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Looking back towards the home turn

PASSING LANE

The new, two-sulky passing lane will be in use for the first time at Addington on Friday night, 10th March 2000.

As a result of this, the track has been resurveyed with all starting positions altered by half a metre. An addition is a black and white sighter mark, which gives the drivers something to aim at.

"If the horsemen don't like it, we can take it out. That is no problem," said Mike Godber, the Metropolitan's Chief Executive Officer. He said the width of the lane is three metres, allowing room for two horses, and 250 metres of the track have been dedicated to the change.

This is the second introduction of the passing lane at Addington. It was tried for one meeting, in September 18 months ago

REVIEW:- Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 29Mar00

After just two meetings and 20 races, there are problems with the new passing lane at Addington Raceway. Driver have expressed their concern to Raceway officials. The officials agree, and promise to get it right. They will start with a meeting tomorrow between representatives of the Trainers and Drivers Association, Raceway directors and track engineers.

The issue for the drivers is not so much the passing lane but the camber of the bend and the transition leading into it. John Lischner, president of the trainers and Drivers Association, said the drivers considered Addington the best track in the world "but at present it is not. We thought they had two options, to take the passing lane in, which would have been the expensive way, or come out. This would have meant an alteration to the camber and taking the transition further down the track, to near the 2600m start. But we are not satisfied the camber on the corner into the staight is correct yet. We see good-driving horses lugging down on that corner and horses on the inside hitting the poles," he said.

Senior drivers Ken Barron and Kevin Townley insist the bend must be fixed. "It is going to be a real problem if it is left the way it is when the big races come round at Easter," said Barron. "I am very disappointed in it. You have to physically steer them round the top corner rather than allowing the horse to follow the natural contour and the transition finishes too quickly. It is similar to the one used for half a meeting about eighteen months ago. Anthony Butt said at a meeting we had with the Addington officials that if it is going to be done, do it right," he said.

Kevin Townley said: "It is not what we asked for; it's not right. We are having to drag horses up the camber and many on the inside are hitting the last pole," he said.

Mike Godber, Chief Executive Officer of Addington Raceway, says "I'm not happy with it. I know we have got a problem and it's got to be sorted out.I believe we have the best track and there is no compromise on that. We have got to maintain that standard."

Godber said officials had taken a number of comments from drivers to assist them rectify areas of concern. "Anthony Butt said the horses three and four wide on the corner were tightening those further down and that seems to be an accurate assessment of what is happening. The camber angle drops away too quickly.It should be able to be fixed," he said.

If it is not, Lischner said the likely alternative would be running the Easter meeting without the passing lane. Chief Stipendary Steward Neil Escott said: "I go along with the thoughts of the horsemen. Something will need to be done, especially with the Easter racing coming up. It would be unjust on the horsemen after raising the matter otherwise," he said.


Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 8Mar00

PEOPLE

DAVID WATKINS

The death occurred last Sunday of David Watkins, a horse owner and committee member of the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club. He was 58.

Watkins was also a steward for the New Brighton HRC from 1991 to 1993, being on the committee of that Club from 1993 until the merger of the three Addington Clubs two years ago.

Watkins had raced a handful of horses, and enjoyed success with the Butler B G filly Art Review who won one of her six NZ starts as a two year old in February, 1995.



Credit: NZ HRWeekly 28June00

PEOPLE

RON CAMPION

The death occured recently of Addington identity, Ron Campion. He was 80.

Ron was a well known figure over the years, often seen driving his horses down the roads on his way to work them at Addington.

Ron worked for the late Allan Holmes, and was a nephew of the late J S Shaw, of Vodka fame. He was recognised at being a dab hand for breaking in a young horse. In latter years Ron's most prominent horse was a trotter, Billy Joel, successful at the Wellington and local country area tracks.

Credit: NZ HRWeekly 5Jul00

PEOPLE

NORM BROWNE

The death occured recently of Norm Browne, aged 93, who won a race this time last year with Storm Signal at Motukarara.

Browne, who trained his first winner more than 60 years ago, was a noticable identity in the Yaldhurst area, where he worked as a blacksmith for many years. He recalled shoeing some great horses, notably Precaution, Gold Bar, Aksarben and Adorian, drove against Maurice Holmes and worked for Sir John McKenzie.

A farrier inspector at Riccarton, Rangiora and other provincial tracks in Canterbury, Browne usually had a couple of horses in work, the best of them being the useful Dark Signal.

Credit: NZ HRWeekly 3May00

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REG STOCKDALE

Reg Stockdale, who died suddenly last week aged 68, was seldom without a good horse in his Yaldhurst stable. He never went to a big team, always turned his horses out in top order, and was renowned for his attention to detail.

