The New South Wales town of Braidwood lies approximately 200 kilometres south-west of the state capital Sydney, in the Southern Tablelands region of the state. It lies on the Kings Highway which links Canberra with Batemans Bay. The first European settlers, Kearns, Marsh and Packer, arrived in 1822, although it was another 14 years before the most influential man responsible for the development of the town, Dr Thomas Braidwood Wilson, arrived in the area with his wife. The town has grown from strength to strength ever since and today has its own racecourse where racing is currently administered by the Braidwood Jockey Club. Racing in the town can be traced back to at least the 1840s, with two meetings being staged in 1840. The first was a Hurdle race over the Exeter course, near Braidwood, a 3 ½ mile course with 6 hurdles. The result of the race is given below. Three months later a Sweepstake took place on Sunday 26th July 1840, over 2 ½ miles which saw T Cowper’s Bolivar defeat 3 others. After this event racing took place annually on the Braidwood course, with selected results from the early years shown below. The Club organises one meeting annually, with the highlight of the card being the Braidwood Cup over 1350 metres which is normally held on the second Saturday in February.

Thursday 16th April 1840
Braidwood £40 Hurdle over 3 ½ miles and 6 hurdles
1. Bolivar owned by Mr T Cowper (sky blue jacket and cap)
2. Woodbine owned by Mr Andrew Badgery (scarlet jacket and blue cap)
3. Steeltrap owned by Mr Town (yellow jacket and cap)
4. Whitefoot owned by Mr McKellar (white jacket and cap)
Sunday 26th July 1840
Braidwood £30 Sweepstake over 2 ½ miles
1. Improver owned by Mr Burnell and ridden by Andrew Badgery
2. Sir James owned by Dr Wilson and ridden by James Larmar
3. Whisker owned by Dr Bell

The next year a two day meeting was staged on the Braidwood course on Tuesday 6th and Thursday 8th July 1841 when the main races were the Braidwood 50 sovereigns Purse, the Braidwood Gentlemen’s 20 sovereigns Purse and a Match in which Andrew Badgery’s 2 year old grey filly beat Hugh Wallace’s 2 year old bay filly. The Stewards at the meeting were Andrew Badgery, N Wilson, Thomas Cowper, Captain Grant and James Larmar, with entries made at the Doncaster Inn when subscriptions were paid to the Treasurer Mr P Goulding.

As was traditional in those days, meetings extended to 3 days with a days’ foxhunting included. On Wednesday 22nd June 1842 a fox hunt took place over 7 miles of stiff countryside prior to a two day race meeting following.
Thursday 23rd June 1842
Braidwood 50 sovereigns Purse
1. Napoleon owned by Mr Keighran and ridden by J Keighran
2. Phantom owned by Mr Andrew Badgery
3. Rob Roy owned by Mr Rievely
Braidwood 22 sovereigns Maiden Plate
1. Grey Middleton owned by Mr Hill and ridden by J Keighran
2. Lady Morgan owned by Mr Andrew Badgery
3. Sir James owned by Mr Thompson
4. Kate owned by Mr Bennison
Friday 24th June 1842
Braidwood 50 sovereigns Ladies’ Purse
1. Napoleon owned by Mr Keighran and ridden by J Keighran
2. Grey Middleton owned by Mr Hill
3. Rob Roy owned by Mr Rievely
4. Lady Morgan owned by Mr J Badgery
Braidwood 25 sovereigns Hurdle Race
1. Bolivar owned by Mr Andrew Badgery and ridden by Andrew Badgery
2. Boomer owned by Mr Griffiths and ridden by C G Miles
3. Jacky Morgan owned by Mr Hill

By the turn of the century the Braidwood Turf Club had taken charge of proceedings. At a committee meeting in December 1900 the main item on the agenda was the purchase of the racecourse. The Minister for Lands agreed to subsidise 2/3rds of the price of the land provided the Braidwood residents and Turf Club provided the other third. On Wednesday 21st March 1900 the principal race was the Turf Club Handicap over 1 ¼ miles which was won by Mr A Chapman’s Grand Peer. Thereafter the principal race was the Braidwood Cup.

Early results of the first 5 Braidwood Cups of the new century
(Full list of Cup winners available on request)
1900 Braidwood Turf Club Handicap (£40) over 1 ¼ miles was won by Grand Peer owned by Mr A Chapman, beating Bubbles and Amalgam 6 ran
1901 Braidwood Cup (£50 and £10 10s cup presented by Mr E J Henry) over 1 ¼ miles was won by Flashlight owned by Mr S J Berry, beating Elmo and Matong 9 ran
1902 Braidwood Cup (50 sovereigns) over 1 ¼ miles was won by Miss Trenchant owned by Mr W J Parker, beating Vanilla and Elmo  3 ran
1903 Braidwood Cup (£60) over 1 ¼ miles was won by Loveshot owned by Mr F O Norton, beating The Palmist and Variety 9 ran
1904 Braidwood Cup (£60) over 1 ¼ miles was won by Elmo ridden by W Henderson, beating La Hogue and Parma 8 ran
1905 Braidwood Cup (£60) over 1 ¼ miles was won by Silver Forest (2/1 jt fav) ridden by Houseman, beating Amalgam (8/1) and Glimmer (3/1) 6 ran

Recent Braidwood Cup winners
2009 The Braidwood Cup ($6,500) over 1350 metres was won by Brenna (100/30) trained by Scott Wade and ridden by Natalie Lye, beating Glencampbell Miss and Scutt 4 ran
2010 The Braidwood Cup meeting was abandoned after 3 races
2011 The Braidwood Cup ($6,500) over 1350 metres was won by Sebony (15/8 fav) trained by Chris Strickland and ridden by Annelise King, beating Kiss My Fuji and Gold Moss 7 ran
2012 The Braidwood Cup ($6,500) over 1350 metres was won by Sebony (2/1) trained by Chris Strickland and ridden by Kristen Smart, beating Paramount Pete and Magpie Speak 5 ran
2013 The Braidwood Cup ($8,700) over 1350 metres was won by Acta Non Verba (5/1) trained by Keith Dryden and ridden by Kayla Cross, beating Magpie Speak and Sebony 9 ran
2014 The Braidwood Cup meeting was abandoned after one race
2015 The Braidwood Cup ($8,700) over 1350 metres was won by Failed Approach (3/1) trained by Aaron Clarke and ridden by Patrick Murphy, beating Mugga Malley and Mineral Deposit 8 ran
2016 The Braidwood Cup ($8,700) over 1350 metres was won by Jayko (11/2) trained by Chris Hensler and ridden by Melinda Kinny, beating Raise The Alert and Alert Status 7 ran
2017 The Braidwood Gold Cup ($8,780) over 1350 metres was won by Klisstra (9/2) trained by Richard Litt and ridden by Tracy O’Hara, beating Red Fender and Yarragee Road 6 ran
2018 The Braidwood Cup ($8,660), held on Saturday 10th February over 1350 metres was won by Ultima Chance (7/4 fav) trained by Keith Dryden and Scott Collings and ridden by Chelsea MacFarlane, beating No Luck Needed and Failed Approach 9 ran

ISBN 978-0-9957632-0-3

652 pages

774 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-1-0

352 pages

400 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-2-7

180 pages

140 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-3-4

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235 former courses