"Melton has a long and celebrated history of horse breeding and racing. Draught horses were a crucial aspect of life in the early days of European settlement, and were heavily depended upon for both transport and agricultural labour. Peppercorn trees at the corner of Station and Brooklyn roads have been associated with a horse trough installed there to provide a drink to workhorses carting produce to the chaff mills and railway station south of Melton.20 Breeders, trainers and harness drivers in the area later became such an influential force in the equine industry that this came to be a defining aspect of the district’s identity and reputation.Pioneer of the Victorian horse racing industry and early Rockbank squatter William Cross Yuille was one of the earliest importers of stud racehorses in the district in the 1850s. A leading sports editor and writer, Yuille established bloodstock auctioning agency W. C. Yuille & Co. and was involved in the compilation of the first Australian Stud Book, which ensures the integrity of thoroughbred breeding in Australia. According to early Melton chronicler Alexander Cameron, horse races were first organised in the area by Rockbank farmer William Keating. Keating owned racehorses of his own, and many brought horses from Melbourne for the events, which ‘drew large gatherings’.22 Melton Racing Club meetings were held on the Exford Estate with the permission of H. W. Staughton, who built a small wooden grandstand in 1882. Other early races and sports meetings are said to have been held in the vicinity of the current-day Melton golf course.23 An 1884 article reported that Melton’s ‘race programme … equals any put forth by country towns of far greater size’. Ernest Clarke was another important figure in the early horse racing industry in Melton. He established the Melton Stud in 1902, which bred numerous successful racehorses. Perhaps most notably The Welkin, one of the most famous stallions in Australian horse racing in the early twentieth century. The Welkin sired Gloaming, bred by Clarke at the Melton stud in 1915 and one of Australia’s greatest champion racehorses. During a long and prestigious career in both Australia and New Zealand, Gloaming achieved a triumphant 57 wins out of 67 starts and won a record amount of prize money. Ken Cox purchased the Stockwell Stud in Diggers Rest in 1957 and developed it into one of the largest and most renowned thoroughbred breeders in Australia. With its top-class facilities, international design standards and scientific methods, Stockwell became ‘the flagship of the Victorian breeding industry’.26 As well as racing studs, numerous trotting tracks were established on the flat plains around Melton in the 1960s.27 Other studs to play a leading role in the development of Melton as thoroughbred country were Cornwall Park and Merrywood at Toolern Vale, St John’s Lane Stud at Diggers Rest and Birchwood, Teppo Park and Dreelburn in the far north-east of the shire, near Sunbury. By 1985, thoroughbred horse breeding was such big business in Melton that the shire council adopted the slogan ‘The Heart of Thoroughbred Country’, which was used throughout its promotional material.29 But the slogan contained deeper meaning and was not just about Melton’s great equine industry and thoroughbred champions, the council explained: ‘“Thoroughbred Country” should be seen as a new concept of Melton, as a place where people can achieve the “Thoroughbred” ideal, excellence in all aspects of life’. The aim of the council in promoting ‘The Heart of Thoroughbred Country’, was ‘to instil in present and future residents the feeling that this is a place that is better than others. A place to be proud of’. In 1988, Melton’s champion reinsman Gavin Lang won his 176th race of the season, claiming the national harness racing record for the most wins in a single season.The following year, the first Melton Plate was held at Moonee Valley Racecourse, cementing the district’s importance in the harness racing industry. The inaugural winner was Victorys Phil, owned by local Danny Mullan. By the 1990s, Melton had earned the title of the ‘Home of Harness Racing in Victoria’. State-of-the-art, world-class harness racing facility and entertainment complex Tabcorp Park opened in Melton in 2009. In 2011, the Shire of Melton was home to over 140 registered trainers and over 1,200 horses. The municipality’s continuing leadership and influence in the industry today is a testament to the skills, talents and leadership of the local community over its history".Shire of Melton pamphlet of a map and information of the equine industry in Meltoncouncil

Season 1994/95 Association of Victorian Country Harness Racing Clubs Member TagPlastic Orange Tag attached to length of Black CordFront: Association of Victorian Country Harness Racing Clubs / Admit One / 1994-95. Back: Admit Bearer to All Victorian Country Harness Racing Tracks / Not Transferable / 0027.harness racing, trotting, badge, membership, tag, harness racing victoria, association of victorian country harness racing clubs, 1994/95

