EARLY DAY BARRIER RACING MEMORIES OF THE ROARING EIGHTYS.     . Wild and unorthodox were the days that ushered in the first annals of Barrier horse - racing. The wonderful richness of the Silverton finds had caused a great trek to those strange, silent, and until then, almost untenanted lands.  As was to be expected - even in the midst of this quest for wealth, this hurly-burley of hope and excitement - the sporting spirit made its presence felt, and in some way or another had to find practical expression.  And not for long was such denied it, for in September, 1884, a race meeting - and the very first on the Barrier - was held near Piesse's Knob (Piesse was a member of the Sturt exploring party), about half - a - mile above where the present day Stephens Creek weir is situated. Of course, Broken Hill was unheard of then, but Silverton was the El Dorado of the Great Plains, and men were scattered over the country searching for new fields .The meeting was run under the auspices-no,  not of the A. J. C. but Frank Jones and Mick O"Farrell, of the old Mt Gipps hotel.  About four hundred people - mostly men - turned up to the meeting, and no times were broken, joy, money and whiskey flew about with extravagant abandon. This meeting is memorable, because of at least one strange event.  On the previous day the first wedding on the Barrier had taken place at Silverton.            The happy couple after getting "spliced", drove away from Silverton - presumably on their honeymoon, and got lost!   All night no tidings came of their whereabouts, but they turned up serenely next day - at Piesse's Knob races and their only tangible possession was a rug.  At any rate, the bride and bridegroom - and - the - rug - received a mighty welcome from the assembled sports - and that part, at least ,of the first Barrier honeymoon was a merry one indeed. The next meeting was held in December of the same year (1884) at Silverton, where the Barrier Ranges Jockey Club had been formed, and a course selected, about three miles out on the east side of the Thackaringa Road, on the banks of Mindicomballa Creek - a place not quite as terrible as its name.           At this meeting Mr George Miller won the double with a bay gelding named "Secret".   In 1885 the meeting was repeated, and attracted horses from further afield.    At this time racing was booming at Wilcannia, and a good contingent of river horses was sent across. Eaglet, who ran at that meeting, afterwards in 1889 won the Victorian Grand National Steeple - chase, and carried the fair impost of 11st.2lb.  He originally belonged to Mr. P. Bolger, but later on passed into the hands of Mr.S.Miller, and in his name won the big "lepping event."   He was an ungainly, hairy legged animal, but was a cut above the ordinary when it came to carrying weight over a long journey. At this Silverton meeting the big money was annexed by Mr Darcy, and South Australian horses made their first appearance on a Barrier racecource. The settling in connection with that and other early-day meetings was something to be remembere.  In fact, after twenty - odd years,it is doubtful whether a few of the "sore heads" had yet thoroughly recovered. The meetings continued to boom, and, later-about 1887 - the program - or most of it - was won by Fishhook and Ballarat, two horses belonging to Mr. J. Pile, of Cuthro station.  So successful had the annual meetings become that occasionally "off" meetings were run through the year,and, in 1890, the annual meeting covered three days But this blaze of glory was the beginning of the end so far as Silverton racing was concerned.  The rattle was in the throat of the Silver boom, and the field began to peter out. A year later, Mr Penrose, who was in the brewing business at the silver settlement, shifted the venue to what was known later as Penrose Park.          The old course was originally part of Mundi Mundi Station, and afterwards became part of the Silverton Common.                                            CONTINUE