Meetings took place on Boxing Day and Easter Monday, and incuded the annual Bright Cup
A report in the Melbourne Argus said that about 1500 people had attended the meeting in December 1891,
the large attendance augmented by the opening of the Brght Railway in the same year.
The original racetrack was located in the area adjacent along the east side of present-day Racecourse Rd and extending
along the Great Alpine Rd. Racing continued at that site until about 1910, when the course was
taken over for Gold Dredging, known as the Racecourse Dredge. When dredging ceased, the land was dug up and sold for
Pine Plantations.
At about
1914, racing was then transferred to a new site off Coronation Avenue, on land which
subsequently became the Pioneer Recreation Park, named after
the Pioneer Mine. This was adjacent to the Football/Cricket ground.
The Freeburg Racing Club also had its occasional meetings at the Bright track in the 1920s.
Meetings continued in the 1930s, "incorporating athetlics, cycling, and woodchopping", and
available records show that a meeting was held in 1939 but were suspended during the War years.
A report in the Argus advised that a meeting took place in December 1945, but there did not appear
to be any further meetings in subsequent years.
After horse racing was abandoned, the site was used for car racing into the early /mid 1960s. It is
not known when car racing commenced - this was possibly in the 1950s.
PIoneer Park today is the centre for many of Bright's community activities, sports and Festivals, and is next to
the Football/Cricket ground.