Sumthingaboutmaori (Pine Chip Imp Tr 1.51.0 - Maori Princess Vic Tr 2.45 (Entrepreneur)) Bay Mare. Foaled 1998 (4th Foal). Breder/Owner: R McD Healy. Trainer BR Healy. Sumthingaboutmaori raced from 2001 (2yo) through to 2006 (7yo). Career: 31 wins 8 seconds 8 thirds 75 starts $461,499 2.00.9 Winning Drivers: Gavin Lang (26) BR Healy (3) DK Douglas (1) JJ Caldow (1). Won on 9 Tracks: Moonee Valley (10) Bendigo (5) Maryborough (5) Kilmore (3) Geelong (3) Shepparton (2) Cranbourne (1) Horsham (1) Globe Derby SA (1)2000-2001 Victorian Square Trotters Association 2yo Trotter of the Year Trophy won by Sumthingaboutmaori. 2yo Season record 4 wins 1 second 2 thirds 8 starts $14,505 2.05.4Glass plaqueVictorian Square Trotters Association 2000-2001 / 2yo Trotter of the Year / Winner / Sumthingaboutmaori / Donated by Victoria Harness Racing Clubtrotting, harness racing, sumthingaboutmaori, 2yo trotter of the year, victorian square trotters association, 2000-2001, award, trophy, gavin lang, g lang, br healy, bryan healy, r healy, ric healy, b healy, r mcd healy

Bob Conroy died on Tuesday, December 12, 2017 at age 88. The Daylesford trainer and brilliant horseman enjoyed a life dedicated to harness racing, which he shared with his wife Pat and their five children, including Glenn, Anne-Maree and Peter, who themselves have combined to drive more than 800 winners. Renowned as an outstanding trainer of trotters, Conroy spent a life training from Daylesford, having been raised in nearby Korweinguboora before occupying the former Daylesford Trotting Club track, from where he would often venture into neighbouring Hepburn Regional Park to educate his horses. A trots trainer, driver and breeder, Mr Conroy’s training successes include Mary Beverley’s win in the 1973 V. L. Dullard Cup, Lincoln Star's win in the 1978 Bendigo Pacing Cup and 1978 Italian Cup, and the Lightfoot Laurels on four occasions (Lucy Lastic 1997, Miss Universe 1999 and 2001 and False Gem on 2008). His greatest stakes win came when Amazon captured the $30,000 Australasian Trotters Championship final in 1984 and then the same year the E B Cochran Memorial Trotters Cup, while notable triumphs also include Mister Everest in the 1990 Chris E Howe Trotters Cup, two Central Victorian Trotting Championships in 1991 (Omaorio) and 2005 (Sutters Glory), the 1996 Coulter Crown with Lucy Lastic, First Signal's win in the 1999 Cranbourne Trotters Cup and then the R C Freestone Trotters Cup with Miss Universe. Other notable performers he trained throughout his distinguished career included multiple metropolitan winners King’s Pride, Eden’s Return, Magic Madge, Minnesota Fats, Hot And Dry, Kyvalley Duke, Speeding Fine, Baltic Prince and Looks Like Me. Bob Conroy’s trotters Bootleg Bert and Margaret Ruth delivered his last trotting wins. Yellow with black Vrb conroy, lincoln star, amazon, bendigo harness racing club, bhrc, bendigo, horses, racing colours, trotting, pacing, harness racing, bob conroy, r conroy

John Phyland It was during 1890 to 1918 that John Phyland, son of Irish immigrants, born in 1866, ran a 2000-acre sheep station. The property, Lake Vale, was south of Balranald, towards the Murray River town of Swan Hill. This would seem to be an unlikely location for a harness racing breeding operation, being more than 400km from Melbourne, where harness racing was centred on the Richmond track. But, undeterred by distance, Phyland purchased his first trotter in 1882 and proceeded to acquire expensive, high quality standardbred mares and stallions and embark on a venture that saw him: • Breed and race winners of major races including The Melbourne Thousand, Bendigo JC Handicap (raced almost continuously on the grass track at Epsom, Bendigo, from 1867 to 1946), Boort Cup and numerous races at the Melbourne metropolitan tracks at Richmond and Ascot; • Acquire Soultline Villa and training stables adjacent to the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds so he could race at metropolitan tracks; • Develop a large self-contained training facility (including resident blacksmith) and home at 19 Raleigh St, Essendon; • Become the chair of the Victorian Trotting Horse Owners and Breeders’ Association, which lobbied strenuously for night trotting in the 1930s; • Breed from imported and locally bred mares that left families that are still active today. Heaven Rocks, the Ballarat Cup, New Zealand Jewels three and four-year-winner, and 1:49.6 ($554,529) export to the US, is six generations on from the Phyland bred mare Dusky Ribbons; • Saw the start of the training career of colourful and controversial Cedric (Ced) McLean, Phyland’s son-in-law, with a mare left when Phyland died.Blue with yellow starsbalranald, trotting, phyland, richmond trotting

