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RACING HISTORY

HORSES

Trusty Scott & Henderson Hunter

TRUSTY SCOTT

The 1978 NZ Cup winner Trusty Scot, one of Southland's best pacers, has a cracked pastern in his off hind leg, and has run his last race. "He had me worried for a while," part owner and trainer Henderson Hunter said, referring to the serious nature of the injury. Trusty Scot suffered the cracked pastern after competing at the NZ Cup meeting at Addington in the week leading up to the Young Quinn flying mile at Wyndham at the end of November.

After racing his way through to Cup class in his 3 and 4-year-old years, Trusty Scot had a bone chip removed from a sesamoid in his near hind leg as an early 5-year-old and missed racing for most of that season. Hunter, who raced Trusty Scot with his father Adam Hunter, said he thought the extra pressure on his off-hind leg due to that first injury contributed to his breaking down in his other hind leg. Trusty Scot will be unable to serve mares this season but the 8-year-old Scottish Command entire from the Flying Song mare Fledgeling will commence stud duties at Edendale next spring. "We'll keep him down here and give Southlanders a chance to breed to him," Hunter said.

Trusty Scot retires with stake earnings of $128,545, the result of 96 starts for 21 wins and 29 placings, including a win at the Inter-Dominion Championships in Brisbane as a 4-year-old. Placed once in five starts at two, he gained prominence in his 3-year-old racing in a busy campaign, starting 25 times for five wins and 12 placings, and taking a 1:59.9 record when he won the Stan Andrews Stakes from Smokey Lopez and Bolton Byrd at Addington.

At four, he ran 21 times for seven wins, including the Ascot Park Flying Mile at Invercargill in 2:00.3, beating the star-studded field of Balgove, Sole Command, In Or Out, Forto Prontezza and Lunar Chance. He also won a heat of the NZ Messenger Championship and was runner-up to Stanley Rio in the final, won a heat of the Brisbane Inter-Dominion, and lowered his mile record to 1:57.6.

After missing his 5-year-old season because of injury, Trusty Scot came back better than ever at six, winning the Ashburton Flying Stakes first up, and the Kaikoura Cup before his most important successes, the 1978 NZ Cup from Sapling, the NZ Free-For-All three days later in 2:29.1 for the mobile 2000 metres, a mile rate of 2:00.1. Naturally, Hunter rates these wins as his best because he beat the top pacers, Sapling, Lord Module and company, when they were all going strong. Hunter also rates his performances in Australia at the Inter-Diminions, when he made a remarkable recovery to run third in a heat after losing a big stretch of ground early, and later at Perth the same season as he won the Cup, among the best in a fine career.

Trusty Scot contested the Inter-Dominion Championships at Christchurch as a late 6-year-old and wound up a strong-finishing fifth in the final after racing back in mid-field. His 7-year-old season was not a happy one. He struck difficulties racing off back marks, but he managed a good sixth in the NZ Cup after an early break, and won twice. This season, he led from end to end in the Quadroon Invitation Stakes at Gore, his last win, and was a strong finisher from the rear for fifth in the NZ Cup.

A genuine racehorse, with a clean gait, Trusty Scot is one of the best performed sons of Scottish Command.

Credit: Jeffery Scott writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 20Jan81

HORSES

YOUNG CHARLES

Young Charles, who died a few days ago at the grand age of 35, did much to underline the hard wearing qualities of the U Scott line.

"His death was sad, but easy to accept," his owner-breeder Bob Mayne said last week. "He ate up normally, did everything else as usual and quietly walked away and died," said Mr Mayne, a retired Christchurch cartage contractor.

As a racehorse and as a sire Young Charles was every inch an individual, being bred on the stout U Scott - Jack Potts cross. U Scott and Jack Potts both headed the NZ sires' list on nine occasions and Young Charles topped the list in 1975, the year of Young Quinn.

Foaled on October 25, 1946, Young Charles revealed immediate ability for trainer Colin Berkett, being champion 2-year-old and 3-year-old of his year. In all, he won 11 races and had 26 placings from 56 starts for $24,435, racing against the likes of Van Dieman, Johnny Globe, Vedette, Caduceus, Burns Night and Soangetaha. Hampered by tendon trouble once he attained Cup class rating, his courage won the hearts of many. Canterbury trotting men to this day maintain that his second to Johnny Globe in the 1954 NZ Cup 'on three legs' was one of the most memorable contests ever at Addington. Johnny Globe set a world two mile time of 4:07.6 in that race and Young Charles on a restricted preparation, recorded 4:10.8.

"My greatest thrills were his wins in the NZ Futurity Stakes and All-Aged Stakes at the Ashburton June meeting," Mr Mayne recalled. "Colin Berkett was a great feeder, and, as Young Charles had a wonderful constitution, he had to be worked really hard to give his best on the track," Mr Mayne said.

Young Charles' battle for recognition as a sire was certainly an uphill one. When retired to Mr Mayne's Yaldhurst property he received only eight mares and 11 the following season. He then had a season in Auckland before moving to Southland. Restricted as his early opportunities were, Young Charles slowly but surely acquired the respect of breeders, siring the likes of Danny's Pal (10 wins and 14 placings), Jacobite (12 wins and 9 placings), Valcador (10 wins and 12 placings), Lonesome Valley (9 wins and 12 placings) and Top Copy (9 wins and 21 placings).

Even better, however, was to come when he stood at Colin Baynes' Ferndale and Otama nurseries. Notable pacers conceived at those studs before he finished his Southland career at Des Baynes' Highway Farm, Edendale included Young Quinn (1:55), Sapling (1978-79 Pacer of the Year), Sassenach (1:58.6), Peter Onedin (1:56.8), Gurkha (1:58.2) and Ghandi ($225,000).

Young Charles has so far been credited with siring 165 winners and 20 in 2:00, from around 470 live foals an excellent percentage of 35. Only Local Light (23) and Lordship (22) have been more successful NZ-bred sires of 2:00 performers. "I always wanted him to make the top as a sire more than anything else in the world. When Young Quinn won the 1975 Inter-Dominion final in Auckland, that really put the icing on the cake for me," Mr Mayne said.

As a broodmare sire, Young Charles has now emerged as a real force. He has sired the dams of 122 winners (to July 31, 1981) and at least eight in 2:00 including Armbro Star (1:59.6), Testing Times (1:59.2), Loyal Drift (NZ Oaks), Smooth Charles (1:58.8) and Saucy Jack (Methven Cup).

