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W P WALSH

W P Walsh is associated with 1950s Westport trotter, Durban Chief. But there was a lot more to Billy Walsh's career than that. He tells David McCarthy about some of the highlights of nearly 70 years with horses.

There was a family connection with racing when you were young?
My father, Claude, was a butcher in Westport and often trained a horse or two for a hobby, sometimes for other people. That is the way I have worked too, really. I took over the management of the butchery for Oxnams of Murchison from dad and later we took it over ourselves. Horses were a sideline, but I have had a tremendous amount of pleasure doing it that way.

Deliver the meat with horses?
Dad had but it was mostly bikes in my time. When petrol rationing came in after the war it started people coming to the shop instead. I remember dad having to get special coupons to go up the Buller Gorge every couple of weeks just to buy stock. We had up to 26 staff at one time, but now only wholesale. We were the first shop in Westport to sell pre-packed meat and it was a turning point for us.

How?
We could see the supermarkets coming and were looking to hold our own. Stan Payne was an Englishman who had developed the prepak for Auckland firms and in Christchurch. We saw it with Jack Ferguson in Greymouth and took it on. Later we bought a supermarket and sold a lot of meat through that. It became a Fresh Choice and in the end we accepted an offer we couldn't refuse for it. We have only sold wholesale since then.

When did the racing come in?
My first winner was Sea Pirate at Westport(1952). Dad trained him. We had got him for £200. He had been a good horse as a youngster. I think he was placed in the Sapling Stakes. He won his first three starts that season but he had been useful before that. We had a good horse in King Bruce about the same time. He was raced by Jimmy McDonald from Ngakawau. He had broken him in and he was a good horse for us.

What was it like driving against the Canterbury reinsmen? You and your horses would not have had much practice before the meetings?
In those days there were a lot of trainers operating in Westport. Barney White was my best man when I married Gloria and still comes around for a chat. Len Pascoe was a great driver. Frank Watson from Reefton, he won six races one day there; Keith Powell - quite a few of us. We would have our own little trials on Sunday mornings. We held our own alright. I found the visiting drivers pretty fair. Fortunately, Maurice Holmes didn't come up this way much.

Other early winners?
Queen Jess won for us a Westport. She was another of Jimmy McDonald's horses. And I won one for George Shand one day at Blenheim which was a bit unexpected.

How so?
It was the second string. George was driving Sam Scott which Sam Woods owned. My horse, Bar None, was a brilliant beginner, but gee he could pull. Well, in this particular race there were two false starts but Bar None began like a bullet each time. Man, he pulled, but he was always clear of them.

I see one day when you were driving, Colin Berkett had a horse called Cabot which won a race and went out and won the next one. Do you remeber that?
Not offhand but I remember Leo Berkett winning successive races one day with one horse; one of them pacing and one of them trotting. I think it was with Toushay.

Durban Chief. He was a bit of a cult horse in his time. How did you become associated with him?
He was bred by Mrs Bill Craddock (wife of the West Coast cartage operator) and Bert Woodcock trained him. There were quite a few people with an interest in him. He was leased originally and then bought. I drove him in a lot of his work but it was dad who really set him on the road to fame.

How?
They were trying to get him to pace and he was proving a bit of a handful. Dad watched him one day and said he thought the horse was wanting to trot and they should try them at that.

Had you driven at Addington much before him. Were you nervous?
I hadn't driven there before Durban Chief. You worry that you will do something wrong in a big race like that but I liked driving at Addington. All those good drivers. It made it easier in some ways.

He won two Dominion Handicaps. Did one stand out ahead of the other?
Well, he got the first one on a protest. Recruit was first past the post but he was in a gallop and was relegated to third. I think they put him up to second on appeal. The day of the appeal was one of my most memorable days in racing.

How come?
Maurice Holmes and I were giving evidence and we had to wait in a seperate room. We were there on our own for about an hour and I have never learned more in a shorter time about racing than on that day. A great man, Maurice. People liked him and when he was on a likely winner he got a few breaks from other drivers because of who he was.

The second Dominion?
It sounds like a skite, but it was easy. He was off 36 yards and everything went to plan. I think he won by eight lengths. He should have gone through unbeaten on all four days. He won three and ran second in the Worthy Queen Handicap and he should have won that. It was my fault. He set some great records too. Dictation held all the records then but Durban Chief matched them.

What became of him?
Noel Simpson leased him and he went to America. Before that I took him to Auckland and he won a race there leading up to the Rowe Cup. He won 32 races in America. He was the first New Zealand trotter to run in an International Series up there and measured up to the good ones. When he retired he used to pull a gig for an old couple who looked after him. He deserved it. He was a lovely old horse.

Easy to drive?
The thing with Durban Chief was that he never wanted to do anything wrong on or off the track. He was great to do anything with around the stable and once he was trotting right he was super smooth, no putting in short or long ones or doing something funny. He just wanted to do it right. In a 2600m race at Addington he would take a while to get fluent. Maybe by the time he got to the showgrounds bend he was right and that would be that. He had a wonderful sprint at the end of his races. The day he won the Dominion he just ran away from them and they were pretty good trotters about then. You could only wish they were all like him.

A horse to have a bet on maybe?
Yes, probably, but I had learned my lesson about punting before he came along.

You did a lot of freelance driving. It could not have all been plain sailing?
There was one time when a Canterbury trainer put me on at Westport. We did everything right and won and he was absolutely furious. He had not said anything beforehand about what he wanted. He wasn't happy when I brought it back but then went around town telling everyone I had "had a go" on my own while he had not backed it.

What could you do about that?
Well, I did talk to the stipe Len Betterfield and I said I thought it was a bit tough being talked about like that. Len had a lot of experience. He came back to me and said "Any trainer who has to ride a bike around Christchurch hasn't amounted to much" and we left it at that. I rated Butterfield far ahead of his predecessor.

You drove quite a lot for "Super" Shrives of Reefton. Super could be a bit fiery too?
Super could get wound up but we never had a cross word. I remember driving Steel Lady for him once at Nelson and he told me he had let the hopples out eight holes. I said that seemed a bit extreme but he said it would be alright. Well, she just couldn't find her gait and never paced well. The second day he took the hopples up six holes and she won. Repus Bob was a trotter I won a couple with him for Super too.

You drove, trained or owned other good ones?
I was always a seller and most of the good ones went early. Cedar Kiwi ran a first and a second in two starts and went to America. We had a full brother who was better but was a heartbreak. He was always sore and we spelled him more than once but he always went wrong. The Deputy we sold after he qualified and Johnny Tapp won a lot of races with him in Australia. On of the best horses we had was Hurry On which my father (Claude) raced with Jack Clayton. He won on Show Day at Addington(1964) and was a bit unlucky not to win on Cup Day as well. I drove Remlap three times for three wins. Johnny Gilbert won a Westport Cup. Faberge I won several races with for Brian Woodcock. It is not easy to remember them all now. Chesterfield which I drove for Ransley Reid, won a race at Addington and caused a stir at Omoto one day.

In what way?
Well, I went down there just to drive Chesterfield. I didn't find out until I got there that he was out and then I was offered the drive on Doctor Jim not long before the race. I went to see the stipes and there was a bit of talk but I was allowed to drive him and he won. Some punters were not impressed because those off course didn't know I was driving it.

Cecil Devine hired you one day?
Yes, that was for a mare he sent over called Daisy D'oro. I remember him telling me that when he first came to Westport (in the 1940s) at the old Mill Road track he slept the previous night in the grandstand. He went a long way from there. He told me to check out Daist D'oro with Bob Young on raceday because he had driven her. Bob didn't muck around. He just told me she was a "stinking little b...." and he was dead right there.

You also drove Golden Rule quite a lot?
Yes, but I wasn't on her when she won the Champion Stakes at Ashburton because that meeting clashed with Westport. My father had a racing share in her with Jack Reedy at that stage. I took her up north where she won the Masterton Cup. It's been a great family. She was a lovely mare to handle.

Mister Gregory?
Yes, we sent him over to Denis Nyhan later which we did in those days with the better ones to cut the travelling down. He won the Timaru Cup for Denis and I am pretty sure he set a track record doing it.