His first good horse was Gentry, although he was six and near the end of his career by the time he came into Stockdale's care. He won 13 races in the previous two seasons for Peter Stewart, who trained him for Bob Barry, but Stockdale won first-up with him at Auckland where he was off 48yds and beat Lucky Briton and Gaelic Prince.

He was followed by Blue Prince, who raced initially out of Davey Todd's stable and was driven by Ken Balloch before being bought by Barry. Based at Mangere then, Stockdale won five races with Blue Prince as a 5-year-old including the Allan Matson Handicap from Sun Chief and Aldora. He was still at Mangere when he won the New Zealand Derby for Barry with Student Prince, who defeated King Hal, Jay Ar and Flying Note. On the same day, False Step came from 48yds to beat Lookaway (30) and Sun Chief (12) in the Allan Matson and Moon Boy won the NZ Trotting Free-For-All from Ordeal and Au Fait.

Stewart Hanover, a roan by Garrison Hanover, won eight races in three seasons during the early 60's, and his place in the higher grades was taken by Bramble Hall, a dark brown gelding by Flying Song. Bramble Hall won 10 races, mostly driven by his former employer Maurice Holmes, who knew the big horse performed best when saved for a short, sharp sprint at the end. His major win was the Canterbury Park Free-For-All, a walk-up start which he won from Thurber Scott and Torrent.

In 1971, Stockdale won the New Zealand Oaks with the Garrison Hanover filly Shalimar who upset the favourites and beat Gay Hal and Candy Frost. That night, George Shand won with the big trotter Bambi, Doug Watts won with General Idea, Gavin Hampton won the New Brighton Cup with Radiant Globe who was off 30m, and Felix Newfield won with Blak Label.

Other good horses he trained were the trotter Southern Comfort, Lemrac, who upset one night in the wet at Addington and later ran 1:54 in the US, and Canis Minor, a big winner later in his career for Trevor Thomas.

Eulogies to the former President of the NZ Trainers' and Drivers' Association were given by Derek Jones, Jim Dalgety and Stockdale's son-in-law, Peter Jones. Stockdale is survived by his daughter Lois, son Graham, and grandchildren Phillippa and Mark Jones, Natasha and Jessica Stockdale.


Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 10May00

PEOPLE

BOB YOUNG

The late Bob Young is widely regarded as the finest reinsman seen in this country not to win a Drivers' Premiership or a NZ Cup.

He went very close in both, finishing second in the Premiership six times and with Patchwork in the 1961 NZ Cup, he was just as surprised as everyone else when an 11-year-old Invicta and Steve Edge nabbed him by a neck.

Towards the end of his driving career in the 1965/66 season, Young was comfortably clear of Peter Wolfenden, Maurice Holmes and Derek Jones when in February at Addington he was involved in a spectacular smash approaching the home turn and broke his arm. Donald Dundee, a half-brother to Robin Dundee who already had a reputation for being a bad horse to be following, was leading when he suddenly propped and went down. Horses and carts went flying in all directions and among them were Young and Bar None. Le Whip, at almost 40 to one and last at the half for Owen Quinlan, was left with just a driverless horse in front of him. Donald Dundee was on the next transport to America.

Young's forte however was trotters and there were no better hands in the business. He was the leading driver of trotters in a season six times. Not a tall man and slight of build, Young was never seen hanging out of the back of a sulky.

He had a golden patch in the decade between 1945-55 when he won the first two Inter-Dominion Trotting Finals with Aerial Scott (48 in Auckland) and Gay Belwin (51 in Christchurch), four Rowe Cups with Aerial Scott (46), Single Task (49), Gay Belwin (50) and Indomitable (52), a Dominion with Acclaimation (49) and three NZ Trotting Free-For-Alls with Aerial Scott (47,48) and Single Task (50), not to mention the Sapling Stakes, Great Northern Derby and New Brighton Cup twice and the NZ Derby, Auckland Cup, NZFFA and Champion Stakes.

Records are sketchy prior to the 1940s, but one can accurately estimate that Young drove around 750 winners when forced to retire in 1971 along with Bill Doyle, Jack Litten and Doug Watts. The last meeting of that season was at Addington in June where Watts won the Canterbury Park Winter Cup with Smokey Express and Young won the following event, the Canterbury Juvenile Stakes, with Mark Gentry. Young was favourite to win the final event with Fortunate, but came up a head short of Crystal John and Derek Jones.

Young was an ambitious young Scotsman when he arrived from Glasgow, aged 23 in 1929, at the invitation of Sir John McKenzie's private trainer Bobby Dunn. He was none too pleased when his initial duties culminated in carting oats, but his desire to be a driver was realised when he was entrusted with a team to the West Coast curcuit over Christmas that year. Whether this was his first drive is uncertain, but Loretta Napoleon won her debut for him in the Progress Handicap at the Westport Meeting. On the second day, he also won a saddle event with Royal Iroquois.

