While the Towers Jockey Club held its first meeting in 1873, the newly-formed Charters Towers Amateur Hack Club’s inaugural meeting was in the sweltering heat of January 1926.
A couple of years later the event had been moved to September but was still oppressively hot, with storm clouds hanging low.
“The attendance was not quite up to the usual standard of an opening day, although a fair contingent of country visitors were included among those present.
”The City Band was in attendance, and played a pleasing programme in between races.
“The fields, although lacking the size of those of a few years ago, brought a good class of amateur horses, representative of some of the best blood of the North, and a number of them performed very creditably considering they have only been a few weeks in feed.
“Punters found the programme fairly easy to pick and there was nothing sensational.”