One way or another, Young Charles has been a good horse to many trotting people all over NZ and many are grateful for the care he received right up until his death. Bob Mayne went to a lot of trouble to bury Young Charles in a special grave on his property last week. The influence of his old favourite promises to be felt as long as there is light harness racing in NZ. Sapling, his best performed entire son, has been heavily booked for his initial season at the Hokonui Stud, where he was conceived nine years ago and where Young Charles made his name as a sire.

Credit: Don Wright writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 22Sep81

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Ces Devine, Jack Smolenski & Lord Module

GREAT RACES: LORD MODULE 1981 ALLAN MATSON FFA

Now that we have entered the realms of our 'living memory', the very first occasion that always springs to mind as a 'greatest event' is Lord Module's 1981 Allan Matson. It was a great race featuring a number of great horses like a lot of others, but it was a spectacle combined with the recent history and the emotions which flowed which made it all the more special.

I was a rising 21-year-old cadet with the then 'NZ Trotting Calendar' in November, 1981, having been brought on board the HRW's predecessor a year or two earlier by editor Tony Williams, based solely on unabashed enthusiasm - couldn't even type let alone write a story. Reading up the old Calendars at the time to refresh the memory, it is obvious by the time the 1981 Cup Meeting came round that my main responsibilities each week had still only evolved into banging out the weekend's race results all day Monday on our trusty old portable typewriter, sorting out the NZ-bred winners in America and being 'trusted' with the intro, and 'working' at the Addington races, where my primary objective was to ensure I made the stretch to the old tote 10 times a night and in time to get Tony's investments placed, which was all very exciting given each one was more than my weekly wage. The memory banks recede with time, but I will never, ever forget the night of November 21, 1981.

Sitting in the open Press Box in the old Member's Stand and on an angle to the public grandstand, which in those days was pretty full for events such as the last night of the Cup Meeting, the sight of the stand moving like a slow moving landside was unbelievable. The people were coming to greet, cheer and clap their idol, and they crammed around the birdcage for the nearest and best possible vantage point. It was enough to make grown men cry, and some did.

To appreciate and understand what led to this night of unbridled enthusiasm and passion and an unforgettably magic moment in time, one had to live through the career of Lord Module, one which for the most part seemed like one sensational hair-raising performance or controversial abject failure after another.

In 1976, the racing days of Canterbury's favourite (standardbred) son Robalan were over, and the people needed a new champion. Lord Module wasn't long in coming, displaying exceptional talent and potential as a 2-year-old for a by now veteran and semi-retired but legendary horseman in Ces Devine, a man who did not suffer fools lightly let alone owners and slow horses. He suffered Lord Module though, even when more often than not that season he would run the favourite and do a stretch at the start, mobiles being still a rarity at Addington, rather than the norm. But his class was well and truly confirmed when he romped away in record time with the NZ Juvenile Championship at Alexandra Park at season's end, accounting for the boom northern youngster Testing Times (10 wins from 12 starts going in) and other top colts in Glide Time, Redcraze, Main Star and Motu Prince.

He was back bigger and bolder at three, but no better behaved, and waywardness would cost him dearly in both the New Zealand and Great Northern Derbys. Devine was not afraid to start him against tough and older intermediate grade pacers if it suited the schedule though, and his eight wins that season included a 'c5-c6' mobile at Addington over the good mares Ruling River and Bronze Queen and the 'c7-c9' Barton Memorial at Forbury Park, where he started favourite against pretty much an open class field and bolted in by six lengths over stable-mate Sun Seeker (handled by son-in-law Kevin Williams) and Miss Pert.

Not much changed at four either, a season he began in open class. Lord Module started favourite in each of his first eight races that year - except for the NZ Cup where he blew the start - and failed to win any of them for one reason or another. He started to get his act together in the second half of the season with three straight wins and a game third from 30m behind in the Forbury 4YO Championship to frontmarker Graikos, giving cause for a rise in optimism going into the 1979 Inter-Dominions at Addington.

That optimism crashed to Ground Zero on the first night though when he was up to his old tricks again and tailed the field home bar one even more tardy Australian in Gemini Boy. Faced with a 'must win' situation on the second night, Lord Module again conceded ground and settled well behind favourite Markovina (15m), but the 3200m helped and after tracking the NZ-bred entire up and into line six-wide, and as many lengths from the leaders, Lord Module scorched the outside fence and got up to down Belmer's Image in the last stride. A sound second to the unbeaten heat winner Wee Win on the third night had him comfortably into the Final, but Lord Module had had enough of the heroics for now and in an Inter-Dominion which was supposed to serve as redemption for the 'one that got away' with False Step, Devine's thoughts instead turned to what would be his last NZ Cup drive that year.

Lord Module would be overshadowed in the spring by a redhot Roydon Scott - on the comeback trail after going amiss the previous January - and was also the centre of much mirth at the National Meeting in August. Roydon Scott had beaten him fairly and squarely in the Louisson, but when the field emerged from a blanket of fog less than 100 metres from the finish in the National Handicap, Lord Module had Roydon Scott in a box as Sunseeker won uncontested to qualify for the Cup. Roydon Scott had gone amiss again by the time Lord Module was runner-up at Ashburton to Bad Luck and Oamaru to Watbro, but Devine was just foxing and fine-tuning his V8 to have it ready to explode at the Cup Meeting.

And explode it did, at least at the start in the minds of punters, who sent him out a $3.55 favourite. While only winning once at Forbury Park in his seven lead-up races, Lord Module had been second or third in the other six and had been rewarded for his good behaviour by being taken off the unruly list. This however resulted in him drawing the awkward barrier one in the Cup, and as if to signal that Lord Module figured big occasions equated to failure and disappointment, he stood motionless as he tape flew and watched the rest of the field disembark. He had however made up his lost 50 metres by the time Bad Luck reached the winning post the first time and Devine immediately latched onto Sapling's back for an early cart into the race.

What happened soon after would become the stuff of folklore. Sapling took over the 'death seat' occupied by Sun Seeker, and Lord Module managed to slot into the one-one in an incident which forced his stablemate down onto Greg Robinson, who galloped and put Rondel out of the race. Pushed back from the half by the three-wide train as Sapling also tired and came back on him, Lord Module showed up at the furlong and careered away for a brilliant and magnificent four-and-a-half-length win in a truly-run 4:09.