Young could see the sport was booming and wasn't long writing to his father, Jim, who arrived in due course with another son in Jim junior and eight horses. All of them were to win races, with Stanley T and Sandy N going through to the best classes. Stanley T was a lovely big chestnut trotter who won his first four races in the 1930/31 season with Jim junior at the helm. However, Young would later reflect that his older brother had never really wanted to leave Scotland and he was soon on the boat back home. Young drove Stanley T to win the Stewards' Handicap from 60 yards at the August meeting at Addington the next season, while 12 months later they won the same race from the backmark of 96 yards. Stanley T was however a tricky customer who more often than not let his supporters down.

The skill Young displayed in getting him away on the fresh side on those occasions was an early sign of what was to come. Prebbleton horseman Jack Grant, who worked for the Youngs while still at school in the 1940s, recalls one particular occasion in the 1960s with the notorious trotter Break Through. Arthur Pratt's Light Brigade stallion was one of those horses who when he trotted he won, but most often he didn't. Break Through was having a bad patch when Young was engaged to handle him in the 1967 NZ Trotting Championship at Addington. "As they lined up, Bob had him facing the stand and when told to swing him around, he said just leave me here," said Grant. When the tapes flew, Young quietly swung Break Through around and off he trotted like a toff, leading all the way to beat the hot favourite Mighty Chief by two lengths at 22 to one. Break Through had not started in the first night heats so raced in the Consolation on Easter Cup Day and did exactly the same thing in a time four seconds faster than Final winner Asia Minor. Bob always maintained you should never rush a trotter early on, particularly around the Showgrounds bend at Addington. He said it was better to lose a few lengths getting settled than trying to get handy."

Grant, who in partnership with Derek Jones was one of the leading trainers at that point, well recalls his early days with the Youngs. Grant, back home last week after a lengthy stay in hospital, would help work the horses before school, riding one with two on the lead, then after school had 18 yards to clean. "I will never forget one day I'd finished the yards and had walked inside to listen to a race. Jimmy said to me what are you listening to the race for - have you had a bet? I said no and he said well don't worry about the race, go and clean the yards. I said I've done them. And he said well go and do them again - you'll have less to do tomorrow then."

Another early memory was a Coast meeting where Young was trailling the field with a trotter. Pretending he had broken some gear, Young began yelling "I'm bolting - I can't hold him.""They all moved to the outside, and Bob trotted up the fence to win," said Grant.

Grant says Bob Young was a lot like his father - quiet and tough, but fair. On one occasion, Bob had been away in Auckland and had asked a couple of the stable boys to keep his lawn mowed. They didn't do it because they felt it wasn't part of the job. When Bob got back he said 'is that right,' and sacked them. But whenever we were away on trips he would pull you to one side and ask if you had any money. He would give you a quid - which was a lot in those days - just on the quiet. And there was always a good sling when we won."

Jim and Bob Young initially set up stables close to the Addington track - about where the TAB administration building is now - along with the likes of Vic Alborn and Freeman Holmes. They then moved to Hillmorton where the High School is today.

Hughie Greenhorn, whose father Dave knew the Youngs in Scotland and was already a prominent horseman when Bob first arrived here, was closely associated with the stable and well recalls buying a King Cobra mare Carntyne off them for £10. "We set her for a race at Greymouth and had a decent go at the double." Greenhorn bought a house near Addington in Wrights Road as a result. Greenhorn recalls that towards the end when the horses were in Jim's name, it was Bob doing most of the work. "Jimmy did all the wheeling and dealing, although Bob was a lot more cunning than most thought."

Jim Young died in 1955 and Bob took over the training, but a string of outstanding trotters had done their dash by then. Bob Young continued with the stables, but preferred just to drive as "there wasn't any money in training."

In Grant's early days - before a stint with Maurice McTigue and a partnership with Derek Jones - the likes of Reg Stockdale, Claude Baker and Kevin Murray were also employed in the stable. "He didn't say much for quite a while and when he did, you understand him half the time. If you didn't speak to him, he wouldn't speak to you. But once he got to know you, and he liked you, you were away. He never drank, but he smoked a bit until his later years. There was this fellow called Wally Gracie who had all the 'Edition' horses and he smoked like a train. Whenever Bob was in a race and was turning around afterwards to come back to the birdcage, Wally would put two smokes in his mouth and light them. Bob would walk into the driver's room with his mouth open and Wally would stick one in. He was very business-like. He would just do his thing and then go home, when the rest of us would hang around. He wasn't a terribly funny fellow - rather down to earth - but he had a sense of humour of his own."

