The inaugural meeting of the Glen Fern Racing Club was held on the 10th March, 1887 at Glenfern, the property of Alan Selman. The Dandenong Advertiser reported on the success of the meeting. " The prize money was liberal for a first meeting. There was nothing very classical about the racing, the pace being miserably slow. The course proper is a pretty little flat, nestling among the hills. Host Grimwood of the Ferntree Gully Hotel had his spacious marquee erected and his tempting refreshment induced trade." The winner of both the Glen Fern Cup and the Ferntree Gully Handicap was Blue Bell, owned by Fred Row and ridden by A Gardiner. In April 1889, the one mile race, the Glen Fern Cup, was won by Alexandra, owned by J. W. Kirk. The ground was described as slippery with several falls "but none of the boys was badly hurt". (Free Press 26 October, 1966; Dandenong Advertiser 18th April, 1889)

by Catherine Turnbull

Edward Row, owner and builder of the Stamford Park Homestead standing today, was a famous breeder of horses, in particular hunters. In the 1880s, 1890s and during the first decade of the 20th Century, he owned many famous hunters who he took around the local agricultural shows of Victoria, always taking away prizes for best hunter, hunter's plate, and what was then known as the high jump. The High jump was very similar to what we refer to today as Show Jumping, however fewer jumps were used and they often went to extreme heights to finally eliminate the competition.

Edward Row also entered the Royal Melbourne Show each year as well as often travelling to Sydney to compete at the Sydney Royal, which took place over Easter. One of his more famous horses was a chestnut hunter called Cedric. At the Corowa Agricultural Show of 1891, Cedric successfully jumped 6ft 2 ½ inches. Later that same month, Cedric was a competitor in the High Jump at the Royal Melbourne Show, along with another of Row's horses, a mare called Jess. There were two other highly successful horses in the contest named Highlander and Spondulix who had travelled from N.S.W. It was reported at the time to be the best high jumping ever seen in Australia. Cedric cleared 6ft 7in as did his opponent Spondulix. The bar was then raised to 6ft 9 ½ in - a height never before jumped in official competitions in Australia. The single bar was so high that both the horses could have passed under it easily. Unfortunately Cedric touched the bar each time he went over and as Spondulix cleared the jump first time he was declared the winner. The crowd where enthralled with the quality of the competition. The rider of Cedric was A.E. Goer, a brother to the well-known Carlton footballer of the time. A.E. Goer was a regular rider for Mr. Row.

Seven years later in 1898, Mr. Row purchased a very famous horse who had recently recovered from bad injuries he had received in an accident. This horse was another chestnut by the name of Fairfield and had won over 2000 pounds worth of prize money in N.S.W. up to the time of his accident. Edward Row purchased him for 150 pounds and immediately put him into shows, winning his very first competition. This horse never looked back and won at every show he was entered in, including the Royal Shows at both Melbourne and Sydney. Tragically he perished in an horrific fire which destroyed the stables at Stamford Park in August 1900.

Within twelve months of the fire at the stables, Edward Row had got together another show jumping and hunting team of horses and was once again seen at all the agricultural shows. One of these horses he named Tribute, possibly in tribute to those that were lost. He also purchased another famous hunter called Mahonga during this period and had success competing with him. In 1910, Edward Row sold up Stamford Park property and all his horse stock and moved out of the district. For at least 30 years Stamford Park was the home to these magnificent horses, who competed all round the year throughout Victoria, being shipped via the extensive rail network available at the time. They took prize after prize. Some had been bred on the property, others were bought by Row to improve his team. Edward Row was one of the most successful horse competitor's of his time and it is fitting that this suburb in named in honour, not only of him but also in memory of his beautiful horses.

The Cooronwarrabul Polo Club was established in 1928 by George (later Sir George) Knox. Training and matches were played at his property, Kent Park, until the outbreak of World War II in 1939.

The Cooronwarrabul Polo Club usually fielded two teams. Players included James Mansbridge, Alan Kehoe, Bill Rule, Harry Creswick, Frank Richardson, Ken and Tom Guest, Jack De Coite, Jack Mason, William Knox, George Armstrong, G. Nott, C. Abbott, J. Webb, A. Cuthbertson, P. Williams, R. Dobson and H. Davis.

Sir George Knox trained with the team but did not take part in the actual matches. Instead he acted as umpire or time keeper.

The Cooronwarrabul Polo Club participated in the major polo tournaments including the Stradbroke Cup, Somers Cup, Peninsula Cup, Huntingfield Cup and the Australasian Gold Cup.

At the home matches the cars of hundreds of spectators lined the perimeter of the ground. A report in the Ferntree Gully News described the scene:
'Apart from the match itself, the sight of over 500 polo ponies stabled under the trees was in itself a reminder of a race meeting or an agricultural show. The day was beautiful, the turf in good order, and it is estimated that over 500 visitors from Ferntree Gully, Croydon, Scoresby, Bayswater, Dandenong, Berwick, Cranbourne, Ringwood and Beaconsfield enjoyed the outing.'

Women also played polo and in 1934 the first women's polo match in Victoria was played between teams from the Melbourne Hunt Club and the Cooronwarrabul Polo Club.

Waterhouse, John. The Cooronwarrabul Polo Club. Knox Historian vol 1 (2) 1982

Gus Powell owned horses, the most successful being Mosstrooper. Races won by Mosstrooper included the Australian Hurdle Race and Steeplechase double at Caulfield in August 1929, the Grand National Hurdle and Steeplechase double at Flemington in July 1930, and the Australian Hurdle at Caulfield in August 1930. Mosstrooper was retired in 1934 after winning more than £14,000. Mosstrooper remained a favourite in the district and the program for the Lysterfield Gymkhana held 26th January, 1942 advertised that a special attraction would be an appearance by the well known racehorse, Mosstrooper. The horse is buried on the Neatherlea property. (Coulson, Helen. Story of the Dandenongs pp184-185)

Many properties in the Ferntree Gully and Lysterfield area provided agistment for racehorses. In the 1890s racehorses were grazed at The Leasowes, Willowvale and Blackwood Park.

When Alan Tye owned Blackwood Park from approximately 1910 to the end of World War I the property was used for breeding American trotting horses.

J. J. Miller at The Basin also bred horses which were trained on two purpose built trotting tracks.

Miller's Racing Guide was founded by J. J. Miller.

Trotting training tracks were constructed on a number of properties including Ambleside Park.

Horses were also bred for use in the Indian army at a number of properties including Stamford Park and Sweet Hills.