Gavan Hamilton, who was a 22-year-old participant in all this and had a good view behind his father Ron's horse, the third-placed Trevira, wrote to vote for this race as one of the greatest, and offered his thoughts on what transpired. "I was talking to Henry (Skinner with Sapling) later and he said 'I looked around and saw Lord Module coming and I thought this was good. Then I looked around again to see where he'd got to and he was on my back, and I thought how the hell did that happen.' Soon after we had finished, Max (Robinson with Greg Robinson) drove over to Ces and screamed 'you are going to lose that' and so on. Max was normally a very placid sort of fellow and Wolfie was none to happy either. Then I was called into the room about getting cut off (by Lord Module) at the furlong. I had taken hold for a stride but that's all, I didn't think it had cost me second. But if I had been second, it would have been tempting to say 'what about the earlier incident'."

There was an enquiry into the infamous incident about 2100 metre from home, but after receiving conflicting evidence and viewing an inconclusive video, the announcement that the placings would stand came about 20 minutes later much to the delight of all and sundry. Fair to say, the Stipes knew they stood to be lynched by an angry mob at best if they had taken the race off Lord Module, or more to the point, Devine.

Hamilton, these days working for a fertilisator company while keeping his hand in with the odd horse, was as much in awe of Lord Module that day as anyone. "I was four-wide coming to the turn outside Del's Dream and Lord Module was inside me, fair bolting and climbing all over Denis Nyhan (Del's Dream). Denis turned to me and said 'who is that' and I said it's 'Tassie'. He said keep him there as long as you can and you might win. Being just a lad with a chance to win the Cup, I thought I would go for it and put a winning break on him. Well no sooner had I done that and he was out and around me and gone in two strides, and I thought, my God what a horse, and I didn't even know he had done a stretch at the start."

Three days later, Lord Module jogged the opening mile of the Free-For-All in 1:57.4 and won easing down by four lengths over Trevira, missing Robalan's world record by .1 of a second, and the Allan Matson was likewise a walk in the park. The Pan Am Mile and the NZ record for a race of 1:56.2 soon followed - where he loafed home in 30.2 with nobody to push him - as he did in the New Year Mile over speedster Locarno and new Auckland sensation Delightful Lady.

The 1:55 barrier then fell in an epic time-trial at Addington in far from even good conditions. The event had been postponed a week due to the weather, and from 8.30pm until after the last race following day-long rain, but over 6000 ardent admirers braved the bitter conditions and Lord Module didn't disappoint in powering home in 1:54.9 when most figured 1:57 would be tough.

Turning back an offer of $600,000 from Del Miller which would have resulted in the resurrection of the International Series in New York with a flat "not for sale at any price - I'm having too much fun," Devine next headed off for a tilt at th Auckland Cup, and Lord Module headed for the downward spiral to his career which would land him on the night of the 1981 Allan Matson, with only one further win behind him - a mile at Washdyke over light-weights Philippa Frost and The Raider the previous February from 14 races in his 6-year-old season.

He had developed a reputation as a complete rogue, and it mattered little that the painful quarter cracks which had troubled him on and off for much of his career had reduced his mental capacity to that of an errant 3-year-old with a tooth ache. He had been stood down from even starting in the spring and failed special trials which would have allowed him to take his place in the Cup. Yet another sullen display had seen him fail to participate at all in the NZ Free-For-All, in a week when the spotlight shone brightly on Armalight, Lord Module had been reduced to the butt of cruel jibes and jokes by all but his most fanatical followers.

Come the Allan Matson, and the 'bully' was that if Lord Module produced another act of petulance and Devine didn't then retire him, the Stipes would. Enough was enough - the end was nigh.

It was therefore hearts in mouths stuff as the mobile began to move away, and heads in hands when Lord Module pig-rooted and momentarily it seemed 'here we go again'- the end had come with another inglorious display. But out of desperation, Jack Smolenski went for the whip, and Lord Module lept into action and was almost unbelievably in his rightful place as the start was reached, and the crowd roared for the first time. Settling handy only to be pushed back in the running, Lord Module was last on the fence with a lap to go as Armalight and Gammalite - under the bat but unable to cross - took them along at break-neck speed, closely attende by Bonnie's Chance and Hands Down.

All the while the crowd rumbled with feverish excitement. Still last at the 300m, Lord Module began to make his move and when he showed up six-wide at the furlong, Reon Murtha screamed "and here's Lord Module, and oh, he is just mowing them down!" And the crowd erupted. There was a secondary eruption when a new world record was announced, and a third when Lord Module finally arrived back at the birdcage after some delay - he had kept going at high speed some way past the finish and Smolenski had only been able to bring him to a standstill and turn around in the backstraight.

Even Devine was visibly shaken, and down at the track the incessant and frenetic reaction that swept along everyone meant that it was impossible to hear someone only a few feet away. Lord Module returned to a hero's welcome and old-timers agreed that the only receptions to compare were the aftermath of Johnny Globe's NZ Cup almost half a century earlier, and the retirement of the immortal Harold Logan in the late 30s. All else was forgotten in the delerium and ecstasy - no abuse this time, just admiration and awe.

Not known that night was that it would in fact be Lord Module's last race. The quarter cracks would deteriorate beyond repair in the ensuing months, and Devine announced his retirement to stud a few months later. That would not be the start of another fairytale story, but as the end to a spectacular racing career, what a way to go!


Credit: Frank Marrion writing in HRWeekly 5Jul06

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Time's Up races away from Up Tempo

1981 NZ OAKS

RNZAF pilot Bill Lamb could be at Addington, he was tied up with flying exercises somewhere over the North Island. But no matter how high in the sky he might have been, he wouldn't have been on the same plane his mother Dora and sister Mrs Judy Taylor were on after the running of the New Zealand Oaks. They were on "cloud nine".

For they had just seen their brilliant filly Time's Up run away with the classic from some of the best in the country. And in record time too. The daughter of Don Baker and See You Later scampered over the 2600 metres in 3:22.1, well inside the 3:23.9 Armalight ran in the race last year and beating the national time for a filly of 3:23.1. that time is the second national record Time's Up has set now. Four starts back she ran 4:19 for 3200 metres when winning at Rangiora, a top performance. But winning is nothing new for this filly. the Oaks victory was her eleventh in a career that has netted her connections near enough to $40,000.

So it wasn't wishful thinking on the part of Mrs Lamb when earlier in the season she told Jack Smolenski: "We are going to win the Oaks this time." While Smolenski, who drove the filly, didn't reject the idea out of hand, he did apparently sound a note of caution. After all, he pointed out, he had never won an Oaks before although, as he recalled he'd got horses like Gina Marie and Royal Belmer into the money over the years. But Mrs Lamb was still confident. Time's Up had been top of her age and sex at the end of her initial season. There was no reason why she shouldn't carry on.

