A BOOK on the history of local racecourses has been published.
John Macnaughtan has been working on the book for the last few years. It details the long histories of the racecourses at Mentone, Aspendale, Epsom, and Richfield.
Macnaughtan, who also co-authored a book on the Epsom racecourse in 2003, said his latest work was inspired by a lifelong passion for racing. “I’ve always had an interest in racing. It started as a youngster, as a kid, and then followed on from that. I even trained a horse for a year, but I didn’t train a winner,” he said.
Macnaughtan said he spent the last four years researching for the book. “The main resource I use is Trove online newspapers, and I also go into the racing museum at Flemington which has a very good archive of horse racing books and newspapers,” he said.
Macnaughtan lives in Mentone and grew up in Parkdale. His book Down The Line Racecourses is now for sale at newsagents in Mentone, Parkdale, Mordialloc, and Aspendale, and at the Mordialloc Historical Society.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 7 February 2024