Grant recalls another time where Young appeared to have a race won when a horse slipped up the fence and Just beat him. "There was this fellow in the old members stand going crook at him. Bob went looking for him and when he found him, he gave him a bloody good barrel. He said he didn't mind if someone did it from the public stand, but a member should know better."

Grant says he felt a little sorry for Bob Young towards the end. After many years where several well-known horsemen trained at Addington and at least 100 horses were trained there everyday, in the end Young was often a lone figure with a couple of horses. "He must have thought was it really worth it. He really did not say much, but he was very bitter when they took his licence off him - it was such a shame really and so stupid. You had all those household names like Young, Litten, Doyle, Watts, Holmes and Devine - people would bet on the names instead of the horses - that seemed to disappear over-night because of the compulsory retirement age."

"Most of the top trainers over the years like them had sons or grandons to pass things onto and were quite happy to step aside and give them a go. Like Derek (Jones) did for Peter and he now does for Mark. Bob didn't have that. He had a son in Robert, but I recall the day that Bob said to him to 'head away into town and get a job as he wasn't cut out for this caper'."

Young almost always spent his afternoons in his beloved rose garden in Fendalton, but Grant says without fail he never ever missed a day feeding a horse. "Then one morning he rang a friend and asked him to feed up because he wasn't feeling too well. He died later that day."

-o0o-

Bob Young married Vere in 1943 after meeting her in the Milky Way milkbar, a regular haunt after a movie, or later, the races. He is survived by son Robert (Wellington), daughters in Diane (Christchurch), Margaret (Sydney) and Janice (London) and five grandchildren, whom he particularly enjoyed in later years says Diane.



Credit: Frank Marrion writing in HRWeekly 28Jun00

PEOPLE

CES DONALD

Ces Donald was among the rare breed who became a legend in his own lifetime.

When he trained his 1000th winner in NZ - Forest King at Addington in February, 1972 - he was the first horseman to reach that milestone and in thoroughbred circles, it is a feat only matched in recent years by Rex Cochrane. To put this achievement into perspective, one has to appreciate that when Donald was in his prime in the 1930s and 40s, there were approximately 50 meetings per season, plus the odd races held at galloping meetings, and often eight races per meeting. Even towards the end of his career in the 1960s there were still only about 120 meetings a year with nine races - it was the early 1970s when licences began to be despatched like the Allies were dropping 'windows' along with bombs over Germany in WWII.

The most successful trainer in modern times is Roy Purdon, who joined Donald in the 1000 Club in 1985 when the majority of his winners came after a 15 year period when well over 200 meetings a season were the norm. This is not obviously in anyway meant to belittle Purdon, who when he retired in partnership with son Barry in 1995 had moved on to a staggering 2021 wins.

When Donald won his ninth Trainer's Premiership in 1963, he bettered the record held by James Bryce, whose eight titles were in the formative years of trotting. Purdon won three and tied for another on his own account, and another 17 along with Barry. A more appropriate yardstick is perhaps Derek Jones, who has now been training for about the same length of time as Donald's career. A two time Premiership winner with Jack Grant, Jones is presently sitting on 977 wins.

Donald's story is the stuff that books are made of - the names that passed through his famous Belfast stables read almost like a who's who of trotting annals - and one cannot do it full justice here, but we will attempt a condensed form.

Born in the Heathcote Valley, near Christchurch, to Joseph and Florence Donald, who emigrated from the Gurnsey Islands in the English Channel, Donald was practically riding bareback before he could walk. First taking out a licence in April, 1922, Donald had his first win as a trainer/driver later that year when the trotter Mangoutu won at Addington. A Galindo mare, Mangoutu had won twice in five seasons and had not won in 18 months when as a 10-year-old, Donald took her over and produced her to win the two mile Seaview Handicap from 36 yards by four lengths as eighth favourite. She won another five races for Donald, including the Forbury Park T C feature, the Dominion Handicap, from 72 yards.

In his first full season of training, Donald also won the Greymouth and Westport Cups and the 500 sov. Liverpool Handicap at Addington with Harbour Light, a son of Wildwood Junior who had been around the traps prior to Donald buying him for himself. People were already starting to sit up and take notice, but half way through the 1924/5 season, Donald was suspended from driving for 12 months when Wharepiana, after winning at Ashburton by five lengths, staged a dramatic form reversal at the Forbury Park Summer meeting. The Hal Zolock filly had failed to show up on the first day, but won easily on the second and was disqualified.

After serving his time, Donald bounced back in dramatic fashion when the newcomers to his stable in the 1926/7 season included the imported American pacer Jack Potts and the Author Dillon mare Auditress, both from other stables. They were to prove a decisive turning point in the young Donald's career in more ways than one - not the least of which was later combining to produce the NZ Cup winner Marlene.

