The first race meeting of the year is always an important meeting for the CRJC as this meeting is usually when those being honoured with Life Membership are announced.
With Covid 19 it has been a couple of years since there were any names added to the honour board but he CRJC today added four new names to the Life Member list.
Former jockey and official Rex Kelly was the first to be announced. Rex has been an integral part of Grafton Racing for well in excess of fifty years both as a licensed person and as an official. Rex was one of the leading riders throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s and upon his retirement moved to the role of Trackwork Supervisor at Grafton Racecourse a position he vacated in 2012. In addition, he also did two stints as senior starter for the NRRA eventually ceasing in that role at the commencement of Covid in 2020.
Grafton’s leading trainer John Shelton was the next to be recognized. John has been training in Grafton since the early 1980’s and has trained almost 850 winners in his career. For the past 20 years John has essentially been the leading trainer in Grafton nearly every year. His major wins have come courtesy of Mothers Gift in the Ramornie Handicap of 2000 and Belflyer winning the inaugural running of the Kosciuszko in 2018.
Away from licensed persons two long term Members were also bestowed with life membership.
Merv McKay who has been a Member of the CRJC since 1970. In the early years Merv was a very active owner racing a number of very good horses under the care of the then leading Grafton trainer of the time Simon Trevitt. In recent years Merv has been almost the Northern Rivers most regular racegoer attending meetings not only at Grafton but throughout the region.
Peter Brennan has also been around forever first joining the CRJC in 1973. Peter is a regular racegoer at Grafton and has continued to be a very active Member arranging and hosting groups to attend the July Racing Carnival in most years.
Peter has been an active owner in recent years racing in excess of 20 horses. His current ownership is restricted to the promising Terry Commerford prepared stayer Ambridge
Former chairman Mr Chris McDonald was appointed as an Official Ambassador for the Club. Chris first joined the Board of the CRJC in 1987 was elected Vice Chairman in 1992 and then Chairman in 1997. He resigned from both the Chairmanship and the Board in 1997 for family reasons but since his retirement from the workforce Chris continues to have a very active interest in Club matters. He attends most race meetings and over the past few years especially he has assisted the Board on many race days. In recognition of his ongoing support of the Club the CRJC has decided to formally recognize Chris’s contribution and appoint him as an Official CRJC Ambassador
The final official function for the day was to announce the renaming of the CRJC Winners Room. For most of the past forty years the late John Kenny had ensured that the owners attending the Winners Room after a success were essentially treated like “silk worms”. The Board of the CRJC were very mindful of this long term commitment of John and have therefore decided to rename the Winners Room the “John Kenny Winners Room” in permanent recognition of John’s commitment to the Club.