PRINTED SILK. - New Caledonia and dependencies. HORSE RACES under the high patronage of the Governor. Program of the races which will take place at Anse du Styx on the coastline bordering the properties of Mr. Tuband and Georges Welton, on Wednesday August 16, 1865. Program signed Dezarnaulds. - First horse races. August 16, 1865. Horses entered and names of their riders - Winning horses and names of their owners - Port de France, Imprimerie du Gouvernement, (1865). 2 pieces printed in black on white silk, 45 x 34.5 approx, blue braid in frame. "The first horse races in New Caledonia took place on August 16, 1865, on the occasion of the Emperor's Day. It was during a dinner offered in Paita that Sheridan Witt, manager of the Paddon estate, regretted that there was no horse racing in the colony and suggested that one be organized. The idea caught on and a committee was immediately created. It was created by Adolphe Boutan, an agricultural engineer and director of the model farm of Yahoué. In 1865 at Anse du Styx, renamed today Baie des Citrons, on the Tuband and Georges Welton properties, four races were scheduled: the gallop, the trot, the ponies and the hurdles. The most popular race, the gallop, was won by Coquet, a horse belonging to Mrs. Guillain, the governor's wife. Since then, the popular success of these events has not diminished over the years with the "Winfield Coupe Clarke", the great star of the season. From 1880 on, races were held at the Magenta racetrack. They were organized by the Société calédonienne des courses. The Société des sports de Nouvelle-Calédonie, chaired by Alphonse Dillenseger, then took over and occupied the premises from 1929 to 1939.