Club Menangle

Club Menangle, as a sporting venue, is far more than just a racetrack: it is an institution founded by distinguished pioneers who were farming and racing horses for fun in this glorious, pastoral setting long before Melbourne - for example - was even thought of. John Macarthur, acknowledged as the father of the Australian sheep/wool industry, becam... e the owner of just about all the land at "MANANGLE" (an aboriginal word to describe a lagoon on the opposite side of the Nepean River), circa 1820. Prior to John Macarthur's presence, Mr. Walter Davidson was granted 2000 acres of land in 1805 and it was Davidson who named the property "Manangle" copying the word used by the indigenous Tharawals tribe. Thomas Taber and his son George were the early farmer/owners of the exact area where the raceway stands today. It was George Taber who built "Menangle House"; the commanding old mansion that stands on the corner of Racecourse Avenue where patrons drive from the main road into the Club Menangle. Macarthur, the Tabers and all the others of those early times at "Manangle", would assuredly be in awe of the recent development of Menangle's magnificent, brand new 1400 metres track, artificially filled so tall down the back that it is clearly high and dry from the nearby , brimming, tree lined Nepean River. Indeed, it is an engineering masterpiece as far as racetracks goes for the height at the back draws the horses closer to onlookers in the grandstands. It took almost one million tons of virgin soil land fill to raise the track by up to eight metres at the back. The ghosts of some of the great horses of the past - thoroughbreds and standardbreds alike - who graced Menangle will be envious of modern day racehorses who are primed to compete on this modern, expertly designed (by USA engineers Charles Coon & Sons) racing strip with its sweeping, banked turns; its spacious width and the longest straights imaginable. It should be recorded for history that the Club Menangle executives and many behind the scenes members have put ...Read More