I guess with your opportunities you never had a big tally of winners in a season?
I think 11 was the best and it wouldn't have been with that many drives, maybe 30 or 40. As I said it was a hobby rather than a business proposition for us. We'd buy a horse at the sales most years looking to sell on. Aveross Seelster we had some fun with. Craig Thornley and Jackie Burrows did a lot of the work with him. We sold him to Perth for very good money and I got a shock when my boys told me one night Aveross Seelster was arriving back in the morning.

What was the story?
My wife Gloria had died and I was a bit down. I took a long time to get over it. He hadn't done well in Perth. The boys tracked him down, bought him back, and he turned up at home to give me a bit of a lift I suppose.He went a big race for second up but didn't do much after that. He broke a leg out in the paddock one night.

Now the next generation is taking an interest?
Yes, one of my sons, Graeme, and his wife, Karina, have gone into breeding for the sales here. Actually the only horse I have in work now is a Christian Cullen filly they are retaining for breeding. They have done pretty well so far. It is not an easy business breeding to sell.

Christian Cullen. Where did he rate with you among the greatest you have seen?
Right up there. One of the really great ones. But Highland Fling has always been my favourite. I saw him race quite a few times. You never forget a horse that could do what he did.

You are now 80 and seem to be keeping well?
I had a brain bleed a while ago which kept me in hospital for a few weeks but it seems all right.

It hardly seems worthwhile asking if you have any regrets?
No way. I have met a lot of great people in trotting. A lot of great people. I still follow the game as closely as I always have. It's been an important part of my life.

Credit: David McCarthy writing in The Press 5 & 12Dec09

PEOPLE

DOUG McCORMICK

Doug McCormick, 80, became the oldest reinsman to drive a winner when he partnered Perfect For Us at Westport on December 26.

The Ashburton horseman races Perfect For Us with his daughter, Susan Roulston. They bred the mare. Perfect For Us traces to Silver Wood, who gave Doug his first win as an owner and trainer at Oamaru 56 years ago.

Credit: NZHRWeekly 13 Jan 2009

PEOPLE

JACK SMOLENSKI

In July last year, harness racing's "horseman's horseman", Jack Smolenski, 73, was struck down by a brain haemorrhage at Addington Raceway, just before he was to drive in a race, and, at one stage, he was given up for dead. He talks to David McCarthy.

Our Princess Royal's win at Methven (this month) would have been a tonic for you?
Yes, she had disappointed me at Motukarara. I had a good talk to young Sam (grandson Sam Smolenski)and he did everything right on the day.

He doesn't have a bad teacher.
He doesnt tell fibs. He is straight-up and so am I. After one of her races when I thought she might have done a bit too much, he said maybe she just wasn't good enough and I said "b....., you can't sprint twice in a race - at least with what I feed them - and you have to remember that. You can go to the front, but you can't sprint again to fight them off and still come home fast." He is doing well, he can be very patient. You have to be careful with fillies. They can go off quickly if they have to do a bit too much in a race when you expect they might improve.

How hard is it not being able to go out and do it yourself?
Bloody terrible. I miss it badly. I am still hoping to get back into the cart, even if it is not raceday.

Did you have any warning of your illness?
Funnily enough, I had had a headache the day before. It was unusual, because I hardly ever got headaches. I took the horse (Xativa) to Addington, but started to feel crook not long before the race. Barry and Sue Morris were with me and they got some asprin. I was still off-colour, but determined to drive. Sue said in the end "you are not driving". I collapsed not long after that. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be here now.

Dying on the track would have been awful.
I think in my time three drivers died out there. I was driving in a race at Ashburton one day when I saw one of them collapse and die, and I thought what a terrible way to go. It could easily have happened to me.

You went very close to death anyway. Did you know much about it?
I was in and out and then there was the operation and there was a family meeting. I was sort of aware what had happened, but not really with it.

You seem fairly mobile in your scooter?
I have had my moments. I had a few falls out of the first one, which had bigger wheels. One was going too fast and then I would reach over to pick something up and over I would go. It was always on my left side and hip, which was the worst. This one has smaller wheels and is more stable.

What therapy do you still have?
(Daughter) Joanne takes me swimming twice a week. She is a tough taskmaster too. Gives me plenty of orders and makes sure I am doing it properly. It is about half an hour each time. It helps. The water is nice and warm, too.

What sort of swimmer were you?
I could dog-paddle a width of the old tepid baths, and I think I won a race dog-paddling a width when I was a kid at school. I couldn't swim at all.

You go back a long way in trotting Jack, and you had a great career. It all started with Tom Gunning at Temuka?
I went there in school holidays and I started working there on Christmas Day, 1949. My auntie, Nellie, was married to Tom Gunning. She used to take me to the races when I was a kid and she raced some top horses herself. One of them was Gay Heritage. I wasn't too popular with Tom over him.

How come?
I had been there a while and had only jogged or walked horses. I hadn't done anything with them at speed. I walked them so much it's a wonder my legs weren't worn down to my knees. That and lugging big water buckets for 30 horses at a time. Anyway, this morning Tom was getting Gay Heritage ready for the Sapling Stakes (June) and he got me to drive the galloping pacemaker.

There was drama?
In those days they put sawdust on the track so it could be used in the winter. Anyway I set off in front of Gay Heritage. The pacemaker picked up the sawdust on his hoof, it compacted, and then it flew off into my face. It went down my throat and Tom was yelling at me to keep the pace even. When we pulled up he was abusing me - Tom could go off at times - while I was just coughing and spluttering trying to get sawdust out of my system. Gay Heritage turned out a very good horse.

Leicester Tatterson was there then and told a few stories about you. Any comment?
I had a beer with him one day and told him when my turn came I would tell a few of my own. One of those I remember was one hot day when an owner who had a pub in Timaru came and had two bottles of beer in a paper bag for the staff. Somebody reckoned I was giving them cheek - I didn't think I was - and rubbed my face in the dirt.

You weren't standing for that?
I got a stone and threw it at the beer. I hit bottle plumb and because it was so warm, froth spurted everywhere. I just started running. They caught me eventually. We used to give the horses this awful smelling stuff as a kidney treatment after a race or work and I got some of that in the mouth. I am sure it was Tatt actually. It smelt horrible and tasted worse. I can still see that froth from the beer and the looks on their faces.

You got your revenge?
One day we had to take some feed up to a horse on the top of the hill. We put it in a sulky, Leicester hopped on and made me pull it up the hill. When we were coming down he was urging me to go faster and faster. In the end I hit a knee or something, but anyway I went down, dropped the shafts and they jammed into the ground. I looked up and saw Leicester sailing through the air. He didn't see the joke. He got me back.

How?
We had a good trotter called Will Cary and four of us went out one night to catch it. We only had a lead and the others said I should hop on his back and ride him back. I didn't want to do that because my tailbone used to give me hell from too much riding. I had just got on when Tatt slapped the horse over the arse and off he went. I was heading straight for a hedge at top speed when I bailed out.

Much later came your New Zealand Cup winner Arapaho. Peaking a horse for a big race like that on the day, is it luck, skill, or something you can learn?
It's mostly experience. On Cup Day with Arapaho I didn't just set the horse to be at his peak, but myself, too. I really worked to make sure everything was right for both of us. I think that's important.

You added the Auckland Cup?
We went to the front, which didn't really suit him, but Young Quinn was in front and I knew he wouldn't want to be there and would let me go. Arapaho was a great stayer. Down the back I threw in a half in about 57 to take some of the sprint out of him, and it worked out. He couldn't catch me.

-o0o-
Part 2 The Press 1 Jan 2010

Jack, you started training from Reg Cutin's place, got into the limelight driving Rocky Star for Ivan Schwamm and then struck the training jackpot from your own place in Templeton. What was the key to that sensational team which gave you the record premierships in the 1970s?
I worked them on a heat system. it was not too different from what we did at Devine's, but I had my own way of it. It was not like the interval training, which came later, with horses going flat out and resting in between. I would work them over a mile and a quarter (2000m) at a 2:30 rate. There were no big sprints home. They seemed to love it. We had a great run. But after a few big seasons it didn't work as well.

Why was that?
I came round to thinking that those earlier horses had been in other stables and had done the groundwork before I got them. They thrived on the heat system and I stuck to it. But I had to go back to standard training hoppled work with horses which hadn't had a lot of experience, and buildup. I worked the two-year-olds over mile heats but sort of on the same system. One of my best fillies, Seaswift Franco, was an example of what I mean.

