The two events which attract the most attention from a local and national perspective are the Hunter Thoroughbred Breeders Association (HTBA) Inglis Scone Yearling Sales and Scone Race Day. The latter attracts the most tourists, receives major sponsorship, and is televised throughout Australia. The sales are also recognised at the national and international levels, with buyers travelling from interstate and overseas to purchase thoroughbred horses in the region ('HTBA Sale' 2009, p. 10). William Inglis and Son Pty Ltd, a company that has been involved in the Scone sales since 1946 (Walden 2005, p. 6), is an integral component of thoroughbred sales and racing in the Hunter region. The first thoroughbred horse sales were held in 1945. An advertisement in the Scone Advocate on 13 April 1945 stated that the sales operated by “Stan G. Keene, a local stock and station
agent, would feature “a number of yearlings, brood mares and other bloodstock on account of the following studs: Sledmere, Segenhoe, Redbank, Tinagroo and others” (Walden 2005, p.6). Nowadays, the sales focus on yearlings sold on behalf of studs that are members of the HTBA. While the sales are not in the same league as others held in the larger metropolitan cities of Sydney and Melbourne, and the Magic Millions Sales held on the Gold Coast, the Scone sale is recognised as “Australia’s most successful country sale” (Inglis Bloodstock, n.d ), one that has a “proud tradition of unearthing outstanding horses” (Inglis Bloodstock 2009). In 2009, the sales experienced an “87 per cent clearance rate for a gross result of $2,137,500. This was marginally less than 2008 when the gross results were $2,150,000 ('Good result at the yearling sale' 2009, p. 4). In 2010 the sales were extended to two-days (as was the racing carnival), with the main sales being held on the Thursday and a subsequent sales day on the Sunday.
The Scone Race Club, as well as being considered one of Australia’s premier country race clubs, holds one of the most prestigious country race meetings, i.e., The Emirates Park Scone Cup, an event that according to race day organisers is “fast gathering cult status”:
Even people who aren't horse people talk about the Scone Cup and they want to come…the Cup has got a history, a following. It's been going a long time. It's not just the racing, though, it is a package people can come and experience and get out of the city ('Upper Hunter Horse' 2004, p. 5).
The first race meeting was held in Scone in 1842 (Morgan 1996, p. 36), and the Scone Cup has been raced since 1947 ('Rich Scone Cup' 1997, p. 22). S7 recalled how the race meeting had changed dramatically over the years. It was originally held on a Tuesday and Wednesday before changing to a Thursday and Friday due to the introduction of the Totalisator Agency Board (TAB) and the coverage of race meetings held across Australia. In 1986, the race meeting made racing history by being “the first NSW racing club located in either city or country to hold three consecutive days of racing in modern times” ('Scone set to make racing history' 1986, p. 17). The racing carnival was held on a Thursday, Friday (the largest race day) and Saturday (family race day), a program that continued until 2002 when the race meeting was reduced to being held on a Friday only. In 1983, the prize money for what was known then as the Carnation Scone Cup (run over
1400 metres) was AUD$10,000 ('Horse Week attracts overseas visitors' 1983, p. 11), which in 2009 would be equivalent to AUD$26, 429. By 1997, the prize money had increased to AUD $41, 200 ('Rich Scone Cup' 1997, p. 22). With radio coverage, and later television coverage, S7 said that: “The prize money increased and we got the better class of horses. In those days we always got the top jockeys. People took people into their homes if they couldn’t get accommodation. It was a great thing for the town”.
An estimated 8000 people attended the 2009 race meeting, which attracted some of Australia’s leading trainers including Bart Cummings, Gai Waterhouse and Peter Snowden. Their interest was possibly due to the significant prize money on offer: the 2009 Emirates Park Scone Cup, run over 1600 metres, was worth AUD$110,000 (Hornery 2009), an almost five-fold increase in the real value of the prize money (i.e., allowing for inflation) offered in 1983 (see figure 13). The race meeting also featured the Inglis Challenge, “a race offering the highest prize money for a country race for 2 year olds”, which has been sponsored by Inglis Pty Ltd since 2000 (Scone Race Club 2010).
While several of the local thoroughbred studs sponsored a number of races, and their presence was noted on race day, it was Emirates Park that dominated the landscape of the Scone Race Club (see Figure 14). The fences lining the driveway leading up to the race club were covered with Emirates Park promotional banners; and, one of the large marquees at the race meeting was sponsored by Emirates Park. S3 said that it cost A$300 to buy a ticket for the marquee, “it’s a lot of money for the bloke off the street. Too dear for me”. A cheaper alternative was available in the form of the public marquee, which cost $60; but, according to S9, even that was a bit expensive for some of the older local residents.
Figure 14. The finishing line at the Scone Race Club. This highlights one aspect of the Emirates Park sponsorship arrangement with the club. Photograph by Arthur Duckworth.
The race meeting and the horse sales are economically important for the town as they attract the most tourists to the festival programme. All of the accommodation and restaurants in Scone are fully booked for the duration of these events. Race day, which is held on a Friday afternoon, is also socially important. Upper Hunter Shire Council employees are given a half-day holiday, and owners and employees of local businesses, including thoroughbred studs, take the afternoon off to be part of the racing experience.
Race day also provides an opportunity for local residents and their friends and families to get together and have fun while enjoying the spectacle of horse racing.
Since the 2009 festival, the Scone Race Club has made racing history. In 2010 the club introduced two days of racing held on a Friday and Saturday, as well it implemented the inaugural Inglis Guineas for 3 year olds, which carried a total prize money of AUD$770,000. Noel Leckie, who was President of the Scone Race Club in 2010, wrote in his annual report that the race club had also signed a major sponsorship deal with 13 of the local studs in 2010 worth $AUD1.575 million dollars over the following three years. In his words, “every single dollar of this [sponsorship] will be returned to the racing industry in the form of prize money” (Leckie 2010). In 2011, the club acquired the status of a stand-alone Saturday meeting. As Leckie (2010) states, this was significant because: “In 200 years of thoroughbred racing in NSW the Scone Race Club is the first country race club to be awarded a Saturday meeting in preference to Sydney”. The total prize money on offer at the 2011 race meeting was $AUD2, 000,000 (Scone Race Club 2011).
This section has provided an overview of the key ‘eque-cultural’ events held during the festival. Recognition is given to the economic and social contribution these events make not only to the festival, to the Scone and the wider Upper Hunter Shire, but to help cement Scone’s identity as the ‘horse capital of Australia’. The next section explores Scone’s ‘eque-cultural’ identity and the threats to this identity.