Tag Archives: 2009
Brisbane Turf Club A Long History
The Brisbane Turf Club has been a premier Queensland racing club since it was incorporated in 1923. Based at Doomben Racecourse, the Brisbane Turf Club has come a long way since those early days at “the creek” when it was a swampy marsh, and now its the trotting venue, Albion Park racecourse. As of 2009, the name Brisbane Turf Club ceases to exist, so read on for the history of this well-known Queensland club.
The beginnings of the Brisbane Turf Club were when G.M. Dash, Barney Joyce and Allan Oxlade bought Albion Park in 1922, from its former owner John Wren. The following year, this consortium formed the Brisbane Amateur Turf Club as the club was originally called.
Only a decade later, the young club expanded by buying the land, which would become the Doomben Racecourse which was opened in 1933. Located 7.5km north of Brisbanes CBD in the suburb of Ascot, Doomben is known as the Garden Racecourse because of its natural beauty.
The Doomben Course was closed during World War II, and US troops were billeted there during the Pacific War. Afterwards, for the last sixty years, the Brisbane Turf Club has built the track up to be one of Queenslands best-known horse racing venues. In 1946, on the reopening of the track, the TM Ahern (now the Carlton Draught Doomben 10,000) and the Doomben Cups (now the XXXX Doomben Cup) were first run. The Doomben Cup is now considered one of the best middle distance races in Australian racing.
In 1982 the Club sold its original course, Ascot Park, in order to fund significant expansion of what is now the world-class Doomben Racecourse. The turf track is a clockwise course with a circumference of 1715 metres with a 350 metre straight.
Other notable dates in the Clubs history were the introduction of the Queensland Horse of the Year Award in 1971, and the extension of membership to women in 1980. It was not until 2001 that the Club was incorporated.
In 2009 comes the biggest change of all for Brisbane Turf Club. On 1 July 2009 the Club merged with long time rival Queensland Turf Club to become the Brisbane Racing Club. The difficulty of running two major racing organisations in a city the size of Brisbane has seen the economic necessity of the two organizations combining resources. For punters, nothing will change, however, as they will still be able to watch their favourite horses and place their racing bets at either the Eagle Farm or Doomben courses.
Although some might say that Brisbane Turf Club is finished, it appears that the Brisbane Racing Club will be a more than worthy successor. The new Club has announced a $10.2 billion master redevelopment plan for both racecourses over the next ten years. Not only will new grandstands be built and new trackside facilities and stables developed, but also substantial new car parking and there is even talk of boutique hotels and apartments on the course.
The Brisbane Turf Club has passed; long live the Brisbane Racing Club!
Macaus Poker Scene Looking Vibrant after Successful 2009
With the new year just beginning, Macau is already gearing up for even more poker tournaments and events to build on a successful 2009.
Last year, Asias gaming capital was the site of record-setting poker events from the biggest poker tours in the region. It also saw the opening of several new poker rooms, signifying that local players were steadily becoming more interested in the game.
In mid-August, the Asian Poker Tour (APT) held its 2009 Macau event at the StarWorld Hotel and Casino and experienced a large surge in player participation. Its twelve-day festival of poker featured fifteen side events in addition to the main event, which set a new APT record with a field of 326 runners. The winner was Frances Adrien Allain, who won HK $3,035,000 for his first-place finish.
Over at PokerStars Macau at the Grand Lisboa Hotel, the third season of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Macau event saw Irish player Dermont Blain win HK $4,194,000 in its main event. Blain was just one of the APPT Macau record 429 players who played in the main event, contributing to the prize pool of HK $16,130,400.
The PokerStars Macau poker room also held its own series of tournaments throughout the year, culminating in a grand finale in December. The poker rooms Macau Poker Cup held four Red Dragon main events in 2009, with each one getting more players than the last.
The first Red Dragon main event, which was held in March, saw its HK $500,000 guaranteed prize pool broken as 112 players entered for a total prize pool of HK $1,052,800. Due to the large turnout, the subsequent Red Dragon events offered a guarantee of HK $1,000,000. It didnt matter, as player numbers kept increasing, including a field of 247 runners in October.
PokerStars Macau then held its grand finale in December with the Macau Poker Cup Championship (MPCC). Held from December 12-20, the MPCC featured a HK $20,000 main event with HK $2,000,000 guaranteed. The winner was Devin Tang, who defeated Taipeis Michael Chang to win the HK $727,600 first prize.
2009 also saw two new poker rooms open in Macau. Sun Citys Poker King Club, named after the movie released earlier in the year, opened on October 31 at the StarWorld Casino. Over on the other side of town, The Venetian opened its own poker room in late November, adding to the hotels multitude of gaming and shopping attractions.
With more poker rooms and bigger tournaments, 2009 definitely showed just how much poker is capable of growing in Macau and the region as a whole. Already established as the go-to place for poker in Asia, it wont be long before it becomes one of the biggest poker hotspots in the world.
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