Victoria Racing Club’s 150th anniversary year

The Victoria Racing Club (VRC) celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. The VRC evolved from two earlier rival clubs, the Victoria Turf Club (1852) and Victoria Jockey Club (1857), who disbanded to create the new club in 1864 just three years after the running of the 1st Melbourne Cup in 1861. They had previously run their own separate race meetings at the racecourse.

Flemington was first known as the Melbourne Racecourse. The original approach road from Melbourne crossed …Moonee Ponds Creek at Mt Alexander Road and passed through a property owned by James Watson. He named the property Flemington after his wife Elizabeth’s hometown – Flemington in Morayshire, Scotland. He built the Flemington Hotel there in 1848 and a small township grew up around it. The name Flemington was commonly used for the racecourse by the late 1850s. It is the most significant racing heritage site in the country and in 2006, was placed on the National Heritage List.