Alfred William East, a captain with the 4th Waikato Regiment, was one of the original owners of Claudelands. East Street in the suburb is named for him. Francis Richard Claude was an early wealthy settler from South America who bought of parcels of mainly swampy land from the original soldier-settlers who were disgruntled with their land allocation. Claude subdivided most of it in 1878. An area of kahikatea forest was then cleared to create the racecourse. It was sold to the South Auckland Racing Club and then the Waikato A&P Association, who had their first show on 27 October 1892. Racing moved to Te Rapa Racecourse in 1925.