How so?
I got her up for the filly races that season (1991) but in the really big ones she didn't finish off like I would have liked. I thought enough of her to set her for the Great Northern Derby. Not many fillies I have trained would take the colts on (Mel's Boy and Nardin's Byrd had both won the Derby previously for the stable) but I thought she was good enough. Anyway the day before I put her on the plane tp Auckland I worked her the heats and then sprinted from the 800m. She ran that in 58 and I told the boys there wasn't a horse around which would beat her that week. As it happened she got wiped out in the Derby and never had a chance. But that was how I stepped it up sometimes with the good ones later on to give them an edge.

You won the Messenger with OK Royal a few years later?
There was a story in that one. Passing lanes were just coming in and I had been against them down here and pretty strong about it. Anyway they had one at Alexandra Park. When I was doing my preliminary I had a look at the pasing lane and thought, gee that's wide enough for two horses. In the race I got to be three back on the rail which was not the best place to be but I was confident I could get a run, that lane was so wide. Sure enough the horse trailing in front of us took the lane and I was able to squeeze up inside and win it. I heard some bloke say 'he won't be able to show his face at Addington now he's won the Messenger in a passing lane'. I never became a great fan of them but you just have to adapt.

Mel's Boy was a horse which maybe never lived up to all his early promise?
He was a good horse but he had some odd habits. The worst one was that he would some days just pull up on the track and refuse to work. You couldn't budge him. You don't often strike one that determined.

You were quite a long time with Cecil Devine. Was that in the 1950s when Thunder, False Step and all those top horses were there?
Yes. I did two stints with Cecil covering a lot of those years. You mentioned Raft before. I remember Cecil setting up a punt on him in a maiden and he asked me if I wanted to come in with him

I bet you didn't say 'no'?
I drove him when he qualified at Rangiora. Cecil wanted him to qualify but did not want him to win but I think he did anyway. He told me when I came back that when the right day came he was going to have a good go on Raft and did I want to be in? Of course I said 'yes'. I drove him at Motukarara and he finished down the track. Cecil was a bit critical that I let him do it all a bit too easy. Anyway he was going to Orari one day not long after and he told me today was the day and how much did I want on? I said £10 each way. To tell you how much that was I was getting £10 a week as stable foreman.

A happy ending?
A bit of drama. First the float was late getting away - I think Jim Bell was driving it - which always put Cecil on edge. Marie and I had not long been married and risking two weeks' wages on a horse was not Marie's idea of fun. She was glued to the radio because you could only just hear the race. Raft missed away but he won. Then the dividend came over as £2/5/-. It had seemed a lot of risk for that. I pointed out to Cecil the next day he had been paying £17 at Motukarara but he didn't say anything. There was less racing then and you had to make the most of your chances.

Was your training, particularly of young horses, modelled on his?
Not with youngsters. The trainer I tried to follow there was George Noble. He was a great trainer but especially with young horses. He used to work them over a mile and in heats. His young horses were always well educated. They'd stand up, they'd step and they could take a position. With older horses I suppose Devine's methods were where I started but even he changed. I always thought that if he had trained Lord Module like he trained False Step, Lord Module's career would have been a lot different.

Credit: David McCarthy writing in The Press 19Dec2009

PEOPLE

Frank & Shirley Bebbington

FRANK BEBBINGTON

The Bebbington family has been involved with trotting horses for almost a century. Frank Bebbington's still training horses in his seventh decade and talks to David McCarthy about his experiences.

It was your grandfather who started it all off?
Yes, his name was Frank too and my father, Reg, trained as well. The other Frank had a good mare called Manuka which was a sister to (pacing champion of the Victorian ere) Ribbonwood. But he passed her on and a foal, I think, to Maurice McTigue and Frank McKendry. The filly, Ivy Mac, was a foundation mare for Maurice. It was where his best horse, Tactician, came from.

You and your dad trained a good one in Robert Medoro?
The Jamisons were next door to Dad. They had that very good breed but this one had a club foot and when a possible sale fell through we got him. He was by Medoro, a stallion we liked. He had been breed in Italy but was of all-American blood. In those days you couldn't bring a stallion in from America and he was one way round it. He was trotting bred, though actually most of the good horses he left were pacers. We had him at home trying to get his feet right. I don't think he raced until he was seven and ended up beating Snow Globe in the Hambletonian which was the big Easter trot in those days.

What about your first winner?
It was the first horse I trained and he came along exactly at the right time in 1960. I raced him with Gordon Cartwright who used to be my barber then. He bred him. His name was Whipaway and he won at Motukarara the same week Shirley and I were married. What we got out of it paid for the wedding, the honeymoon, the lot. I bred from a half-sister called Iron Maiden. She was a good mare and left some good horses including Avalon Globe who sired a grand trotter we raced called Globe Tour.

You seem to favour trotters?
It is just the way it has worked out really, but I must say I enjoy developing a good trotter. I did my own shoeing and it was a big part of it. You can't condemn a trotting horse if it lacks early speed, especially if it has got breeding. Sooner or later something will come of it, if it has the pedigree. In the old days the trotters were horses too slow on the pace, and some of those old trainers took six months to get them just to trot. It is a lot different now.

Some people say the ones now are not as tough?
I suppose it is right but you have to remember they are not trained to be tough like they used to be. Maurice McTigue, Ossie Hooper, Billy Doyle and those blokes did a lot of road work with their horses. Paul Nairn is still doing it but the roads around here now are too risky. Ted Lowe used to jog his pacers for half an hour before he fast worked them. People don't have time for that any more.

How did you get Globe Tour?
Though a friend mine from Murchison, Dave Oxnam. He gave me some young horses to take home from Nelson one day and educate. They were pretty rough and getting them home was an achievement but they turned out alright. He was breeding from a horse called Protector there.

Protector became famous when horses like Nigel Craig were racing but came from nowhere.
A bloke called Charlie McHugh who was basically a car dealer was sort of behind him. He was unusual in that they had him running with the mares when he was two and he had stock racing before he did. He had ability but by then he wasn't interested in racing by the time he got there, only the mares around the track and (stipe) Len Butterfield wanted him out of it. Dave Oxnam had a remarkable piece of luck to get some of his best rachorses.

Like?
He was breeding thoroughbreds and when it was suggested he switch to trotters he wanted to know where to get some mares from. He was sent to Joe Hampton at Upper Riccarton for a couple, but Joe said he had sent them to the knackery the day before. It was the weekend and Joe said Dave might be able to get them there before the gun was fired. He just made it. They were waiting in the paddock. He took the two mares home and bred them to Protector in Murchison where he was a butcher and a farmer. One, Propetre, left the champion trotter Nigel Craig which set the mile record and the other Shendi Lass, left one of the best trotters we ever had in Royal Armour. She left some other good ones too. Trafalgar was a really good trotter she left. He was well known up Nelson way. A great staying horse.

I see Globe Tour won seven races one season at four?
A grand wee trotter. He went in the wind. I think it ran in the family because Royal Armour did the same. We operated on them but it was much harder to get it to work then.

Your daughter, Lynne, drove Globe Tour?
Lynne did everything with him. She broke him in, shod him, drove him, the lot. Then she got married to Andrew Neal. She had her photo taken in her wedding dress with him before she went to the church. Jim Ferguson got up at the wedding and told Andrew he was not only getting a lovely wife but an expert blacksmith.

You also stood stallions and one of them was Mercedes. That must have been a challenge?
He was a brute. Ted Lowe was in Ashburton hospital when the news came out we were going to stand him. He told the nurse to leave the bed next to him vacant because soon after Mercedes arrived Frank Bebbington would be needing it.

I remember seeing him in Auckland and he was a man-eater. How did you survive?
He had killed a bloke in America and he would have done here with half a chance. We heard the stories from up north where Ted Hooper had him. They told me he always had to have two headstalls on. If there was only one somebody would cop it. We couldn't get a headstall on him. You couldn't handle him. In the end we shot darts into him but it didn't seem to make any difference.

What was the solution?
We built a race right outside his stall. You had to have those sort of things to get anywhere. When he ran into the race we blocked it and tried to get a headstall on him from above where he couldn't get at us. We still had the darts as well. He always had to have someone on a pole either side when you could catch him. Gary Argyle was working for us then. I don't think I have ever seen anybody get over a big rail as fast as he did one day when Mercedes was going to eat him.