The wins haven't come as frequently this term as they did last time. The Oaks was only her second in nine starts for the season although she has been in the money every other time. The previous time out she was just beaten by Yvette Bromac in the final of the DB Flying Fillies' series at Alexandra Park. The margin then was only half a head. In that race, Smolenski said, he might have gone to the lead a little early and Time's Up could have run out of steam. In the Oaks, however, she took off rounding the final turn and "sprinted home well" to leave the others well behind at the line.

After galloping off the mark, but settling quickly, Time's Up soon got a cover on the outer with Smolenski content enough to take advantage of the "lucky" run. Patsy Marie shot into the lead from the outset and set a strong pace with Up Tempo nicely in the trail for Jim Curtin, hot favourite Take Care in the open and Twilight Mist behind her. Smolenski kept Time's Up behind Twilight Mist until just the right moment. Once into the straight the last time, Patsy Marie veered quite markedly away from the fence and Curtin was quick to take advantage of the gap. Up Tempo shot to the lead but couldn't hold off the strong challenge Smolenski and his filly lodged in the run home.

Time's Up finished a length and a half in front of the runner-up with Southland filly Risdon Lea running on well for third after sitting out the race four and five back on the fence. Patsy Marie put in another gutsy performance to hang on to fourth ahead of Verona, outsider Jody Kowhai and the favourite Take Care who was wide early and then kept in the open.

The Oaks win gave Smolenski a sparkling driving treble for the season: earlier he won the New Zealand Derby with South Canterbury colt Amaze and the NZ Welcome Stakes with Mel's Boy.

Credit: NZ Trotting Calendar

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Stormy Morn & Tony Perucich

1981 DOMINION TROTTING HANDICAP

From a $150 riding hack to the greatest stake winning trotter to race down this end of the world...that is Stormy Morn, winner of the Dominion. The $26,000 cheque he took home for owner Peter Moore after New Zealand's top trot took his earnings to over the $140,000 exceeding the winnings of the other leaders, Scotch Tar, Easton Light and No Response. Only Petite Evander has won more than Stormy Morn and she did a lot of her racing in the Northern Hemisphere.

Stormy Morn had demonstrated his toughness earlier in the carnival when he won the NZ Trotting Free-For-All after being wide all the way. On Saturday night trainer-driver Tony Perucich had the Westland King gelding right back in the field to the 2000 metres when he pressed on to tackle and pass pacemaking Game Way, dragging About Now up with him. With 1600 metres to go, he was still in the lead, About Now trailing ahead of Brother James and Regal Flyer on the outer, and Game Way still down there on the rails. Once into the straight, it was all on with challenges coming thick and fast. But hang on in typical fashion Stormy Morn did while Game Way, About Now, McShane and Jenner fought out the minors close up behind him.

The winning margin to Game Way was just half a head with a similar distance back to About Now. It was enough to make Stormy Morn the top stake winning trotter in the country.

Christchurch plumber Peter Moore originally bought Stormy Morn for $150 as a riding hack for his daughter Dianne. The Westland King gelding had been tried as a two-year-old but hadn't shown anything. And when tried again some years later he immediately showed up as a trotter destined for the top with a seemingly never ending string of placings. He fulfilled that promise earlier this year when he took the Australasian Trotting Championship and crowned everything with victory in the Dominion.

The win was also Perucich's biggest and most prestigious win. He'd previously hit the headlines by winning the New Zealand Juvenile Championship and the Welcome Stakes when Trio was a two-year-old. He had that horse down with him for the Cup carnival too, but it raced without much success. Perucich was based in Christchurch but moved north to Pukekohe a little over two years ago. "There was more racing up there, more mobiles and more money," he said. "But I miss Canterbury and would like to come back one day." He put the win down to the seven-year-old's great staying ability. "He's as tough as they come. He trotted around to the lead when the pace slackened off."

The run of Game Way to run second was another top performance. It was only his second run since breaking down in the Dominion last season. He won on the first day of the meeting with a genuine gutsy performance. "We're really lucky to be here," trainer Alec Purdon said. "He's had no work since that win...only some light jogging." Game Way is still plagued with unsoundness but the stallion "won't give up. We'll keep hoping...he'll probably start at Ashburton in the invitation trot there," he said.

Doody Townley was delighted with the run of About Now. "She stuck on well but wasn't good enough to get there. It was a good one." McShane battled on for his placing after being back on the outer to the 600 metres when he moved up to be closer, but wide, with fine northerner Jenner following him all the way.

Credit: Graham Ingram writing in NZ Trotting Calendar

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

A jubilant Brent Smith and his wife Carol with Met President Murray Taylor and his wife Rana

1981 NZ TROTTING CUP

A few weeks ago, Brent Smith confessed he had one ambition: to win the New Zealand Cup with Armalight to prove he owned the best horse in the country. No, he wasn't worried that she might be up against the likes of Delightful Lady or Bonnie's Chance or, at that stage, Hands Down. His mare would match any of them. And so, last Tuesday, it proved. Delightful Lady wasn't there but the others were.... and they weren't just beaten. They were thrashed.

Armalight won the $100,000 New Zealand Cup by an ever widening seven lengths after siting in the open outside the pacemaker for all the journey. Apart, that is, from the last 800 metres when Bob Negus sprinted her into the lead and sailed home to greet the judge in a 57 second last section, a phenomenal effort.

"That just proves it," the young Christchurch owner-trainer said as he waited for his mare to come back to scale. "She's a real champion." You couldn't really argue with that. To win the country's most presitious two mile test on only a three-race build-up, and to be a mare in season at the same time, takes a talent a little out of the ordinary.

Nineteen starts now she's had, counting the Cup, and she's won thirteen and been placed in five for stakes of close to $140,000. She was a champion three-year-old...and now at five, it looks as though she'll further cement her claim to the "champion" tag.

Armalight, by Timely Knight out of a Sapling Stakes and Oaks winner in Ar Miss, was off the racing scene from May 1980 until only a few weeks ago. She was badly frightened after training one day, took off and was lucky to escape injuries serious enough to permanently end her career on the track. It's been a long road back. But the patience and perseverence have paid off. She's been in work again since March for Smith - she's the only horse he trains - and she's been to the trials probably half a dozen times this season. Not a racing build-up, one would have thought, to fit a horse to become the first mare since Loyal Nurse away back in 1949. But Smith, an amateur trainer when he is not working in the load-out dock at the City Abattoir, obviously knew what he was doing.