Despite being troubled by unsoundness, Jack Potts proved a top class pacer. At the 1927 Auckland TC Summer carnival, he was beaten a head by dual NZ Cup winner Ahuriri (both off 36 yards) in the Auckland Cup and won the President's Handicap from 60 yards, beating among others Jewel Pointer, Peterwah, Kohara and Sheik. Line-bred to two of Hambletonian's famous sons in Dictator and George Wilkes, the aristocratic Jack Potts, who was owned by Alex Anderson after arriving as a 2-year-old, did however have a fair degree of non-Hambletonian blood in his pedigree, such as the 'Clays' and 'Hals.'

With five crops racing, Jack Potts was leading sire in 1938 and occupied that position for nine consecutive seasons, only being dethroned by the arrival of U Scott and Dillon Hall. Jack Potts sire numerous Cup class and classic winners, among them Inter-Dominion champions Emulous (48) and Pot Black (38), NZ Cup winners Lucky Jack (37,39) and Marlene (40), NZ FFA winners Pacing Power (NZ Derby), Indian Clipper, Knave of Diamonds, Fine Art and Clockwork, Sapling Stakes winners Frisco Lady, Twos Loose (NZ Derby) and Sir Julian, Horsepower (GN Derby) and further NZ Derby winners in Gamble and Air Marshall. His daughters were to produce the likes of Van Dieman, Tactician, Thelma Globe, Lady Belmer, Patchwork, Thunder, Rupee and Young Charles.

Many of the fine performers sired by Jack Potts came from Donald's spacious and immaculate 30 acre property at Belfast - now a wasteland situated between the Styx River bridge and the Pentland subdivision. Donald would later relate how Jack Potts initially stood in the Depression years at £7 and many breeders would pay the fee off at a pound a time when they could afford it. Even when leading sire he still only stood for 25 guineas and it was only towards the end that he commanded an appropriate fee. He was never really rushed by breeders at any stage.

Donald's stables were into top gear by 1930, the year he first won the Trainers' Premiership with a record 45 wins, and over the next decade he occupied that position seven times. Among the horses who reached the very best classes, or close to it, during this period, were Plutus (17 wins, Inter-Dom Heat), Lindberg (14 wins, NZ Cup division), Kempton (Dominion, Rowe), Royal Silk, Carmel (Auckland Cup),Bessie Logan (NZ Cup trial), Sir Guy (11 wins), Writer (Dominion), Great Way, Accountant, Baron Bingen, Blaydon, Brook Pointer, Clockwork, Dilnon, Ferry Post, First Flight, Grand Canyon (Australasian Hcp), Morning Sun, Night Beam, Quality, Pearl Logan, Pluto, Real Light, Ron, St George, Sir Author, Village Guy and Blondie, the latter a distinctive cream pacer.

Tonic, Stand By, Tan John (Dominion), Ambition, Biworthy (2nd Dominion), John Mauritius, Wahnooka and Mr Penalty were all high class trotters. Wahnooka, among many who arrived from other stables with little apparent future, had looked promising as a pacer, but was a notorious knee knocker. Donald discovered his trotting ability however and won 13 races with him - shod as a pacer. The trotter Captain Bolt and the pacing filly De La Paix were fondly remembered by Donald for their ability, but who failed to realise their ability. Captain Bolt, who won eight and would have won many more if he had been at all reliable, beat the champion mare Sea Gift in a match race, while De La Paix was considered better than Marlene before she contracted strangles.

Along with Jack Potts in the 1930s, Donald also stood his son Gamble, the imported sires in Lusty Volo and Calumet Axworth and the thoroughbred Airway at Belfast and at the height of his breeding activities the broodmare band numbered around 90. Dabbling with the odd galloper, Donald owned and trained along with others Crash, a sprint record holder at Riccarton for a time. Donald had also seen the potential in dairy farming in the 1930s and purchased a rundown sheep and cattle station at Bullock Hill near Okuku which he transformed into a showplace holding. He made various sizeable investments in this area - some of which were to practically bankrupt him on occasions over the years - and at one point controlled over 3000 acres of farm land. He was a regular at the Addington sale yards with truckloads of fat cattle and in later years also ran a pig farm.

Donald was very much a three meals a day man, a philosophy he took to the stables. "Meat three times a day" for the men and "the best of oats," crushed on the premises, for the horses. "If you don't feed them, they can't work" was a well known quote. Donald would also later relate that horses were not treated "as a mob." "They are all individuals. They are all different. Some want to be alone. Some go haywire if they are left alone. Each one is handled with understanding, no matter how nervous, or mad, or bad it may be when it first arrives here. None of the head lads or stable boys are allowed to hit a horse. We don't molly-coddle them, of course, but the rough stuff is out. Firmness, by all means; cruelty never. I only allow three horses to each lad."

