Armytage Fondly Remembered
- Friday, 11 June 2010 02:28
Former chairman of the Victoria Racing Club, Peter Armytage, will be remembered as one of racing’s finest administrators.
Sadly he passed away on Tuesday at the Penshurst Hospital. His health had been failing over recent months, he turned 87 in April.
His period as chairman, from 1986-91, showed him as a great leader when he took on the Labor Government in 1989.
He was not going to be dictated to by the Government, or its bureaucrats, when it was announced that $21.2 million would be taken from TAB coffers, which was under the control of racing at that time.
Without Peter’s wise leadership the take out would have been on going leaving racing high and dry without a feather to fly with.
Racing was a great part of his life, he loved it whether it was Flemington or some outback country track.
There was no grandeur or discrimination about Peter, he treated all with the same courtesy and a wide smile.
Peter Armytage will be long remembered in many ways, not the least the bronze statue of the great Phar Lap, as we enter Flemington Racecourse.
Picture: Jack Styring