Was he a success?
Well of course he left Luxury Liner up north who was a great horse otherwise I suppose nobody would have bothered. We used natural service with him - you had no chance collecting semen for AI - and the first mare he served left twins. I thought that summed it up really.

Best horse you have seen?
Johnny Globe was a favourite of mine. I know everyone says that but he was for me. Mount Eden was a horse with terrific speed. He was the fastest I have seen.




Credit: David McCarthy writing in The Press 7Nov09

PEOPLE

Ricky May's 2000th winner

RICKY MAY

There was no whip fourish, just a sly smile of satisfaction on the face of Ricky May as he drove Tara Royale to his 2000th success at Rangiora yesterday. May's modest demeanour suggested it was just another race, but the win put his name in New Zealand harness-racing record books.

In a career that has seen the Methven reinsman win nearly every major race in New Zealand and Australia, May became only the third New Zealand harness-racing driver to reach the 2000-win mark, joining driving legends Maurice McKendry and Tony Herlihy.

Racegoers got their first look at Ricky May successes at the Geraldine racecourse on November 27, 1976, when he drove Ruling River to victory. The horse went on to win another seven races with May in the sulky. "She was owned by my grandmother (Anne May)," May said. "I was in the one-one early, but got shuffled back a wee bit. It was a pretty tight finish, but we won the race, and that was the start of things, really. She got me going."

In a time when it was tough for a junior driver to get a break in the game, May managed 20 wins in his first four seasons in the sulky. The real fun began when May teamed up with fellow Mid-Cantabrian Brian Saunders. The pair quickly struck up a training-driving partnership with an impressive strike rate that started with Miss Bromac, which won the Greymouth Cup.

Miss Bromac incidentally gave May his first New Zealand Cup win in the form of her son Inky Lord, which, to this day, is one of the most talked-about New Zealand Cup victories in the 105 runnings of the great harness race. Inky Lord appeared to be wiped out with 500 metres left to run, but made a remarkable comeback to win. "It's hard to name what was exactly my best moment, but your fist NZ Cup win is always special," May said. "He (Inky Lord) gave me some of my best moments in the game, but he also gave me some of my worst." A year after his breathtaking victory in the Cup, Inky Lord looked on song to make it two from two, before suffering a heart attack after the Cup Trial a week before the big race. "He felt awesome that day, too. It was gut-wrenching," May said. "I really think he could have won back-to-back Cups."

Two more New Zealand Cup victories were on the cards for May with Iraklis in 1997 and then Mainland Banner in 2005. "Mainland Banner would get the greatest performance of any horse that I have ever driven. She started out having her first start on Boxing Day, and 11 months later she won the NZ Cup, as well as nearly all of the major fillies races in between."

Renowned as one of the most patient drivers in racing, May early on based his driving style on Mike De Filippi and Peter Jones who were leading drivers at the time of his introduction to the game. It was that patience that earned May major respect from his peers, opponents and critics alike, although nowdays May sees it as something that cannot always be emulated. "Brian (Saunders) liked his horses driven quietly, so that fitted in with the way I liked to drive. You can't do it so much these days, just with the way that things have changed, but it still comes in handy every now and then." it was fitting then that May's 2000th winner came courtesy of just such a drive on Tara Royale yesterday.

The Dave Thompson-trained runner was given the prefect run by May, and when asked to give at the top of the straight, the Live Or Die filly gave plenty and cleared away for victory by three-quarters of a length. "It's a pretty big relief to finally get there actually. I drove Vita Man to win the Ashburton Flying Stakes in 1982 for Ray Anicich, who owns Tara Royale, so that makes it all the more special. He's pretty over the moon about it, too.

So the main question is where to now? May isn't too sure, but leaving the driving ranks isn't on the cards yet. I'll keep on going. I have been pretty lucky in having both trainers and owners who have been loyal to me and stuck with me throughout the years, and they will soon let me know when I'm not driving any good. "I haven't won an Interdominion or an Auckland Cup, but I am not too worried. If Monkey King was to come back next season as good as when he finished this one, he could get me one of them; he was fair flying before he went for a spell."

Three thousand wins paints a picture of a long road ahead, but it only took a matter of hours for May to get win number 2001 when Eisenhower crossed the line first later in the day yesterday, so who knows? Anything could be possible.

Credit: Matt Markham writing in The Press 29 June 2009

PEOPLE

Beverley & Kevin Ryder

KEVIN RYDER

Inchbonnie is not known as a source of many familiar racing names. Did you have a family connection to start you off?
No, in fact my mother was a bit horrified about me doing too much with horses. I graduated through the usual steps of walking, getting a pony, then getting a horse.

How?
Well I used to go down to Jim Walsh's stables at Omoto and cadge a few rides, but I soon realised I was the wrong build for a jockey, which had been my dream. I used to help out at Owen Quinlan's trotting stables and then I got my first trotter, Emmett Grattan. The local priest, Father Daly, named him, but he was useless. The first drive, we ran a long last at Omoto. Another fellow who had horses there then was Jim Stewart, who had a brewery. The original one was over in Cobden and they wanted the land for the bridge and the road, so they built him a new one. He had trained Silver Ring when it was one of the best horses in the country. He got him after the original owner was murdered at the Racecourse Hotel. He was tied up with the man's wife's family.

Where to from there?
I used to get chaff over in Canterbury and got to know Jack Litten well. He said he had a horse for me, but when a stablegirl took me down to look at it, it had a huge knee and didn't look any good to me. Then Mrs Litten rang to say it was at Aylesbury and about to get on the train. It was too late to say no again. Fortunately, the horse which arrived looked nothing like the horse I saw in the paddock. I never worked that out.

How good was this one?
It had been tried up north and was no good there. When Jim Steel, a local owner, heard about it he told Jack Litten "that bludger will never win a race - in fact, I will bet you a case of whiskey she doesn't. She was called Helen Patch my first winner.

Did Jack get the whiskey?
That was a laugh. It never arrived over and after a while Jack asked Jim Steel if it was ever coming. Jim told him he had given the case to Allan Holmes to deliver after a race meeting over there. Allan didn't mind a whiskey. Jack never saw any of it.

And Helen Patch?
She won at Westport off 36 yards. She started eight times in 10 days and she was only once unplaced. I sold her to a dairy farmer, Mr Moynihan. He bred a galloper by Prince Mahal, a stallion I stood at Inchbonnie, called Prince Bobby and he mated her to Helen Patch. the result was Our Helen the dam of Kata Hoiho.

When did you start standing thoroughbred stallions?
I was always interested and I saw Red Jester advertised in the racing calendar for a two-year lease and took him on.

He was a good racehorse and sire?
Yes he did a good job. But he was a mongrel of a horse to handle while breeding. He basically didn't like serving mares. He would come out of the stall all business and then drop his head and start eating grass. He left some very good horses though like Wester and others. I will say one thing for him. When he was on the job, he got them in foal first time.

Such as?
Joe Robinson from Kumara was at a sale of Dinny O'Connor's at Templeton one day and bought a three-quarter sister to Phar Lap called Enticing. Joe wanted me to serve it with Red Jester and then send her on to him. But Dinny rang me up and asked if the mare was at my place. He said there was no point in trying to breed from her. She hadn't had a foal in years. Veterinary experts had been over her and she couldn't breed again. Joe said to go ahead anyway and old Red Jester got her in foal first pop.

How come?
There were veterinary surgeons around then who were not properly qualified but were allowed to operate as vets. Anyway, one of them had told me that with some mares which couldn't get in foal a trick was to gallop them around the paddock until they were sweating up and then serve them. Leo Crimmins was with me then and did it with old Enticing. It wasn't pretty to watch but it worked. Then you wouldn't believe it she got into a drain and died. They cut the foal out, but it died too.

What sort of mares did a horse like Red Jester get?
You would be surprised how many mares from good families were on the Coast. The owners didn't do much research on them. Those horses George Walton took up from the Coast when he shifted, and out came horses like Commanding and Castlerae. I had a funny experience with a mare with a bit of breeding called Fickle Jade?

Like?
George Lockington of Reefton owned her and sent her to Red Jester. We were travelling through Reefton on one of those really hot days they can have and stopped for an ice-cream. George came up and insisted we look at this filly. Well, you should have seen it. It was in a spare section and they were feeding it bread. George's brother was a baker. It was a yearling but it looked like a weanling. Looked a hopeless case. You never know in racing. She grew up to be Reefton Gold and won eight races.