If the 1930s were pretty much a Donald benefit, he showed no signs of slowing down in the following decade. In fact, it began with perhaps his finest training feat. Marlene, who had won the Auckland Cup the previous season, had for all intents and purposes broken down after winning twice at the Met's August meeting and had not raced for three months going into the 1940 NZ Cup. Noticeably lame prior to the race, and afterwards, she won in a ding-dong struggle with Dusky Sound over the closing stages with Donald's brother Ron at the helm. Ron Donald was generally regarded as a better driver than his brother - in fact a quite brilliant all-round horseman - but his light was to fade as he lost his battle with the bottle. Marlene only raced a handful of further times without winning and then only left three named foals. Donald also won the Free-For-All with Plutus and the Dominion with Tan John, beating Captain Bolt, while Superior Rank and Repeal were also successful at the meeting.

Soon after, Donald produced the brilliant trotter Rangefinder, whom he believed was 2:00 material at a time when pacers had only just achieved the feat. The son of Frank Worthy beat the best trotters around and on one occasion easily accounted for a field of 23 pacers in the mile and a quarter Strowan Handicap at Addington. Bayard was just a pony pacer and well past his prime when he entered the stable, but Donald gave him such a new lease on life that he finished third from 12 yards in the 1942 NZ Cup when Haughty went a record 4:12 4/5 off the front. Steel Grey was a superb grey trotter that arrived from Auckland late in his career who won the 1946 NZ Trotting FFA for Donald, while Checkmate was a top pacer in the late 40s with 11 wins.

In the early 50s, Ben Grice's brilliant Brahman joined the team as a late 3-year-old and Donald won 10 times with him, including a defeat of Caduceus in the two mile Ollivier Handicap at the 1956 NZ Cup meeting, before he broke a sesamoid the following year on the eve of the Cup, a race Donald was sure he would win. After one of his bad patches in the 1957/58 season where he registered just one win, Donald bounced back with a number of good sorts, none better than the Southland mare Lady Shona. She won 10 races and finished fourth in the 1959 NZ Cup behind False Step, Gentry and Caduceus. Not far away were Falsehood (Dunedin Cup), King Hal, Dandy Briar (Auckland Cup over Cardigan Bay), Gildirect, Urrall and Cairnbrae (NZ Cup), all Cup class pacers for him around the same time and who often formed a formidable bracket - sometimes five of six of them in the same race.

Donald had three starters in the 1964 NZ Cup and opted to drive Ted Lowe's 8-year-old U Scott gelding Cairnbrae himself. After taking over at the mile, they left the likes of Orbiter, Lordship and Vanderford in their wake. In the latter part of the 1960s, the brothers Chief Command (NZ FFA) and Indecision -"who was twice the horse if he'd had any legs"- and Rauka Lad (New Brighton Cup) also raced and beat the best.

While he won with Cairnbrae, Donald was a rare sight in the sulky towards the end, preferring to employ the likes of Doug Watts, Doody Townley, Derek Jones and - when he could - Maurice Holmes. His last driving win was On Probation in April, 1966 - a horse he owned - and appropriately it was the Farewell Handicap at Hawera. He was for many years a keen supporter of the Club and a great friend of Club stalwart Alex Corrigan. Almost to the day, On Probation's win came 44 years after he first took out a licence.

It was in October, 1963, that Donald approached a youthful Bob Nyhan, who was engaged to his daughter Pat, and would marry her the following year, to become his stable foreman and No.1 driver. Ron Donald had long since departed and Kevin Holmes had left to set up his own stable. "Some of the owners had been complaining about having a different driver every week," recalls Nyhan, who had been briefly training on his own account after a stint with Jack Litten. While Nyhan jumped at the chance, he has some mixed emotions about that part of his life.

"Ces had always loved the challenge of a gamble, but towards the end, he really had a passion about stitching up the bookies. there were times when they came unstuck rather badly, and a lesser person might have given the game away, but he always bounced back. There were some horses that had been pulled up that often, when you asked them to go or hit them, they didn't know what to do. I well recall one day - I used to have a bet myself in those days - that I had got a mate to put the money on this horse I was driving, as I was sure it would win. When I arrived in the birdcage, Ces says to me 'you are not to win today'." Asked what he did, Nyhan said "I always did what I was told. You couldn't ask the outside drivers like Holmes and so forth not to try, so I always got the one that wasn't supposed to win. It didn't exactly help my career much at that point," said Nyhan.

Nyhan recalls Donald as being a terrific host, but he never once saw him drunk. "Often, it was when we had lost that he would shout all the boys after the races - and there were six or seven of them. He figured though that when we had won, there was no need to." Then there were the infamous boot parties in the carpark after the races. "Ben Grice, who was a great mate of Ces, often arrived full of gin and Ces would give him water because he didn't know the difference."