He said after the event he knew she "would go a big race. But you can't be too confident in the New Zealand Cup, especially after seeing what Hands Down did to us from 25 metres behind at Kaikoura," he confessed.

A few minutes later he held the shimmering gold trophy aloft to the cheers of the 19,000 Addington crowd and told them his pride and joy had come into season only the day before. "I could have sent her to the stud tomorrow," he said. That probably depended on whether she'd won or lost. Instead, though, he'd line her up on the later days of the meeting.

With Smith on the victory platform was his wife Carol who a few minutes earlier had, in spite of the tension and joy of her moment of victory, told reporters "she's a great mare. She always tries." That Armalight tries all the time was substantiated by Bob Negus, probably as happy a man as there was on course. Now fifty, Negus has been driving horses for 27 years and never before has he taken part in the Cup. "I've been waiting for a drive in the Cup, but it's been a case of having to wait," he said. And then the wry confession: "I couldn't have driven the horse worse, parked out like that. Being in front wouldn't have been much better but I couldn't get there. Alec Milne wouldn't let me. Still, she's a top mare and she takes her racing and training very seriously...like a good pupil at school. You've got to hand it to Brent. He's made a great job of her. He's done everything he can to make sure everything's right."

It was Negus who drove Armalight to her first win two seasons ago at Westport, and he's driven her in most of her races since. He, too, came in for his share of the public praise from Smith for all his help in making Armalight the champion she is. "I'm just an amateur in all ways," he said. "I've got to thank Bob for all he's done to help me."

It's raceday history now that Armalight won the Cup with a superb 4:08.7 run, a mile rate of just a tick over 2:05. And it's history, too, that Bonnie's Chance and odds-on favourite Hands Down were her closest rivals, a neck apart, at the line. Their drivers, Richard Brosnan and Peter Jones, had no excuses. Bonnie's Chance was in the trail behind Watbro only to be pushed back to last when that horse packed it in at the 400 metres. With the other nine in front of him, and Armalight lengths clear, Brosnan had to take his mare way out to the middle of the track to get a run, but it was all too late. "Another round and we might have caught her," he said. "Still, second is better than third ... and a lot better than sixth. Maybe next year ..." Brosnan said Bonnie's Chance had begun well to settle in the trail. He thought Watbro might have stuck on a little longer but instead he just plodded on while the others improved round him.

Hands Down, on the other hand, was, as usual, content to sit at the back on the outer of the bunch until the 1200 metres. Jones took him forward from there with a big run to be three wide outside Glen Moria with 400 metres to go. They headed the chase after Armalight in the straight but "just wasn't good enough on the day" to make it two Cups in a row. "Kaikoura proved he was fit enough, but today Armalight was too good," Jones said.

Idolmite, three back on the outer most of the way, stuck on for fourth ahead of the Aussie, Gammalite. The winner of 40 of his 71 starts before crossing the Tasmen for the Cup meeting, Gammalite didn't get much of a chance to show his true worth. He and northern hope John Tudor broke at the start, "and I just can't explain that at all," driver Bruce Clarke said later. "He's always reliable from a stand." And then, when he went to improve from the back with 1100 metres to go, the gap wasn't there between El Regale and John Tudor and he momentarily locked wheels with John Noble's drive. Once clear he too was up wide for the rest of the trip and battled away to collect the $3,000 fifth stake. "It was a good run. I'm not complaining," Clarke said. The other five were well beaten. There could have been no excuses.

On the day, it was Armalight all the way. It was her day.

Credit: Graham Ingram writing in NZ Trotting Calendar

LEASEHOLD OR FREEHOLD

CLUBS PURCHASE ADDINGTON RACEWAY

The three clubs racing at Addington have negotiated to buy the 87 acres of the raceway for $1.1 million.

The clubs, combined under the wing of Addington Raceway Ltd, have leased the land from it's owners, the North Canterbury and Ashburton Hospital Boards, since 1947, when they signed a hundred year agreement. Announcing the proposed sale, the Hospital Boards said the final agreement was subject to Ministerial approval. The land has a government valuation of $750,000.

Under the terms of the lease, all the improvements on the land belonged to Addington Raceway but all the buildings would revert to the owners when it expired. The Board said the sale of the land was in the best interests of all concerned. It felt the return on its investment through the lease, about 2 or 3 per cent, was too low for the substantial investment involved. And the racing clubs, without security of tenure, would have no incentive to improve facilities on the Raceway, especially nearer the end of the lease.

At the end of the lease, the Hospital Boards would have the unenviable decision of asking the trotting clubs to relocate their activities, or renegotiate another lease with probably an unsatisfactory return.

At the special Pam Am Mile draw last week, Addington Raceway chairman of directors Bruce Woods said the move would remove any inhibiting factors in the future development of the Raceway.

Credit: Graham Ingram writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 2Dec80

STARTERS & STARTING

RON CARTER

When Ron Carter steps down off his starter's pedestal for the last time at the end of the season, he could very well be setting off on another facet of his racing career...as a trainer and an owner. "I don't know whether I'd get a trainer's licence...they might think I'm too bloody old," is his wry assessment of his chances in that department.

But on a more realistic note, Ron Carter at a mere 67 would have a good few years in front of him as a trainer. Already he has forgotten more of the good horses who have passed through his hands for their initial breaking and education than he remembers. Among those he remembers easily are Arapaho, Orbiter, Noodlum and naturally, this season's 3-year-old filly sensation Armalight. Armalight's young owner-trainer Brent Smith is on record as saying he sent the filly to Ron Carter to be broken because he wanted to do "everything right."

That's the way it has been for many others over the years Ron Carter has been associated with horses. Owners and trainers have sent horses to him to break to give them a decent start to their racing careers. And once they make it onto the track, it has been Ron Carter's duty to make sure they get a decent start in any race in which they might line up. Officially he has been in charge of that department for trotting meetings in Canterbury and Marlborough, on the Coast and in North Otago for the last 22 or 23 years. He gained his open starter's licence in 1957 and he won't renew it after the New Brighton Trotting Club's winter meeting at Addington on July 19.

