The small New South Wales town of Crookwell is located in the Southern Tablelands region of the state. The earliest settlers in the area began to arrive in the 1820s, John Oxley passing through the area at that time. It has a population in excess of 2,600 and has its own successful race club, the Crookwell & District Amateur Picnic Race Club, which administers races on its Binda Racecourse. The earliest record of racing in Binda was in 1848 when races, overseen by the Binda Picnic Race Club, took place at Funny Hill. However, the first recorded 2 day meeting for the Crookwell Jockey Club was on Wednesday 28th February and Thursday 1st March 1877, with feature race results shown below.
The earliest record of racing in Binda was an unregistered meeting in 1848, but by 1850 the meetings had become more formal. The meeting in mid-January 1850 saw three feature races; the Settler’s Purse was won by Jangler owned by Mr Warne; the Publican’s Purse was won by Blackbird owned by Mr Macharty, while the result of the principal race is shown below.
Binda £20 Purse over 1 ¾ miles
1. Dentist owned by Mr Mark
2. Jorrocks owned by Mr Stephenson
3. Honk’un-snivy owned by Mr Macarty
Wednesday 28th February 1877
Crookwell Jockey Club Handicap (25 sovereigns) over 2 miles
1. Standard owned by Mr M Minehan and ridden by J Allsopp
2. Leonard owned by Mr R Warn and ridden by T Thomas
3. Mary Anne owned by Mr W Eavns and ridden by J Johnson
6 ran
Thursday 1st March 1877
Prince of Wales Stakes (10 sovereigns) over 1 ½ miles
1. Saxon owned by Mr W Stephenson and ridden by J Allsopp
2. Dozy Kate owned by Mr White and ridden by White
3. Hamlet owned by Mr R Warn ad ridden by L Thomas
Three years later the meeting proved to be a benefit for Tattoo and owner Mr McFadden, winning the Crookwell Jockey Club Handicap and the Town Plate.
Monday 12th April 1880
Crookwell Jockey Club Handicap (30 sovereigns) over 2 miles
1. Tattoo owned by Mr McFadden
2. Hippy owned by Mr E A Webster
3. Reckless owned by Mr M O Brien
Crookwell Town Plate (15 sovereigns) twice round
1. Tattoo owned by Mr McFadden
2. Dapto owned by Mr J Miller
3. Lady Buckingham owned by Mr G Warn
After the meeting, settling up took place at Mr E Stephenson’s Hotel when Mr McFadden collected £45 5 shillings.
A decade later and it was still Tattoo (presumably a different one) ruling the roost. The meeting on Tuesday 25th February 1890, attended by 300 people, was administered by the Crookwell Jockey Club and held in Mr Henry Warn’s paddock about 2 ½ miles from the town centre.
Tuesday 25th February 1890
Crookwell Town Plate (£15) over 1 ¼ miles
1. Tattoo owned by Mr Gorman
2. Omar owned by Mr G Blay
3. Alarm owned by Mr R McLachlan
After the meeting the settling up was done at Mr McAllister’s Hotel when Mr W H Oram was in the chair.
Moving closer to the present time, a list of the recent Crookwell Cup winners is shown below.
Recent Crookwell Funny Hill Cup winners
(A full list of winners is available on request)
2009 Funny Hill Cup (£3,500) over 1400 metres was won by Seekadance (5/2) trained by Bill Hayes and ridden by Mr R Anderson, beating Gangleri and Photograph 3 ran
2010 Funny Hill Cup (£3,500) over 1400 metres was won by Aftadaka (5/6 fav) trained by Adam Duggan and ridden by Mr B Duggan, beating Gangleri and Billigaboo 4 ran
2011 Funny Hill Cup (£3,500) over 1400 metres was won by Azarax (5/2) trained by Chris Heywood and ridden by Stuart Brown, beating Regal Instinct and Togold 5 ran
2012 Funny Hill Cup meeting was abandoned
2013 Funny Hill Cup (£6,500) over 1400 metres was won by Mrs Menzies (4/1) trained by Trevor Sutherland and ridden by Mr R Blewitt, beating Tiersamo and Bold Reality
2014 Funny Hill Cup (£5,250) over 1400 metres was won by Where Izzy (100/30) trained by Gilbert Slattery and ridden by Rebeka Prest, beating Urbane Valour and Centabeel 4 ran
2015 Funny Hill Cup meeting was abandoned
2016 Funny Hill Picnic Cup (£5,250) over 1400 metres was won by Two Noughty (5/4 fav) trained by Mervyn Bennett and ridden by Billy Owen, beating Sergeant Bilko and Image of Darkness 4 ran
2017 Funny Hill Picnic Cup (£5,865) over 1400 metres was won by Kinda Tangy (6/4 fav) trained by Neil Osborne and ridden by Mr R Blewitt, beating Sergeant Bilko and Sungine 5 ran
