The New South Wales town of Adaminaby, better known as Seymour in the early days, lies in the Snowy Mountain region of the state to the north-west of Cooma. It is in an area of outstanding beauty, catering for tourists interested in fishing and winter sports, although the population of the town barely numbers 300. Despite this it runs its own successful country racecourse and has done so since the middle of the 19th century. |
The earliest record of a race meeting at Seymour, also known as Adaminaby or Chalker’s, was on Easter Monday 6th April 1863. The card consisted of a $10 Maiden Plate over 1 ½ miles, a $12 Town Plate and a $10 Ladies Purse. It was clearly not the first such race meeting on the course because the newspapers commented, ‘As usual the Messrs Chippendale had it all their own way, and deservedly so for the trouble they go to of breeding and training good horses’. The Maiden Plate went to IO, a bay filly owned by Mr Chippendale, defeating Mr Delany’s Rory and one other. The Town Plate followed and was won by Mr Chippendale’s Annie Laurie who beat Charley owned by the ‘4 mile team’. In the Ladies Purse Rory owned by Mr Delany was second, while Charlie captured the Beaten Horses Stakes. |