Ron Carter's association with horses has been a lifelong one. Receiving his formal education in Christchurch he "cleared out from school" when he was 13 because, as he puts it now, "I didn't like it for one thing". His father had for years run a horse-drawn transport business so young Ron drove a team of Clydesdales, contracting all over the Port Hills and around the city. A lot of the business came through carting bricks and pipes from the recently demolished Murphy's brickworks nestled at the base of the hills. In fact, the Carter headquarters were centred on the stables sited next door to the kiln. Ron continued in the business after his father died but finally gave it away when he was granted his full licence. "We were probably the last around here with a team," he recalled. A lot of the work in those later days involved carting pipes and bricks from the adjacent works to the railway.

The young Ron Carter's interest in horses didn't end with the working variety. Even as a lad of 14 he was travelling 'here and there' with the late A J (Bert) Hastings, a well-known starter of the times. "I used to go to time trials and race meetings all over the place, even if it meant I had to save up for the boat fare to get to the North Island," he said. It wasn't the betting or the gambling that appealed. It was just the horses and the chance to be near them. I've never had a bet, not even before I was a starter. Even when I retire from this and am allowed to, I won't be worried about betting. I used most of my early money to go with Mr Hastings everywhere I could."

It was round the early 30s that Ron Carter started getting paid for his interest in racing. With his father he had been getting "about 7/6 a week", as a starter's assistant, about 15/- a day. Later this was raised to 30/- a day "and it stayed that way for years and years". Now, of course, a starter gets much more than that and with more meetings and more trials there's a lot more involved. But because he couldn't exist solely as a starter, Ron Carter broke in horses as well and gave them their early education before they went on to professional trainers. "I've broken in so many, it isn't funny how many I've forgotten. Some have gone on to be good horses and others have gone away almost as soon as they've been broken. But I've just had to be with horses."

Ron Carter remembers well the first time he took to the stand officially, even if he doesn't remember the date. Mr Hastings had been in Wellington at the time and Ron Carter had been granted a temporary licence to start the races at Rangiora. "There must have been about thirty horses in the field, packed in like sardines they were. But they all got away. Like ever job, you have your good days and your bad. That was a good one. I think though, all the drivers were more alert than usual. I suppose they were watching out for the new chap on the stand."

Alertness was one of the keynotes of the job. Even an assistant had to be equally alert and completely aware of what the actual starter was about to do at any particular time. A large part of Ron Carter's scheme to keep on the ball relies on taking advantage of the time early in the day. "I have always reckoned an hour in the morning is worth two at night; besides when you've got feeding out and the like to do before work you've got to be up early and then be alert all day."

A few days before the races, and then again quickly the night before, he reads through the fields just to see what horses are there and what problems, if any, they're likely to present. In years passed, the starter was usually in the secretary's office when the draw for barrier positions was made just to make sure he had everything right.

So far, just about everything has gone right for Ron Carter. He can't recall ever sending a horse away from the wrong mark and he has great difficulty remembering any day that might be called 'disastrous'. There was one day at Ashburton, though, when it took three goes to get a trotter's race away. The first time, when he said "go" the front barrier strand didn't release, even though it had been thoroughly tested before the races (one of the crucial tasks). "We tested it again on the spot and it worked okay. The field lined up again and once more the thing didn't release. We had three shots at it and as a last resort replaced a bracket before it worked perfectly." There have also been instances of the barrier strand catching across the backs of the sulkies of particularly long horses or flicking around horses legs, but generally all goes well.

But something which hasn't always worked that way, Ron Carter said, was the mobile barrier. It was introduced to Addington during Mr Hasting's time. The first, designed by well known Taranaki racing identity Alec Corrigan, was attached to a Land Rover. Another like it was built in Christchurch with all the controls in the cab with the driver. "I didn't approve of that in any way," Ron Carter recalls with just a little vehemence. "I finally got control over the closing of the arms but more importantly it was the accelerator I wanted. That first start from the mobile did a lot of harm. It put a lot of people off it immediately. But now the starter has control of everthing except the steering; and contact with everyone, even the secretary." Ron Carter sees having both mobile and standing starts as difficult for a number of horses. "Some are either very good away from a stand or from a mobile but chopping and changing upsets the majority of them."

If there is a problem with starting these days, Ron Carter puts it down to failing to close the totalisator right on time. "I would like to see the day when the starter closed the tote. That way we would avoid a situation that happens so often now with horses still being walked around some minutes after they should have been racing. There's nothing worse than to have them walking around and around waiting for the tote. If the starter had control there, too, he could start bringing them in with just enough time to get them all lined up and then away at the same time betting stopped." Those last few minutes were vital for both horse and horseman and any dely just made it harder for them. "I know just how they feel. I know exactly what they're going through. Still, they're a pretty good bunch of drivers these days and I'm going to miss them all when I stand down. I get on pretty well with them all. It's pretty easy to pick someone who is not co-operating...and it is vital they all play ball." A quiet talking to the person in question was usually enough to avoid a repetition. And only if a man-to-man talk didn't work was there a need to take things further. But come the end of the season, there will be a new man in the hot seat. Ron Carter tips Jack Mulcay, his assistant for the last six years, as his successor

And in retirement, it'll still be horses taking up most of Ron Carter's time. "They will keep me too busy to think about anything else. They always have." Yes, he and his wife will go to the races and with a 'bit of luck' Ron will be able to race one himself. Most of the luck involves getting a horse good enough to race and win with. "I've always thought that would be a real thrill. But you never know how they're going to turn out, do you?

He's currently working on a 3-year-old Good Chase gelding on his Prebbleton property "I think he will be all right. We will just have to wait and see." And then, with the interview over, Ron Carter's back to putting a filly through her first paces. Like he said, it's a never ending game with him. "There is no way you can ever say you'll be cleaned up and ready by dinner time.



Credit: Graham Ingram writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 17Jun80

PEOPLE

FRED FLETCHER

If he were a public trainer, Fred Fletcher reckons he would have very few people bringing horses to him. He wouldn't get anyone wanting a quick return anyway. His theory about training - and it is one which seems to have worked to perfection this season - involves taking a lot of time getting a horse to the races. And preferably not racing them as 2-year-olds. These days, with rapidly rising costs everywhere, there are not too many owners willing, or in a position to wait long for a return on their investment.

However, the success Fred Fletcher has had this term - it's only his fourth since getting his licence in July, 1976 - might make some see the wisdom of patience. The Templeton studmaster has only had nine horses to the races this season. Between them they have had 104 starts for 21 wins and 43 placings. Of the nine, only Wejover Star has not won. He had just one start for Fletcher before being sold to America where he has since won his first three starts with a best time of only a fraction of a second outside two minutes.