Nyhan says that a lot of Donald's horses had unsoundness problems due to the nature of his training track. "It was very fertile ground, but with any rain it became very puggy and hard on the legs. "I recall at times putting a truckload of sawdust on the track four to five times a day for a week just to give it a bit of binding. There was one day where out of 40 horses that were in work, I had to put bandages on 28 of them."

"He was ahead of his time though and was always experimenting with different types of feed. A lot of horses joined the stable that were not known to be very good stayers, but Ces was a great believer in feeding them glucose and they became good stayers. Long before swimming pools were thought of, Ces would stand a lot of horses in cold water. We always used to wash then in buckets of warm water - Ces said to me one day 'would you like a cold shower in the middle of winter?' He was the only one in those days too who would water the track in summer. He did not believe in automation though. Even when walking machines came along, he still preferred to have the staff walk the horses to cool off. I said to him one day that you could save a lot of money on staff with a walker and he just said don't be lazy."

Donald was still training when, literally, he was on his last legs - he had crook hips and was a familiar sight at the track with his walking sticks. A few weeks before he died in August, 1973, he had been told by his doctor that he would had to go into hospital for at least three weeks for complete rest. He only stayed a week - "he wanted to die at home."

Ces Donald presented himself to most, including his family and staff, as being gruff and difficult to approach. But Nyhan says he was amazed at the number of people who said to him at Donald's funeral how much he had helped them. "If someone was short, he had given them money, or if it was a young fellow trying to get started, he had given them gear and equipment. He did untold good for lots of people, but he never wanted anybody to know about it."


Credit: Frank Marrion writing in HRWeekly 5Jul00

INTERDOMINIONS

MELBOURNE - SHAKAMAKER
The year 2000 saw Harness Racing Victoria turn the Inter-Dominions on their head. The new format was a drastic change away from the equine battle that was always the case and turned in to something completely different. The end result though was spectacular with great racing over the month of the series. Shakamaker took all the short cuts through the series and with the aid of a cool drive by John Justice took out the final over a star-studded field.

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Lorraine & Ron Nolan pose with the Cup

2000 CANTERBURY DRAUGHT NZ TROTTING CUP

They are said to be a very decent couple - and smart horse people. Put in a driver who has emerged from the shadows of the best and a pretty fair horse and the picture of a formidable combination is complete.

Good enough to set a World Record, a step up from Bogan Fella who tried so hard to go the last round when he was behind on points; in the end the victory was so comprehensive that nothing came back feeling hard done-by.

This was Hawera's day, the day the country folk came to town with a big brown horse who would have been a movie star had he been human. And with them the Cambridge float driver who at one stage gave harness racing away when the going was too tough.

Standing on the edge, where he likes it, away from the hugging and kissing and tears that go with the winning of a Canterbury Draught NZ Cup, stood Ron Nolan, a slight and modest man looking younger than his 67 years. On the podium, with officials, sponsors and media and handling it with her usual passion was his wife, trainer and astute horsewoman, Lorraine.

Shawsy, or Tony Shaw, who went by the book and went to the front with the best stayer in the field, was still in the sulky, warning the descending multitude of various bodies to stand back because Yulestar was keen to give something a good solid boot. The warning came too late for one poor cameraman who lurched out of the ring after a thud that obviously found a home. "He's like that," said Shaw. "Just keep clear of him." Had she been near at the time Lorraine would have said the same. "He got Ron, and he got Tim Butt and someone working for Robert Cameron whe he was at Mooney Valley last year. It's part of his personality. He gets an adrenalin rush, but he was really quite civilised today."

As it turned out, and as many predicted after his win in the Flying Stakes at Ashburton last month, Yulestar was like a battleship amongst cruisers and river tugs. Between then and his excellent Kaikoura second, the flame of favouritism seemed to flicker a bit, and he went to the start sharing the role with Holmes D G and Bogan Fella.

Bogan Fella and Yulestar left the tapes smartly and got through to nice positions early while others got flustered and missed away, and Bogan Fella had a spell in the lead before the race was two minutes old and Yulestar did the same. "I had no plan but if they settled and slakened off, I'd go," said Shaw. "I sat down beforehand and picked where I would get the best run through. When I came round, Mark was happy to let me go. I had a bit of a scare when Kliklite broke early on. With a round to go he was just jogging."

Jogging! At world record speed - 3:59.1.