What became of the mare?
That was another story. She was well-bred but George's daughter used to ride her around and he wouldn't sell her. Then his daughter came over to boarding school in Christchurch and he told me he would sell her but he wanted $100. I paid that pretty quick but I had trouble passing her on to Jack Litten. At that time he was bringing Aristoi into the country and was collecting mares.

Did he take this one?
I told Jack I had a good mare for him which I had bought for $100 but he said he wasn't interested in $100 mares. He wanted $5000 to $6000 mares. I convinced him she was worth a go and after a chapter of incidents he got one foal he sold for $80,000 and another for $70,000 to Hong Kong, so he didn't do badly.

The incident?
I was over in Christchurch then and Jack had a free service to We Don't Know that he wanted to use, but I thought she should go down south to Kurdistan. I put her on a truck down there but then there was a dust-up because Kurdistan already had a full book and they were going to send her back. Jack and Bill Hazlett were mates and they got it sorted but Jack was still going on about We Don't Know. It was the Kurdistan he sold for big money and, of course, We Don't Know was a flop.

You also stood Prince Mahal at stud at Inchbonnie?
Yes we had him two seasons. He dropped dead one day. He had been quite a good racehorse, especially in the wet at Trentham. He was foaled here but his dam was served in England and we got him for £250. He left quite a few useful horse but nothing outstanding. About then I had a Knights Romance mare called Gay Defender I bought for £5 out of Jim Walsh's stable and I lined her up at Omoto one day. The jockey came up to me after the race and said: "Kevin, do yourself a favour. Never put a bridle on this mare again." Eric Johnson bought a daughter of her off me and bred some good horses, including Khush Mahal.

Any trotting stallions there?
Yes, I had Allegiance. I bought him from Vic Leeming. He was closely related to Unite and had ability, but he broke down before he could race. That was the problem with his stock too. Some of them could run but they were unsound. Bay Prince was a good one for us.

Was there any money in standing stallions over there?
No, not a lot. But we never had a bad debt all the time we did it. I remember an old bloke came up to me one day and said: "Mr Ryder, I want to breed my mare to Red Jester but I haven't got the money. If you serve her with him I will pay you when I can." Well, it took about 12 months with £10 here and £5 there (the fee was £65) but he paid in full.

Was transport a problem?
Down in South Westland they used to complain about the travelling costs, so I built a truck and trailer especially to carry seven or eight mares and I would pick them up for nothing. One day a police car stopped me and said I was breaking the law. You were not supposed to compete with the railways then. I went to a lawyer and her told me as long as I was not charging I was not breaking the law. Sure enough, the next time I leave home there is a cop car stopping me telling me I was going to be charged. I showed him the lawyer's letter. He never bothered me again.

Then you moved to Christchurch?
Yes. I worked with Jack Litten and then Clarrie Rhodes, and then I did a bit of training and then got into buying horses and taking them to America to train them up and sell them.

-o0o-

David McCarthy interview: The Press 30June2009

Just before we move from the West Coast what about Master Conclusion?
I got him when we were in the North Island on holiday. He cost me $100. He'd done a bit up north but he didn't show me anything for a while. He came to it all of a sudden. He ran second twice in one day at Reefton, then he won twice in one day at Kumara just a few days later. It was 2000m the first time and 1400m the second. That would be pretty rare. That was on the Saturday and he missed at Hokitika two days later. The next month he ran third on the first day at Hokitika and beat Totara Lad on the second day. I started him again later in the day anf he ran third. He then ran two placings at Westport still running out his nominations. Then there was a bolt from the blue.

What?
Horty Lorigan the stipendiary steward in Wellington who was doing the curcuit, rang and told me he had scratched Master Conclusion at Greymouth. He said he had been out of hack classes at Westport he reckoned. Then a racecourse inspector came down. He interrogated me as if I was in a prisoner of war camp and told me I would probably get 12 months disqualification over the whole business.

What happened?
Tommy Dudley (Totara Flat) had the Turf Registers. The horse was in them as winning two races for Eric Ropiha, but the bloke who sold it to me had mentioned that the horse had been disqualified from one of the wins. Apparently a part-owner still held a jockey licence which was illegal. Sure enough when I looked in the errors and alterations in the Register from the previous year there was the disqualification. It still showed as a win in the results.

And the Racing Conference didn't know?
The whole thing was a disgrace. When I contacted the Conference Secretary (1961) to point out the error he refused to even speak to me. "You are going to be charged and I cannot talk to you," he said. When they found out they had not even checked their own records properly there wasn't any apology at all, even though the horse had been denied a start in a race for which he was eligible.

That put you off gallopers?
Not really. I had another useful horse called Haast which won races running out nominations. He broke a track record at Hokitika. I remember when he finally got into open class and he was going to drop to the minimum weight I said to Frank Skelton that he would be hard to beat now. Frank said: "Kevin, that horse does not have the class to run in open company no matter what weight he has got. Highweights are his go." He was right. I set him up for a highweight at Riccarton. He was three lengths clear and well down the straight when he broke down.

When did you move to Canterbury?
Late in 1963. I was looking at standing thoroughbred stallions but on closer inspection it wasn't such a good idea. We bought a place in Clarkville. It had a long road frontage. A bloke came along and wanted to buy a piece of it to grow strawberries and was prepared to pay £500 an acre. Too good to turn down. Then another one arrived wanting to buy a block. In the end we sold the lot in blocks. We were in Kaiapoi for a while, had some land in Tai Tapu and then went to Ryans Road where we put down a track but we finally settled in Templeton. The only thing on the property was the house. We built all the rest. We loved it there. I set up public training for a couple of years. But I didn't suit training for other people. I couldn't believe some of the things they can do.

That was when America became the focus?
I went to America as a groom on a horse plane with a few other blokes and had a good look round there. The plan was to buy horses in Australia and New Zealand, take them up there and trial or race them to sell. You could only stay six months on a visa. We didn't have a winter for five years after that. We would go up in Autumn here and be back in November.

Did it start well?
Yes and no. We were at Montecello the first year. If you didn't qualify an older horse in two tries they were banned for life so you had to be careful. We took five horses up on the first trip and sold them all. An early good one for us was Johnny Fling. He won a race at Blenheim and we bought him for $1500. A guy I met up there was Eve Barejuon who operated out of Montreal. He offered to take Johnny Fling and said he would pay me the $20,000 I wanted when the horse had won $30,000. I agreed and he was as good as his word. Actually the horse won over $150,000 all up. It was not all good but next year we went to Saratoga and things went well there.

What was the best of the early horses?
Boyfriend. He was a good horse here and I rang Frank Oliver just to see if he might be for sale. He said he would sell him but he wanted big money. I waited with baited breath and Frank said he would not take less than $10,000. I was expecting $40,000. We sold him to some owners of Herve Filion's and he was the best horse at the Brandywine track one year. We got the $40,000 for him up there. We sold one to Jimmy Dancer for $10,000 we had bought here for $2000. Stanley Dancer came over and went over this horse for an hour. You'd think it was a $10m horse. He turned out all right too.

Herve Filion was the famous driver them. How did you find him?
Yes, he won 10 or 11,000 races. His brother Gille we knew pretty well. He had a wooden leg but was a good driver. Herve invited us over for dinner one night. He was a funny little bloke. He couldn't sit still, always had to be doing something or giving instructions to his wife.

Other deals you remember?
Brown Bazil was a funny horse. I bought him in West Australia from Trevor Warwick and he was a free-for-all horse there. But when I got him up to America he couldn't run a mile in 2:10. I was baffled. There was nothing wrong with him. In the end I risked him in a qualifier. He went straight to the front and won in 2:03. When I lined him up in a race he did the same and I got $20,000 for him. He just couldn't work time at home on his own.

Did you race many?
I got quite keen on it at one stage and had to remind myself what the plan was. We really only raced them until we could get the price we set but the racing up there was tempting when you were winning.

Your son, Chris is now a leading trainer there. How did that come about?
The family travelled up with us often to the States. All the boys have done well with horses. Chris came to it a different way. He was always a worker. He did some unusual things. He was a woman's hairdresser for a while. He was always keen on the horses though. He used to go on the hunts here and once rode around the steeple course at Riccarton. It wasn't a race but the manager gave him the ok to try it.