Stable star over the past two seasons, undoubtedly, has been Roydon Scott. And there is nothing surer he will be racing in America, too, before next season is through. Winner of the Wellington Cup last year, the big Scottish Hanover horse has been plagued by misfortune since missing the Inter-Dominions at Addington and the NZ Cup, through injury both times. But he proved he was right again by running a slashing second to Trevira in the Easter Cup and in the process unofficially breaking Young Quinn's 4:06.7 for the 3200 metres. "He'll probably go to the States about halfway through the season," Fletcher said last week. "He's being handicapped on back marks for invitation races, and apart from them there are only free-for-alls and the big cup for him. Even in the Easter Cup he was off 15 metres...and that was only the second time he's run 3200 metres. He would be good in the States. He's tremendous away from the mobile gate and he'll go some good miles."

Roydon Scott, winner of three races this season, has a best time of 1:58.9 set as a 3-year-old. That's more than a second slower than the other stable star, the game little mare Philippa Frost, who finished third in the Easter Cup and clocked 1:57.7 when running second in the Pan Am Mile Consolation. Fletcher has trained her to win six races this season, a major contributor to his tally of 41 since getting his open driving licence in May, 1977.

Others on his winners' list this term are fine young trotter Game Captian, Who's won four from five starts, Reuben James (also four), Chantilly Belle, Game Mander, Spangled Partner and Star Blazer. The latter, a winner at Rangiora recently, is the first horse Fletcher has raced on his own account. His wife, Fay, races Reuben James herself and has leased Chantily Belle to "the boss", owner of Roydon Lodge, Roy McKenzie. And while the training of racehorses has been a successful sideline for Fletcher, it's the running of Roydon Lodge that is his main occupation. "The racing's only part time. The stud's what we're here for."

Fred Fletcher, now 41, started at Roydon Lodge when the McKenzie establishment was divided into racing stables and the stud 11 years ago. Now it comprises about 300 acres, in two properties. One provided grazing and feed crops for the stud and stables. Fred was there when the present Roydon Lodge property was set up. With a couple of helpers, he "built everything" up from scratch to establish the stud with Scottish Hanover and Armbro Hurricane the stud sires. He went to the stud after seven years working for George Noble at Yaldhurst when Noble was in charge of the McKenzie horses. There he was involved mainly in stud work, a job which didn't seem to appeal to many people. "There is usually too much work involved," Fletcher said. "When people want to get involved with horses, a racing stable is much more attractive. There is more glamour and the chance of a drive is always there." The problem today, even in racing stables, was to find the right person with the right dedication to the job. Stable work was a tough life but a lot of those who applied for jobs seemed to want to drive fast work within a few days. "They all want to be Morrie Holmes," Fletcher said.

He himself had only just started a job in a bakehouse when he had seen the Nobles advertising for an assistant at the stud. He applied. The job was his when a prviously successful applicant had considered the house which went with the job too small for his family. It didn't deter Fred, Fay and their two daughters, Wendy and Fiona. "People said we were mad when we sold our own home in Burwood and moved out to Yaldhurst. But it was a good move." It was a good move if only for the reason that Fred was able, in between stud work, to observe a fine trainer of racehorses in action. "George believed in a long slow build-up. I suppose I got my initial ideas for my own methods from working with the Nobles," Fred said.

Fred had always wanted to work with horses, even when he was a youngster living in Blackball, where his father was a bushman. The only boy in a family of four, Fred had big ideas about being a jockey 'until I grew a bit big'. He got his interest in horses from his father, an avid racegoer. "He loved horses, gallopers and trotters. And even though he wasn't a big bettor, he followed them all over the Coast, around Nelson, across to Canterbury. I used to go with him." It is with a little sadness the Fletchers recall Fred's father's death. "He died just when Fred was getting going," Fay said. "We often think what a thrill it would have been for him to have seen Fred winning." At 13, Fred and his family had moved to Christchurch. Two years later he left Shirley Intermediate to start a job with the logging gang working the Burwood Plantation. "I didn't go to high school. I thought I knew enough at 15," Fred joked. The choice on leaving school was between working in a grocery shop, signing on as an apperentice jockey at Riccarton, or the plantation. The bush won, mainly because it meant Fred was constantly working with horses, a team of five draught horses, nibbing logs from the plantation. And he didn't have to worry about weight. The job lasted nine years. And when Fred left, the tractor had gradually superseded the horse. "The timber was just about finished and there was just one horse. Not really enough to keep me on for." So it was on to the bakehouse, Yaldhurst and then, 11 years ago, to Roydon Lodge.

"For a start we used to break in the young horses here and give thm an early education before sending them on to Mr McKenzie's other trainers. But once the Yaldhurst property was sold, he had no trainer in the South Island. He had the idea that it would be a good thing, seeing the horses were born here and were broken in here, if we could take them further. It was only a matter of more staff, and getting a licence." Fletcher was granted his professional trainer's licence in July, 1976 and a licence to drive only in matinees and trials a month later. He wasn't granted a full driving licence until a year later than that. "I think I was a bit hot at the time about having to wait but I think it was a good idea. The trials gave me the chance to show them I could drive. It was a good experience."

Roydon Scott was the first of his ten winners that first season and it was the same horse who's given him his biggest driving thrill...the 1979 Wellington Cup. "The boss was really keen to win that one," Fred recalled. "We wanted everything to go right." How hardly anything went right for Roydon Scott that night is now part of trotting history. But then, so is the fact that Fletcher and his charge looped a wall of horses at the top of the Hutt Park straight, collared Van James short of the line and won by one and a half lengths.

Now Fred takes each race as it comes. "They're all a battle of wits but it's easier if you do your homework. It's usually the last thing I do at night, checking the fields to see what the opposition is and what the others are likely to do. You can plan, but there's no way you can know what is going to happen in the actual race. That's why I like to see the horses running along in front at home. And if you can do that at the races, you're out of trouble."

Fred's a bit critical of the interference that goes on in a lot of our racing, especially in the lower classes. The big fields didn't help; and strangely enough, neither did the bigger tracks. "The bigger the track, the longer everyone seems to sit in the pack, just waiting for everyone to spread out in the run home." Fast-run races are always the cleanest. "With the pace on, there are few problems." Fred said he drove to win every race he could. And it was just as big a thrill winning somewhere out in the country as it was on the metropolitan tracks. He was always pleased to win a lower class or maiden race. "They're harder to win than the big ones. There are an awful lot of average horses around and in the top races, not so many to beat."

