feature story
1890 in The Elms (VRC Collection)
Back in 1900 as the trees reached maturity the VRC created a race called the Elms Handicap of 7 furlongs (1408m) for two and three-year-olds as a feature of a four-day autumn carnival, supporting act to the three mile (4828m) Champion Race. The winner of the first running of the Elms, was a colt named Cornquist, son of the Australian Racing Hall of Fame horse, Abercorn. There was also a Pines Hurdle and a River Handicap, all ways of directing attention to the natural beauty of this grand racecourse. How have the racecourse elms fared in the meantime? Many succumbed to building extensions, drought and old age, while there have been replacements planted over the years. An expert arborist might be able to determine which is the oldest English elm at Flemington, but “Ulmus procera” can reach extreme old age in Melbourne. Specimens a century old or more continue to thrive in the avenues in Royal Parade and the Fitzroy Gardens. One in the Royal Botanic Gardens was planted in the 1846 when Victoria was still part of New South Wales. Nothing in racing stays the same forever. After a decade the Elms Handicap was restricted to three-year-olds and in 1916 the distance was extended to one mile. The marathon Champion Race disappeared in the 1920s, but the Elms Handicap remained part of the autumn card for most of the rest of the century. There was one historic variation, in 1954, when the VRC autumn carnival was brought forward by two weeks to coincide with the Royal Visit of Her Majesty
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