Hardly any other surviving Racing Club would have had as many ups and downs or lived so long under the shadow of centralisation and closure, as the Levin Racing Club.
The Club in fact originated from the earliest moves toward centralisation, or at least rationalisation, when the metropolitan Clubs were trying to reduce the number of “ragtag and bobtail” Clubs scattered around the country.
Race meetings had been held in the Levin district along the sandy stretch of Hokio Beach and the McDonald family also ran meetings about half a mile north of Lake Horowhenua. These picnic meetings were stopped by order of the Wellington Racing Club which decreed that no racing could be held in its area without a permit and without proper observance of the Rules of Racing.
At the suggestion of the Wellington Racing Club, a meeting was held in the Levin Hotel in 1884 which saw the local enthusiasts link up with the already licensed Manakau Racing Club. The Manakau Club was paid 250 pounds as compensation for its licence and the Club’s name was changed to the Horowhenua Hack Racing Club, the word “Hack” being later dropped from the name. The Club raced as the Horowhenua Racing Club until 15 June, 1923, when the name was changed to the Levin Racing Club.
After racing continuously from 1884, Levin racing enthusiasts ran afoul of centralisation moves again in 1910. A commission had been set up to reduce the number of racing days then in existence and Levin, which then raced on two days each year, lost both dates on the grounds that it was centrally placed between Otaki and Foxton. As a result no meetings were held from 1911-25 and 1934-35, in which seasons it secured a floating permit.
In 1940 the Levin Club purchased an extra day from the Napier Park Racing Club at a cost of 1250 pounds. But it enjoyed two-day racing for only two seasons before World War 2 restrictions saw it return to a one-day club.
After the war, Levin returned to a two-day club – then racing in Feburary and July – but it was a long way from being out of the woods. The small track had always given some cause for concern from the safety angle and in the early 1950s its was condemned for racing. Refusing to give in, the club bought out the A and P Association’s share in the property, purchased four acres of neighbouring land and formed a new course. They raced meanwhile away from home, first at Foxton and then at Otaki. Had they found themselves in such difficulties a decade or two later, when centralisation was again a catch -cry, they might well have been forced to centralise on either Foxton or Otaki. But both the Finlay (1946) and McCarthy (1970) Royal Commissions recommended, ironically enough, that Foxton centralise on Levin rather than the reverse.
Horowhenua has Levin as its main centre, and is a market gardening area supplying Wellington.
