Tara Race Club History
In 1911, at the second Easter Picnic, a hack race was run, the prize being a bridle. The winning horse was Wambo who was owned by Mr. J. Kennedy and ridden by T.O. Smallacombe, who later became chairman of the Tara Shire Council.
The course was a section of the Tara-Chinchilla Road, just north of the Undulla Creek. Some six months later, a six-event meeting was held on the same site, the main event of five furlongs being won by Mr. Alec Grant's horse Maclure and ridden by J. Cox with the prize being a saddle. At a meeting following this particular gathering, the Tara Race Club was formed.
During the 1960s and early 70s the Tara Race Club held their Annual Cup meeting on Melbourne Cup Day. All roads lead to Tara and a huge crowd was always in attendance. During the 1970s wheat growing became prominent in the area and harvest was always in full swing by Melbourne Cup Day so the Club decided to forego the date due to most of the committee members being extremely busy at this time of year.
Tara Race Club acquired their own starting stalls during the 1980s, but before that they were towed by a vehicle along the road from Dalby. It was a very slow trip. oVer the years there have been vast improvements made, such as new horse stalls built in conjunction with the Tara Show Society. The wooded inside running rail has been replaced with an aluminium running rail, and more recently a new outside running rail has been installed. A new photo finish tower was built in the 1980s with a grant received from the Queensland Government.