Race is run at Malone Park, but harness club plans to push on

THE Marong Light Harness Racing Club is vowing to live on despite getting its marching orders from its long-time home at Malone Park after 50 years.

A staple for many Bendigo region harness racing participants over the past five decades, the club hosted its last weekly educational trials on Thursday last week.

It was the end of an era.

While a sad occasion for the club’s small, but tight-knit volunteer committee, they were buoyed by a strong turn up of participants and supporters, who reminisced about better times and past achievements over a barbecue dinner following the night’s on-track action.

For the club’s president Wally Newton, the final gathering at Malone Park encapsulated the very essence of the Marong Light Harness Racing Club and its trials.

“It’s a real community out here … and that’s what it’s always been about,” he said.

“I’m glad everyone who regularly comes to the trials got the chance to come out, have a drink and a feed, and chat about old times.

“It’s a great set up. I don’t know why they couldn’t put two football fields in the middle without interfering with us,” he added in reference to the council’s plans to convert the space into two ovals.

“We’ve suggested they move our back straight out, but they’re not interested.”

Informed by the City of Greater Bendigo they would need to wind up operations by mid-year, the club pinpointed 2 April as its final night as it only ran trials during daylight saving months.

 

Having waged a battle to retain the track and facilities – built entirely by club members and with their money since 2021 when the Malone Park Recreation Reserve Draft Masterplan was released – Newton admitted the last few months of inevitability had taken a toll on him.

“It’s sad when you’ve been here for 50 years … on and off as president for so many years,” he said.

“All the work I have put in – in the whole area actually – and they are going to bulldoze the whole lot.

“All the buildings, the sheds, the tie-ups – all going. If we don’t take them, they will go to scrap.

“I’m bitterly disappointed.

“After the last meeting with council out here on the 23rd (of March), I went back home for lunch, had my meal and the next thing I’m on my way to hospital. They put it down to stress.

“I’m better now … glad we got such a nice turnout for the last night.”

While the sound of hooves will no longer permeate down the home straight, the memories will linger for the likes of Newton and long-time trial supporter and club official Bill Morrissey.

“There’s plenty of them (memories),” Newton said.

“A lot of those older blokes are gone, but their memories are still here.”

Newton said the club planned to continue operating as a social club, with the aim of sponsoring a race each year at perhaps Bendigo, Charlton or Maryborough to preserve the club’s legacy.

 

For Morrissey, the club’s steward, Malone Park and the trials have been part of his life for 50 years and a family affair, with generations of the family involved in racing.

Now 69, he started driving in trials at Marong as a 16-year-old.

Nearly every horse that has passed through his and wife Heather’s stable over the years began its education journey at Marong.

“It’s been a huge part of my life; some of the friendships we have developed out here. And now it’s come to an end, which is a bit sad,” he said.

“I suppose that’s progress … or for some.

“It’s a good training atmosphere out of here for young horses … getting them going.

“They can learn a lot getting behind the mobile for a couple of laps, whereas if you go to other tracks, that’s not available.

“It will be missed.”

The Morrisseys etched a place in local history last week, with their trotter Koufax winning the final trial held at Malone Park, with Heather in the sulky.

It came about 30 years after one of the Woodvale couple’s best ever trotters Watchmewin first trialled at Marong, ahead of a career highlighted by six Moonee Valley wins and appearances in the 2000 Inter Dominion heats.

 

Marong earned somewhat of a reputation as a nursery for Inter Dominion performers, with the champion pacer Popular Alm and the likes of locals Brer Rabbit and Transpec trialling at Malone Park in their early years.

Victorian Square Trotters Association (VSTA) committee member and well-known Bendigo studmaster John Campbell, who wears his love of harness racing on his sleeve, said it was the sad end of an era.

“Some say the council have done nothing, but the fact is the council were never asked to do anything,” he said.

“It was the people out here who did it all. Built it, preserved it. It’s heartbreaking for them.

“It was something for the Marong club to be proud of.”

Campbell is encouraged by plans for the club to continue as a social network, dabbling in race sponsorship.

“They’d like to have a connection with one of the trotting clubs around the region, perhaps running a race each year,” he said.

“They’d like to run a meeting a year, but that’s a big job and requires a fair bit of people power.

“But having a race at one of the smaller tracks or even Bendigo would be a fitting tribute to the past.

“It’s important the club and its past are acknowledged. They’ll stay alive.” More sport from page 19.