Dick Lee is a prolific Group 1 winning trainer and driver, successful breeder and owner, International and trotting pioneer, outstanding administrator and tireless volunteer. Dick Lee, son of a soldier-settler was a track ranger at the Melbourne Showgrounds before accepting a position as a private trainer in the emerging trotting industry in Wales, taking a team of horses to the UK where he had 105 drives for 29 wins. The adventure would also see him compete in Holland, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Russia and the US, always with trotters. He returned to Australia in 1970 with “a wife, a trainer-driver premiership, half-a-dozen miniature Irish donkeys and a horse in tow”. The horse, Hermes, would sire 1976 Melbourne Cup winner Van Der Hum. Dick served 12 years as president of the Victorian Square Trotters Association to advocate for the gait. Emerging from this time are: 1985 The Redwood Classic for 2yo trotters 1996 the first all-trotting card, the Redwood Day at Maryborough. Dick Lee’s training and driving produced among others: Bendigo and Melbourne Pacing Cups winner Rhodonite Australian Trotters of the Year Hampdens Pride and Game Ebony V L Dullard Cup winners Glenfield Girl and Game Ebony Rufus Youngblood, whose racing career included 32 wins, 23 seconds and 18 thirds from 139 starts, the first Australian-bred horse to win four Derbies and Australian Horse of the Year in 1987. Dick Lee was inducted into the Victorian Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 2019White race colours with purple triangle pointing upbendigo, bendigo cup, lord's raceway, dick lee, rhodonite, bendigo harness racing club, bhrc, race colour, hall of fame, ir (dick) lee, ir lee

Susie Royal, a trotting mare foaled in 1921 by Royal Mac from Charity's Dolly, was raced by Vic and Bill Rothacker, trained and driven in races by Bill Rothacker of Serpentine. Among her many wins were 8 at the metropolitan track at Richmond in Melbourne.Large rectangular black and white harness racing photo finish, mounted on brown and white paper and framed.In black ink: Top on brown paper: Bendigo / Novice Handicap 14/3/1931 Bottom on white paper: Susie Royal / W. Rothacker Bottom on brown paper: Hilda Voyage. / "Bluen". c.summers. / Admiral Patch. wilki Lee. Stamp at the back of the frame: Style 498 / Price £ 1414-0trotting, susie royal, hilda voyage, wilki lee, c. summers, bluen, admiral patch, 1931, bendigo, harness racing, novice handicap, wc rothacker, bill rothacker

Maori's Crown (The Contender Imp P 1.54.0 - Maori Mara Vic Tr 2.9.2 (Bravado Hanover)) Bay Mare. Foaled 1995 (9th Foal). Breeder/Owner: R McD Healy & Co Pty Ltd. Trainer R McD Healy. Maori's Crown raced from 1998 (2yo) through to 2001 (5yo). Career: 8 wins 1 second 5 thirds 32 starts $57,060 2.06.2 Winning Drivers: BR Gath (4) BR Healy (3) MN Wishart (1). Won on 4 Tracks: Moonee Valley (5) Bendigo (1) Maryborough (1) Ballarat (1)1998 Vancleve Trophy for 2yo Trotting Filly of the Year won by Maori's Crown. 2yo Season record: 5 wins 0 seconds 1 third 6 starts $44,150 2.6.2 Edgar Tatlow Memorial 2yo Trotters / Heat & Final Vicbred Super Series 2yo Trotters / Heat Breeders Crown 2yo Trotters (3rd in Final.Globe shaped1998 / Australian Harness Racing Award / Vancleve Trophy / 2yo trotter of the year / Maori's Crowntrophy, 1998, trotter, maoris crown, vancleve trophy, australian harness racing award, ric healy, br healy, bryan healy, br gath, brian gath, b gath, r healy, b healy, r mcd healy