Was it through you he got going in New Jersey?
No, not really. His wife, Nicola, worked for Ernst and Young and was posted to New York for two years. He was helping out a couple on their lifestyle block. They owned 17 sandwich bars in New York but were not into racing. Chris got his hands on one horse to train at Freehold part time for $3000 and the couple put up $1000 to be partners. Chris won enough races with the horse to get to the Meadowlands and it all went from there.

Some readers may not realise how well he has done?
He has won a lot of big races. McArdle won millions and of course is doing well at stud here. Art Major, the leading sire in America now was another of his big winners. He has reached the top and the competition is tough. But he owns a block of land in Templeton so maybe one day he will be back.

How did you find racing in America?
I was most impressed. Very professional, everything ran on time and by the rules. Our racing here at the time was Mickey Mouse by comparison. They could bend the little rules for you. As I said if you trialled a horse twice and it didn't qualify the horse was out for ever. I let a potential owner's driver handle a horse they were going to buy in a qualifier and he murdered it. The stewards insisted to me it had been checked so that trial didn't count. The only checks had come from the driver.

But some of the deals must have been difficult?
They could be tough. I remember once we had a horse going so well it was a $100,000 sale. It was a big deal. The vet failed the horse on sidebones which were little growths which never bothered any horse. The buyer wrote out the cheque anyway. Johnny Chapman, a leading horseman, was doing the deal. We were up in Prince Edward Island where harness racing is strong having a look around when Bev rang and said the cheque had bounced. Strangely the guy who wrote the cheque was with me there. When I told him he just said: "I wondered when you were going to ask me about that cheque." We didn't get all the money but we got most of it. Guys like Stanley Dancer only dealt in bank cheques buying and selling.

-o0o-

David McCarthy interview: The Press 7July09

You had a number of top horses in later years and one of the best was Tempest Tiger. How did you come by her?
George Beal had her up at Kaiapoi and for sale. I trialled her at $8000. There was a lot I liked but one or two question marks. I decided to have a thinkabout it. A couple of days later I made an offer, but found I wa only third in line! Luck went my way.

How?
An American was first in line to trial her. He didn't like chestnuts and wouldn't have been interested if he had known what colour she was. Then Paul Davies had a client interested but he didn't like her either so she came to us.

I remember her breaking a New Zealand record when she qualified, which was sensational then. Did she surprise you?
I knew she was pretty good but we couldn't get starts with her. It was ridiculously tough getting a start in those days. Even after she broke a record qualifying she was eliminated from a Timaru meeting. Jack (Smolenski)drove her that day and from then on, which was bad luck for my son Gavan.

How come?
He was supposed to drive her in the trial but couldn't make it in time. Once Jack had done what he did I could hardly change again. Gavan was not that happy for a while (another of Kevin's sons, Peter, later married Jack's daughter, Joanne).

She was by Tiger Wave and probably the best of them?
She was up to the very best and of course she won the Messenger with Jack in the cart - the first mare to do it. She held the mile record for a mare at 1:58.5. She really only had one full season. Funnily enough I had another Tiger Wave filly at the same time that was pretty smart called Tiger Maid. Both of them were out of Tempest Hanover mares and it started a stampede.

How?
Tempest Hanover was a well-bred horse and popular early on but he wasn't very successful. When breeders saw the cross with Tiger Wave, Tempest Hanover mares from all over the country went to him. One float operator told me he carted 40 of them from Southland alone the next season. I kept track of most of them and I don't think any of them won a race.

What happened to Tempest Tiger?
She was never fully sound and she broke down behind. The first foal I bred from her was the worst horse I ever trained, but later I got Franco Tiger, who was the best horse I ever trained.

You didn't breed him?
No, I had sold the mare in foal to El Patron to Wayne Francis in one of those Spreydon Lodge syndicates. One day Wayne rang me up and he said he had two horses he wanted me to take on trial for a month at $10,000 each to buy or send them back. I used to prefer to keep horses a few days and fully assess them. One was Tempest Tiger's foal. I quite liked him as a horse but he didn't do much and he had obviously been a problem to someone. Because he was her foal I gave him a bit more time than I might have otherwise. Wayne was in China at the time so I sent the other one home and then decided to take a chance on this one. Sentiment really, I suppose. I regretted it the next day.

Why?
He was lame. I thought, "I have just blown 10 grand", but he came right. When I changed his gear and shoeing and put him in company he really blossomed in his training and he won five races for me. I sold him well to Australia and he was a sensation in Australia - he won a Miracle Mile and was Grand Circuit Champion. He won over $1m. Until a few years ago he used to lead the Miracle Mile field out each year.

What about other sales to Australia?
There was some funny ones. Paka Punch was one. A chap I knew brought him along for me to trial, telling me it was pretty good. I don't think I ever had a horse who hung like him. Lisa Daly was working with us then. When you got him around a bend on our (800m) track you headed straight to the outside to line him up for the next one. But he ran a half in 57.4 for me like that. I had a feeling about him and bought him for $6000. A pole and a pricker and some shoeing changes worked wonders. He always hung a bit but after we sold him for $50,000 to West Australia he won races on a 600m track at Fremantle there and was also highly successful in town.

What were your criteria buying horses?
I bought a few youngsters out of the paddock, but I was never a big fan of yearling sales. I did buy Lady's Rule out of the ring for Robert Dunn, who won an Oaks with her, but the figures tell me there are a lot of traps in sale buying. I always trialled the older horses on my 800m track, which tells you a lot about their gait. You tried to work out what they might win in Australia or America to put a value on them. People have some weird ways of valuing their horse. But there is a lot of guesswork with some of them. You could get a feeling about a horse, especially one you thought you could sort out.

Other Australian sales?
Cloudy Range was a good one. I had a client in Tasmania who wanted a Noodlum colt. I took a while to get around to it and in the end I put an ad in the Trotting Calendar. I was staggered at the response. I had no idea there were so many Noodlums around. Even Freeman Holmes (who co-owned Noodlum) had eight or nine colts in a paddock he rang me about. There were some others which were a bit different.

Like?
I went to see one lady who had a horse for sale over Dunsandel way. I didn't like it at all. It hadn't been well done, and was an average type at best. When I asked her what she wanted she told me the price was $120,000! I hardly knew what to say. I thought to myself it would be a dear horse at $5000. We bought Cloudy Range from Reg Stockdale on his looks and he turned out tops.

There were a lot of good ones we don't have the space to talk about.
By my count a few years ago six Derby and six Oaks winners. Horses like Via Vista, Tac Warrior, Smooth Dave, Tempo Cavalla and Gliding Princess were a few. I sold a few gallopers too. One of them, McAlfie, gave Kingston Town a fright one day in Perth.

You wrote an entertaining autobiography, 'From Go To Whoa'. What brought that about?
Well really it was Alan Dunn who caused it. I was laid up one time and so was he and he was around one day and told me he was going to fill in his time by writing a book. After he had gone, Bev said, "Why don't you write a book?" So I did and it didn't take that long, but the real work started after that.

Marketing?
Well, getting it printed, which we sorted out, but when I took it around the shops I got a mixed reception. I was lucky at Whitcoulls. The chief buyer was out for lunch and her deputy told me they weren't interested in that sort of book. As I was leaving the boss came back, flicked through the book, and offered to stock some. It sold for $19.95 and the cost was around $12 so it wasn't a trip to a fortune. I used to carry a few boxes of them in the boot and wherever I was I would stop at bookshops and offer them some.

You were also a bit of a stirrer about things in administration.
I think I joined the Owners and Trainers back in the 1930s and was president at one time. I spent years trying to get the industry represented on the Harness Executive and it came, but much later. I had a few run-ins with officialdom. As I have said, the executives in those days were a law unto themselves.

You seem to be wearing well.
I am 86 and have my moments. A funny thing...one of the worst injuries I got was jumping over a fence at Inchbonnie one day. I did the knee and when I looked down the foot was at an awful angle. I told Bev to grab hold of the foot, pull it and twist it. She said, "I'm not doing that," but she did in the end. I have never had any trouble with that knee since.

Credit: David McCarthy writing in The Press 23 June 2009

PEOPLE

R A (DICK) PRENDERGAST

There seem to be quite a few Prendergasts in southern racing. How did you all get into it?
Dad had a garage in Hyde with a bit of land attached and there were six boys in the family. Four of them had a go with racehorses. Dad raced Wildwood Chief out of Wes Butt's stable and he won the Sapling Stakes and nearly won the Derby. He drowned in a pool after he was sold to Australia, or that is what they said. We always had horses around and got up teams for the picnic meeting circuit back in the 1940s and 50s. I had a horse with Wes for a while called Top Tally as a two-year-old. I still have the bills. Four pounds ($8) a week fees, two pounds for shoeing and two pounds to float a horse to Kaikoura.

