bar facilities, TAB and an undercover bookmaker ring.
Trainer Geoff Duryea with Corowa Race Club president Brian Scolyer with the iconic club grandstand in the background in 2020. Photo by Les_Garbutt
All this adds up to great racing, country hospitality and an exciting atmosphere for everyone.
If individuals, or businesses would like to support the club, membership forms and sponsors packages are available for download from the website, www.corowaraceclub.com.au , or by contacting the secretary at secretary@corowaraceclub.com.au or on 0459 267 692.
14°C