The meeting on September 28 - a Saturday - is being promoted to residents of South Otago and will include a feature race named the Balclutha Cup, club chief executive Andre Klein said.
''We have noticed a lot of support for some of our race days coming out of this district in the last few years, so we have decided that we should create an event on our calendar their communities can adopt as their own.''
The track at Wingatui, with its long straight and steady curves, is a far cry from the track that greeted jockeys in Balclutha in 1865.
''The track was described as `having sharp curves dangerous to both riders and horses with hardly any straight at all and rising ground at the finish','' Klein said.
''Sadly, the Clutha Racing Club staged its last meeting in 1891 when the club lost its totalisator permit and, perhaps more damning, the carrying of prohibition in the area finished off the enjoyment for many and the booth was empty of alcohol.
''In the last year of operation, the club attracted 22 licensed bookmakers, where they were hardly matched in number by punters.''
Clubs also popped up in Clinton and Tuapeka County along with Beaumont, which still races today at Wingatui. Tuapeka County continued racing until the late 1930s, when the club amalgamated with Beaumont, but had its fair share of controversy in 1879.
''In 1879, the Tuapeka Times reported that 'there seemed a tacit understanding between jockeys and owners as to what the result of each race would be before it was run' and that the 'club is not to be congratulated upon the exhibition of racing displayed ... as a more unsatisfactory day's proceedings never before took place in connection with a Club's annual race day'.''
A bus will travel to and from Balclutha for $25 per person. Dinner and race day packages were available from the Otago Racing Club, Klein said.
A special race or cup would be run for each centre, he said.