Were there trotters at the picnics?
Gallopers too. I rode the gallopers as well and Tony also later took up training them. Every little town like Naseby and Dunstan had their picnic meetings and their Cup races. We won all of them at one time or another. I actually won the last raceday saddle trot run at Oamaru on Roman Scott, who was by Highland Fling. He was trained by Davey Todd who had Cardigan Bay - he had got beaten in his only saddle trot. I took out an amateur trainer licence in 1956 and won my first race with Tessa, a Direct Heir mare. I moved to Palmerston and had a farm there which I ran in combination with shearing.

You were pretty good on the board?
I could shear around 340 in an eight-hour day. That was right up with the guns then.

Good money?
You used to get five pounds two and sixpence ($10.25) a 100 then. Now it is about $120 a 100 but of course everything has changed.

What made you give it up?
I got TB and had to. The trouble was the farm was not really viable without the shearing so I sold up and moved to Oamaru. I got more serious with the training then, though I had a lot of back trouble after a race accident.

What happened?
There had been a smash on the first round and a couple of drivers were still on the track. When we came around again the ambulance went right across in front of us thinking it was protecting those two, but three or four horses ran into it. I ended up landing on the shaft of another cart. They told me it was bruised and I drove home sore, but it was a lot worse than that. I got used to it, like you get used to the wife, and I could still shoe horses. But it always gave me trouble. Not like the wife.

When did the bigger world get to take notice of your horses?
We ended up setting up next to the Oamaru track and built a house there. I got to know Colin Campbell who has that Moccasin breed which did so well (stars like One Over Kenny, Leighton Hest, Springbank Richard, and earlier Stylish Major and Le Chant). It was funny because Moccasin herself was a pacer by Indianapolis, who had won three New Zealand Cups pacing. Anyway, Colin and I worked in together for 28 years and while down there I had Robbie Hest for him among others. I drove him to win the Trotting Stakes and he had a lot of speed. But he was a hard pulling horse and it found him out over a distance.

Of course some of the stars from that family are now with Phil Williamson. He worked for you?
Yes, and one season when I was out with my back, he drove nine winners in a season, which was tops for a junior driver then. Phil was a real natural with horses. We were standing Depreez at stud then, though he didn't do much good, and some of the mares were a handful. Phil had a special way with them. He could catch them when nobody else could. Later on, I had some really good boys like Mike Heenan, Greg Tait, Graham Ward and Carl Markham. Terry Chmiel started off with me, too, when he was at school.

What other horses were going well then?
Hajano was a very good pacer and so was his half-brother Johnny Baslbo. We sold him to America for something like $50,000, which was good money them. Israel did a good job for us at Addington in the early 80s. He was unbeaten at the Cup meeting (three wins)which was a very rare thing in the intermediate trots.

Why shift to Chertsey?
Partly family reasons. There didn't seem to be a big future for kids in Oamaru. So we bought Slim Dykeman's place which had a new barn, built another house and lckily we got away to a great start there.

Like?
The first three horses that went out the gate all won. Light Foyle won about nine for us pacing in the end. We took a truckload to Nelson and had a great innings there. The Simon Katz came along.

Your best?
Not the fastest but he won over $300,000 and took me a lot of places I hadn't been. He just never went a bad race. Our Eftpos card, I call him. You took him along and he got you some money.

A natural?
Yes, but weak. I told the owners early on he would take a lot of time and thankfully they gave it to me. He had one start at four and maybe five of six at five. He won a Dominion and a Trotting Free-For-All and did what Israel had done, winning three at the Cup meeting. He ran second in a Rowe Cup and third in an Interdominion after getting skittled on the first lap.

Your son in law, Anthony Butt, took over the driving?
I did all the driving for a while, but the horse got a bit blase about it and used to have me on a bit. Someone fresh made the difference.

Did he take a lot of work?
No, he was good winded. We did a lot of road work with him. He was a lovely natural trotter, sound as a bell. He was by a pacer, Noble Lord, and from an Eagle Armbro mare and they weren't much. Just shows you. We used three-ounce galloping plates on him all round. Kerry O'Reilly did a lot of our shoeing. He was a legend at it. We never found out if Simon Katz could pace because he never had the hopples on him.

What became of him?
Funny, he died of cancer not long after he retired. He had what was diagnosed as a virus and we turned him out in the back of Hawarden. My son picked him up on Christmas Eve and as soon as he got him home told me he was a sick horse. He was gone in no time.

Yet not the fastest trotter you trained. Who was that?
Hickory Stick. He was a nine-year-old when we got him and he had been up in the hills for two years after breaking down in the tendon. Stuart Sutherland had had him and I was actually in the chapel at Stuart's funeral when I remembered he had told me it was the fastest horse he had had. When I got home I rang up the owner, Bruce McIlraith, to see what had happened to him and he was just about to go into work. We won five with him and some top races like the Banks Peninsula and Canterbury Park Cups.

Any horses which you rated highly we didn't get to see?
There was one called Skipper Dean. He was a trotter by Master Dean but was too unsound to go far with. He could have been anything.

You spent a lot of time in administration?
I was one of the founding members of the Oamaru Owners Trainers and Breeders back in the 1950s, which is still going, and it went from there. It could be tough in those days. If you had a licence you couldn't be a member of a club. When I first got a driving licence I was only allowed to drive in Central Otago and south of the Clutha. Waikouaiti was about half an hour away and I couldn't drive there! I put a lot of years into the Horseman's Association and am pleased to say it has a much greater standing with officialdom than it had when I started.

What was the best horse you have seen?
Highland Fling. They used to bring him down to Forbury when we were kids going to the races with Dad. If there had been hopple shorteners and ear plugs around in those days he could have been anything. I was a big Noodlum fan possibly because I bred one from him we sold on for $30,000. That helps your regard for any horse.

You trained mainly trotters. Was that by choice?
It didn't really matter to me. You do get identified as a trotting specialist when you have a few of them, bu we had some top pacers too.

Did good owners make the difference to you as a trainer?
I always say one third paid by return mail, one third paid on the 20th and one third didn't. It is tough on a professional trainer who has to carry that last third with his own money for another month.

Any regrets?
Possibly only that I never worked in a professional stable.It would have made things easier when I was picking it up. I was 42 before I had my first drive at Addington. That doesn't make it easy. But overall I would do nearly all the same things over again.

Credit: David McCarthy writing in The Press 16 June 09

PEOPLE

BILL DENTON

Bill Denton's grandfather (also Bill) ran the popular Triggs and Denton leather and harness store in central Christchurch in the 19th century. Both Denton's son, John, racecourse manager at Addington Raceway, and daughter Julie De Filippi, who trains with her husband Colin, are ensuring the horse tradition continues. Bill Denton, at 78 a gentleman of racing, talks to David McCarthy about his own era.

Were you always going to live with horses?
Well, my grandfather was president of the New Brighton Trotting Club at one stage but my father, Lionel, went into the pub business. I think he was the youngest ever licensed in Canterbury. He had the Kirwee and Kaiapoi hotels and the Mitre and Canterbury at Lyttleton. He bought a small property (15ha) on Russley Road, next to where Mark Purdon was. Maurice Holmes was there then. After I left Boy's High I did a couple of years working in Sargoods warehouse, but the horses were what I wanted to do.

Was the place meant for training?
Breeding. Standardbred stallions were hard to get then. You couldn't get permits to bring them from America because of the dollar restrictions. We had Medoro for three or four years. He was an American-bred, but Noel Simpson had brought him in from Italy which beat the system. We had some thoroughbred stallions too. Cassock (sire of Great Sensation) and Newton Pippin. But they were fill-ins until we could get out own trotting stallion. There was just a row of boxes there then. Peter Jones trained gallopers there later, but we had to sell for a railway from Hornby to the Styx planned there. They are still talking about it. So we moved to a bigger place in Pound Road.

Maurice Holmes is a legend. How did you find him?
He was my hero. Kids have heroes playing football or other sports but mine was always Maurice. I wasn't the only one either. I got quite close to him. I would get through the fence and help out there every chance I got, jogging horses and that. He would tell you what to do but in a different way. He would say "I wouldn't do that if I were you" or "I would just do such and such if it was me", but you got the message.

