Marjorie Charleson – A Tribute to a Legend of WA Racing

Marjorie Charleson didn’t train racehorses nor was she a jockey. She dabbled in breeding and raced a few. But it was a passion for the animal and the sport of kings that drove the New Zealander to become a lamplighter in the Western Australian racing industry in the 70’s and 80’s. It was a time in which the WA Turf Club audaciously laid down a challenge to Victoria by putting up a purse for the 1972 Perth Cup at Ascot that was higher than the Melbourne Cup. The Victoria Race club hurriedly boosted prizemoney for its Cup to better the WA race but the battle lines had already been drawn. For the next two decades the Ascot Summer Carnival would attract the best horses, trainers and jockeys to Perth. Marjorie Charleson was charged with the mammoth task of getting them. Punters flocked to Ascot in their thousands after Marjorie enticed Phar Lap’s strapper Tommy Woodcock to bring Reckless from Melbourne for the 1977 Cup. The Ascot record crowd of 47,000 still stands. But perhaps Marjorie’s finest achievement was convincing trainer Tommy Smith to bring Kingston Town, winner of 3 Cox Plates, to Ascot in 1982. It was to be the champion horse’s last race