On the corner, Bogan Fella was all out to keep on the back of the big country boy who could pass for a thoroughbred without a push. There was nothing else in sight except space, and there was plenty of that. Kym's Girl cut into it with some spirit on reaching the passing lane. She had some reminders to give out because many had forgotten how much she likes the Cup meeting. She ran up to Bogan Fella as if she had just joined in but then it dawned on her, too, that this was a fast hike and she'd done her share of it. And just when the placings were almost in the frame, Under Cover Lover came with a whistle and shout and had fair claim to think she should have finished closer. She was near last at the 800m and it was well into the straight before she could pop out and sprint home. Happy Asset who followed Chloe Hanover out was fourth and trailing over the last lap, was held up on the corner and had a gallop at the 150m when looking a real place chance.

Late that night, the Nolans settled back to see the race again with another grand couple who had done the same nearly half a century earlier. Their hosts while in Christchurch are Don and Doris Nyhan, both in their 80's, who won the Cup in 1954 with Johnny Globe and twice after that with Lordship.

The Nolans bought Yulestar when he was a yearling for $9,000. Ron admits he didn't know anything about the sire Cameleon but considered the mare Victoria Star, a good racemare by Lordship, an asset in the pedigree. They were new to harness racing, having been in gallopers for 40 years. "We thought it was time to buy a colt. The first horse we had was Joyful Fella. He won a trot but was hopeless." Their Cameleon colt, born on Christmas Day and named Yulestar because of it, showed immediate promise but was big and needed time. In the course of his programme at three, the Nolans arrived at Trentham for a meeting on the grass. "Thats where he had a terrible fall when Maurice McKendry was driving him. I stood in the middle of the track at Trentham and said to Ron 'that's the end of our dream'. I'd seen it in slow motion and I thought he'd broken his neck. He was last to get up. It was just a miracle he was alright, and he was; there was nothing he had to worry about." But it did open the door for Shaw. McKendry elected to to drive a horse for Sean McCaffrey when Yulestar raced two starts later at New Plymouth, and Shaw was put up, and he's stayed.

By his own score, Shaw is not in the class of McKendry or Tony Herlihy. He has his own float business based in Cambridge. His public relation skills are excellent. "The game is easy when you've got the right horse. I think I was the fourth to get on the horse, after Tony, Maurice and Colin Butler."

Shaw started out with the late Bob Mitchell, then his son Robert, Brian O'Meara and Clive Herbert. "It was a good apprenticeship. Then, about seven years ago, I went overseas for three years, just around Europe and England. I don't regret doing that. My career wasn't going anywhere at the time. I thought if I worked hard, I would get back."

For Shaw, winning the Cup "is the ultimate. I've tried to leave the champion tag off him, but to me, thats what he is."

Shawsy is a champ, too. He thought of his Dad Russell who was somewhere in the crowd. And he thought of his old mentor Jack Baker who got his career going. "He's about 90 and virtually blind. I'm sure he would be listening to the race." And hear this Jack, no one could have done it better.


Credit: Mike Grainger writing in the HR Weekly

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Agua Caliente beats Yulestar in the FFA

2000 AIR NEW ZEALAND NZ FREE-FOR-ALL

Poppy Short was too far away to hear the crowd roar for Agua Caliente as he sprinted best to win the Air New Zealand Free-For-All at Addington. Still at home in Waiuku, she was doing enough yelling of her own. And having lept off the couch as Agua Caliente hit the line, the first to get a hug at her end of the country was her faithful dog Butch, who must have wondered what all the fuss was about.

Poppy chose to stay away from the glamour of Cup Week in Christchurch. Like a lot of people, she's not at all comfortable with flying, which is quite understandable considering two of her brothers were killed in plane crashes during World War II and she almost lost a third brother the same way. She has never got on an aeroplane, and never will. "But I like being able to sit at home and watch the races by myself," she says, "it gives me time to think."

With 24 wins already, Agua Caliente has provided Poppy and her daughters, Donna Woods and Susan Short, with plenty of happy moments. Sadly, every one of those victories "wrenches" with memories of Poppy's late husband Don, who died four years ago next February.

Winning last Friday's Free-For-All was something special though. "It was just Brilliant," the 69-year-old continued. "Peter and Glen (Wolfenden) are such wonderful horsemen and Glen's such a great driver. Agua Caliente's like one of the family, and they love the horse too so they always do the best by him."

It was a classic drive from Glen on the occasion, because he picked that the Cup winner Yulestar would press forward from his wide draw so he wanted to be in front early and waiting for him. "I could not have wished for a better run," Wolfenden admitted. "I had to wake my bloke up a bit out of the gate, then once Yulestar came around I knew he wouldn't give the lead away. People think Agua Caliente is only a sit-sprinter, but the way he worked at both ends today and the time he went proves that he can grind it out."

Despite a cold day and rain affected surface, Agua Caliente won the Free-For-All in 2:24.7, a 1:56.4 mile rate and less than half a second outside Iraklis' national mark set on Cup day four years ago.

Credit: John Robinson writing in NZHR Weekly