Today's Perak Turf Club races on a fine course, the backdrop for which is Gunong Korbu, one of the highest peaks in the main range of the Peninsula. The club is the custodian of a Perak racing tradition that goes back nearly 85 years, the first meeting having been held at Taiping , then the State capital, in 1886 by the first Perak Turf Club. Its course was the cradle of racing in the Peninsula. The Kinta Gymkhana Club founded in 1890 and held its first meeting at Batu Gajah, the district centre. The first Perak Derby, for stakes of RM1,000, over 1½ miles, was won by T.W. Raymond, a noted amateur rider, on Locky. Ipoh was a fast-developing town and the Ipoh Gymkhana Club started in February 1913 on the new course with a meeting open only to amateur riders. In due time, meetings at Batu Gajah faded out and Ipoh became the main centre of racing in the state, although the Perak Gymkhana Club and later the Taiping Turf Club were to carry on racing at Taiping for many years.

Today's Perak Turf Club, with headquarters at Ipoh, was formed in 1926. The first event at the Ipoh Gymkhana Club's meeting was the Miners' Cup, presented by Kinta miners. It was a distance race for "pony roadsters" and was won by Gang Robber, owned, trained and ridden by Dr H. Jacques. Other trophies presented were the Planters' Cup, the Merchants' Cup and the Bar Cup (by the lawyers). Irishmen presented the St Patrick's Mug. World War I severely curtailed racing in the region, but the Ipoh Gymkhana Club at its Spring Meeting in 1919 ran its first-ever professional meeting. For the first race, the Opening Stakes (RM400), there were only two starters and there was an upset, witty, F. O'Connor up, beating the favourite, Jillawarra, ridden by Rube Billet, later a well-known trainer, but then at the peak of his riding carrer. The Sultan's Cup, over I mile and two furlongs, was won by LaGeorge, carrying 9.10, in a time that stood as a record for many years.

F. Douglas Osborne was first President of the Perak Turf Club, with C.B. Redway as vice president. Membership was 450. Under the enthusiastic patronage of Sultan Iskandar Shah (father of the present Sultan of Perak), who for years owned the largest and one of the most successful strings of horses racing in the region, the club made fine progress. The last meeting under the Straits Racing Association rules before the start of the Pacific War was at Ipoh. There was however, some racing during the Japanese occupation.

Perak had the same rehabilitation problems as other clubs, but facilities were back to pre-war standards by 1951. By 1960, the club has extended its activities into other sports and community projects at State and national levels. The club can claim a number of "firsts" for the Malayan turf. It was the first club to introduce graded stakes for the various classes (July 1950). This system was generally adopted in 1962. In 1950, the club big stakes for classics, with RM25,000 for the Perak Derby, over 1½ miles, won by Indian Heather. In 1959, it ran the first RM1 million sweep, with a record first prize of RM400,000. In 1960, the club was the first to introduce the digit forecast pool. In 1961, it experimented with morning and afternoon racing, with a 12-event card in November 1961.