Garrison Hanover was the stallion you were most closely associated with. How did you get him?
Jack Shaw had a commission to go to America to buy Flying Song for Clem Scott, and Dad went with him. The permit situation had eased by then. Dad was advised by Jim Harrison, of the United States Trotting Association, who wrote that great book on training standardbreds. He recommended Garrison Hanover.

Why?
He was by Billy Direct, who was all the rage then and fairly well-bred. Because of that he got a good reception right from the start. There was no AI (artificial insemination) in the first few years. It came in later. We would do 75 to 80 mares most seasons. Bob McKay helped out with the AI. He had studied it in America and was right up with the play.

Was success instant?
More or less. From his first crop came Sally Boy. We never saw the best of him but he showed a lot of ability as a young horse and we were sort of right after that.

Good horse to handle?
A lovely horse. Not very big - about 15 hands - but kind. Anybody could do anything with him. He left some great horses (Cardinal Garrison, Apres Ski, Game Adios, Garry Dillon, Waitaki Hanover, Dandy Biar, etc). Near the end of his life when we shifted to Tai Tapu, I served a few mares with him for friends and we had to build up a mound for him to do the job. He took it all in his stride.

And the "Russley" fillies and mares started there?
Yes, and now one (Russley Song) features in the line of Auckland Reactor.

Why shift from Pound Road?
We had two blocks there and they were not connected. It was always a disadvantage. I bought land at Tai Tapu. I had had my eye on it for quite a few years because it seemed to handle rain well and I bought it when it became available. It was bigger and well-situated and we moved everthing there in the late 1970s. It was good, but I would have to say horses did not do as well there as they did at Yaldhurst. The ground is a bit colder and wetter, and it affects them.

Did you have other stallions?
My word. We had an exchange deal for a time with Clem Scott and stood Flying Song (the sire of Russley Song) for a while. Lumber Dream. He was getting the overflow from mares who couldnot get into Garrison for quite a while. He was a top sire. He was a free-legged pacer, which was unusual then, and he left a champion free-legged horse in Robalan. He was sent out by Marty Tannenbaum of Yonkers Raceway, who had a lot to do with the International series they had in the 1960s. Marty struck problems and the horses were sold up. I think Clarrie Rhodes got Lumber Dream for $2000.

Brad Hanover?
An Adios horse. I remember when he got off the plane the first thing I saw was white ankles and stockings. I thought 'what have we got here?' He looked like a Hereford. He was a fertile horse but not easily aroused, which made things difficult. He left Brad Adios early on. The Adios horses did better in Australia than here. I thought they weren't tough enough for our racing. Tony Abell had him later.

Later you had Honkin Andy?
John Lischner, Paul Davies and I went to America to look for a horse. About that time Good Chase had had one stud season here and done exceptionally well. I think he got 19 winners from 21 foals. Then he had gone to America to race and whenhe came back, his stock were not nearly as good. We all suspected that some of what he was fed over there had been a factor. So we were looking for a lightly raced horse which had not been messed around with. He had only had about five starts Honkin Andy and had run 1:58. I think he cost us about $100,000.

What did you make of his stud career?
He left some very fast, very good horses (Honkin Vision, Really Honkin) but in the end I rated him a disappointment. He was the first Albatross stallion to come to New Zealand too.

You have had some big training and driving moments with Superior Chance. I think he chased Armalight home in that Free-For-All when she smashed all the records and her record stood for years. How did you get him?
He was a free-legged horse which Tom Leitch, who lived nearby and worked for me at times, owned. Superior Chance took a lot of sorting out - he could kick believe me - and I tried various things before we got it right. He used to choke-down easily. In races like the Free-For-All, he wore not one tongue-tie but two and various other bits and pieces. He collapsed and died one day on our track. We were doing an easy 3200m. He was a bit wobbly when I pulled him up, then he just collapsed.

You have developed a bit of a lean over he years. How bad was the back problem?
It is better now than it has been. I just couldn't straighten the spine and spent a long time sleeping on Bib Softees. It was inoperable, being caused by joints in the spine. Exercises have helped me a lot in recent years. I had to give up the horses in the end because of it. I had trouble getting in and out of the cart and they told me I would be in a wheelchair if I damaged it any more. One day I fell getting out of the cart and that was that. We sold up the horses and moved to Halswell. John carried on for a while but wanted to do something else. He does the track at Addington and does a good job too. Ray McNally had quite a lot of success as a junior driver with us too.

Have you missed it?
Well I go to Colin and Julie's most mornings now and jog a team and have done a bit of fast-work without problems. I got a great thrill when they won the Cup with Kym's Girl. I had quite a lot to do with her build-up and actually got a bigger thrill than anybody. A really super little mare.

Looking at young drivers making their way over the years, do you often think of (grandson) Darren?
(Darren De Filippi, a highly promising horseman, was killed in a road accident beyond his control returning from the Orari races some years ago).
It was a terrible thing. Young Darren was such a great person. You have to accept what life serves up but it was very tough for a very long time. Yes, he is always with us.

I suppose Maurice Holmes was the best you saw?
Yes, but the standard was high in that era. F G Holmes, Gladdy McKendry, Bob Young, great drivers to watch. Now we have Dexter Dunn rewriting the record books. What a great young driver he is.

Best horse you have seen?
Johnny Globe. For what he was and what he did and the people (Don and Doris Nyhan) who were associated with him. They were lovely people and he was a great hero in his time.

The breeding game. Has it changed a lot over the years?
Yes. Not always for the good. Greed has come into the game now, I'm afraid. For us it was a good living for three of four months hard work and you were grateful for it. You did a lot of the work yourself. Anybody can stand a stallion now. The vets are there all the time, doing most of the work and some horses serve ridiculously large numbers of mares because of that technology. A lot of the personal touch has gone.

And the famous colours now you don't have any horses?
They have found a good home. I said to Mandy (De Filippi, granddaughter) one day recently she might like to have them and she lept at the chance. So they will be around.

Credit: David McCarthy writing in The Press 17 March 09

INTERDOMINIONS

2009 INTERDOMINION SERIES

The carnival was held for the first time on the Gold Coast. It was originally allocated to Albion Park in Brisbane but safety concerns with the stand lead to the series being transferred. The Pacers Final was won by Mr Feelgood from a gallant Blacks A Fake going for an unprecidented fourth final in a row. The Trotters Final was won by Sundons Gift.

HORSES

MASTER MOOD

Last Thursday was a sad day for the Williams and Wong families when Master Mood (Rick), their champion pacer of 1980s, passed away.

Master Mood had spent his retirement years in the best of conditions and health at Tall Tree Stud and had reached the grand old age of 28. Unfortunately in recent months he had developed a sinus infection which proved to be very difficult to treat.

Master Mood was without peer during the 1985/86 and 86/87 seasons and was voted Harness Horse of the Year on two consecutive occasions. "A highlight of his career was winning the Miracle Mile in Sydney in 1986, beating Aussie champs Village Kid and Lightning Blue. That season he also won the NZ Cup and the Auckland Cup - not a bad effort for a horse who was only the size of a pony but had the heart of a lion," said trainer/driver and part-owner Kevin Williams.

Master Mood won the New Zealand Cup at Addington and Miracle Mile at Harold Park, Sydney, in 1986. His time of 1:56.1 in the Miracle Mile was a race record that stood for four years. He won the 1987 Auckland Cup and the 1986 NZ Free-For-All. Master Mood won nine races in a row as a 4-year-old in the 1985/86 season. his wins included the Wellington Cup, Forbury Park Four-Year-Old Championship and Lion Red Mile in Auckland.

Master Mood became the first sub-2.00 2-year-old pacer in Australia and New Zealand when he won the Final of the Sires' Stakes series at Washdyke in 1:59.5 in 1984. He won six races including the New Zealand Kindergarten Stakes, Timaru Nursery Stakes and Te Awamutu Juvenile Pace at two.

Master Mood raced 96 times for 27 wins and 21 placings, for stakes of $806,925. Master Mood gave a tremendous amount of pleasure, not only to his owners but his strapper at the time, Dave Anderson, and many family friends who followed him on his travels. Master Mood is buried on the front lawn at Tall Tree Stud.

Credit: HR Weekly 29Oct09