South Australian Jockey Club

South Australian Jockey Club is the principal race club in South Australia, Australia.

The first horse racing events in South Australia took place at a largely-attended picnic meeting held over 1 and 2 January 1838. In August 1838, riding his grey gelding Charley, Fred Handcock won the first steeplechase event ever held in South Australia. Various racing events (including match races) continued throughout the 1840s, but without a regulating body.

The first incarnation of the South Australian Jockey Club (S.A.J.C.) was in 1850, when it ran a race programme at Brighton on 14 February. Thomas Shayle was the Hon. Sec. and Edward Strike the Clerk of the Course. Many variously named clubs were subsequently formed and folded, and races were run under Jockey Club rules within and outside these organisations at various locations: Dry Creek, the East Parklands (the "Old Adelaide Racecourse"), Thebarton and Glenelg.

A fresh start was made following a series of meetings held in June and July 1861, when a new committee was formed, whose members included Sir James Fisher (president), E. M. Bagot, W. K. Simms, P. B. Coglin (starter), William Blackler and Gabriel Bennett, with James Chambers as judge. They settled on the Thebarton track as their racecourse, and the first programme held 1–3 January 1862. The Thebarton course was deeply unpopular both with racing men and the racegoing public. It was difficult of access compared with the Old Course on the East Parklands; moreover it was unpleasant on account of the smells from nearby industries. It was, however offered gratis by its owner, E. M. Bagot, whereas P. B. Coglin, who had the lease, demanded ₤1,500 for the use of the "Old Course".

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