Training was a lot easier than the stud work. "That is daylight to dark. You are handling horses all the time and you get some pretty rough ones at times." With a staff of five counting Fred - Fay 'does the books' - the stud has an average of 300 mares a year. With numbers like that "we're almost neighing at the end of the season," Fred said. "Taking a horse away to the races, even if it is just for a couple of days, is almost like a holiday for us." The mares are handled on average every second day at least; and then there was the work with the yearlings, weaning, breaking in and all the other work involved with young horses. It was work no-one would do unless they liked it. The only part he didn't like was a bad foaling. "If you have got any trouble at all, then it is usually big trouble. And you don't like to loose a horse," Fred said.

It was work which meant you had to be on the place most of the time. And this made it difficult to take holidays. And to give the staff a break at the best times of the year. Still, he had good staff all through and this has made it possible for the Fletchers to make a couple of visits to the States. Fred, on one visit, had worked on such notable establishments as Lana Lobell, White Devon and Hanover Shoe Farms. And while that had been a tremendous experience, it was equally good to learn that here in NZ we were really just as advanced in just about all our stud work.

Of the four stallions at Roydon Lodge, American-bred Scottish Hanover was probably the Fletchers' favourite. "He has been around the longest and you tend to get more attached to them as they get older," Fred said. But now at 20, it will be a little easier for him in th coming seasons. "We will probably cut him back to about 50 mares this year," Fletcher said.


Credit: Graham Ingram writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 15Apr80

PEOPLE

GEORGE YOUNGSON

Mr George Lindsay Youngson, who died in Gore last month at the age of 91, made an invaluable contribution to standardbred breeding in Southland and NZ with imported sires like Dillon Hall, Hal Tryax, Sandydale and others. Mr Youngson's death severs one of the last links for present day trotting men with the pioneer breeders of yesteryear, who did so much to lay the concrete foundations on which Southland's world-wide reputation as a standardbred nursery has been developed and capitalised on.

Mr Youngson was 22 when he came to NZ with his brother John, from Aberdeen, Scotland, where he was bought up. For several years he worked as a farm hand and ploughman in the Riversdale district of Northern Southland. In 1914, his brother John imported four Clydesdale stallions and the brothers, then based at Wendon, near Riversdale, travelled them around neighbouring faming communities as breeding stallions. Some years ago Mr Youngson stated that the work was particularly onerous and, more so, dangerous, taking into account the strength and sometimes vicious traits the powerful Clydesdale stallions could reveal. He mated many of the mares at district stockyards and hotels where broodmare owners and farmers often gathered.

In 1920, when he was 32, Mr Youngson bought the standardbred stallion Harold Direct from the Cody brothers of Riversdale, and travelled him about for stud purposes at a fee of only five quineas. Mr Youngson's next stud venture in 1928 was the fine Australian pacer Happy Voyage, when he was still domiciled in the Wendon district. Soon after, Mr Youngson met the late Sir John McKenzie's private trainer, Robert Plaxio, an American horseman, who did much to influence him to considering importing American sires. Plaxio, in fact, suggested Adioo Guy, whom he imported in 1929. At 19, Adioo Guy was four years older than Mr Youngson believed he was. Adioo Guy's departure for NZ was delayed a season. In that last season in America, Adioo Guy sired Adioo Volo, dam later of the immortal Adios. Adioo Guy, who died after four years with Mr Youngson, had a respectable percentage of success from the opportunities he received.

In the late 1920s Mr Youngson visited England to buy another Clydesdale stallion and, seeing the progeny of the American standardbred sire Wellington Direct soon after imported that horse. Frank Dewey, another American horse, followed in 1930. Mr Youngson's next importation was the Abbedale horse Sandydale, sire of General Sandy and Captain Sandy, and maternal sire of Johnny Globe. That successful stallion was soon passed on to noted Oamaru breeder Mr Johnny Johnson.

Dillon Hall was imported to NZ by Mr Youngson during World War 2. The son of The Laurel Hall and the great racemare Margaret Dillon was the first 2:00 pacer imported to NZ and topped the NZ sires' list in the 1948-49 season with the winners of 124 races and 275 placegetters. Dillon Hall carried on to top the NZ broodmare sires' list five times, which has recently been acclaimed as a remarkable feat for a sire who was only around for 15 years. Robin Dundee, Parlez Vous, Lunar Chance and Bay Foyle were only four top pacers out of mares by Dillon Hall, who also figures prominently in the pedigrees of Black Watch, Tobias, Lord Module and countless others.

Logan Derby, the sire of Johnny Globe, was Mr Youngson's next stud venture but better was to follow in the Tryax horse Hal Tryax, a horse he didn't really want but finally agreed to import relatively cheaply. Hal Tryax's career as a sire has been acclaimed as one of the most colourful and tragic in NZ breeding history. The first 2:00 3-year-old pacer imported to this country, Hal Tryax topped the NZ sires' list in the 1963-64 season with only three crops of racing age. His progeny included the first standardbred millionaire in the world, Cardigan Bay, champion racemare Robin Dundee and other top performers of the calibre of Tactile, Holy Hal, Blue Prince, Jurist, King Hal and so on. Although his daughters were relatively few in number, they made an outstanding contribution as matrons. One of the best performers from a daughter of Hal Tryax has been the champion Young Quinn. Tragically, Hal Tryax soon after became infertile and after topping the sires' list in the 1963-64 season he was pensioned off to The Chaslands, where he is still in retirement at the age of 33.

The noted broodmare Rustic Maid, whom Mr Youngson bought from the Canterbury horseman, the late Mr Bill Morland, was one of the most successful matrons in Southland breeding history, leaving Chamfer (1950 NZ Cup and later champion Australian sire), Free Fight (NZ Derby), Highland Scott (nine wins), Congruent (good sire in Aust), Slavonic (NZ Sapling Stakes) and others. One of her daughters, Scottish Lady, won the NZ Derby, and, in turn, left two Great Northern Derby winners, Scottish Brigade and Gentry, both later successful sires.

In earlier years Mr Youngson was involved in the importation and development of small grass seeds.

As long as there is trotting in Southland, George Youngson's influence, together with that of the stallions he imported and stood, will always be of marked significance. The light harness industry owes much to pioneer breeders of his foresight, enthusiasm and successful involvement.

Credit: Don Wright writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 9Apr80