The Rangitikei Racing Club is one of New Zealand’s oldest “Racing” Clubs and this proud Club held its 150th anniversary celebration in 2007.

Racing was a popular pastime in the Rangitikei district from the early 1850’s and in 1859 James Bull Snr opened a store and later a hotel there – which is how the township of Bulls got its name. His son Jim Bull Jnr. bred and raced many good horses, specialising in jumpers. Jim’s sons Lindsay and Leighton were first class amateur horsemen in their day, with Leighton becoming a committeeman of the Marton Jockey Club. The family tradition has in turn been carried on by Leighton’s son Jim Bull, who enjoyed a long and distinguished career in racing administration highlighted by his time as the President of the New Zealand Racing Conference. Jim Bull himself won the Rangitikei Gold Cup on three successive occasions in the mid 1980’s with his very good galloper Magnitude. Since his passing the Bull Family have kept the tradition going with sponsorship of the James Bull Rangitikei Gold Cup which was first run in 1875, held at the Club’s May feature meeting.

The Rangitikei Racing Club established the Bulls racecourse around 1878 and raced there until 1969 when the Club shifted its activities to Awapuni. Rangitikei Racing Club decided to sell the old racecourse to local trainer Stewart Mitchell who has since sold the course to Raymond Connors. The Bulls track is now a private training centre for Raymond and other trainers in the district.

The Rangitikei Gold Cup has been part of the region’s racing story for more than 150 years, with the race first run in 1875. It is the signature race of the Rangitikei Racing Club, with one of the most memorable chapters in the Gold Cup's history, mentioned above, coming in the 1980s, when Jim Bull won his own Club's feature race three consecutive times with the talented Magnitude, in 1985,1986 and 1987.

The Bull family's association with the race has continued, with the James Bull name becoming synonymous with the Gold Cup through long-standing sponsorship. It is a fitting connection for a race that has its roots so deeply embedded in the history of the Rangitikei district.

Today, the Rangitikei Gold Cup continues to be a feature of the Central Districts racing calendar. While its home is now within the wider RACE network, the race retains the name, traditions and heritage of the district it represents — carrying forward a racing story that began in the nineteenth century and continues to connect generations of Rangitikei racing enthusiasts.