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RACING HISTORY

PEOPLE

CHARLIE PATEMAN

Charlie Pateman, who died in Blenheim age 93, was an owner of standardbreds and thoroughbreds, widely known throughout NZ and Australia. Highly successful as a hard-working caterer and hotelier, first in Timaru and then for long years in Blenheim, Mr Pateman raced numerous gallopers, pacers and trotters on both sides of the Tasman, some of them in his own direct interests and many more out on lease. His best gallopers were Ray Ribbon (who beat all but Rising Fast in the 1955 Caulfield Cup and won the Williamstown Cup) and Lady Christine (who cost him 400 guineas as a yearling and was the top 2-year-old of 1946-47).

Mr Pateman initially owned Mankind, but let that good pacer slip through his hands to subsequently bring Wes Butt into prominence in the game in the early 1940s. In 1967 Mr Pateman sold the trotter French Pass after his first win to Wellingtonian Roy McKenzie, for whom he won a string of races including the Dominion Handicap of that year and beat all but Stylish Major in the 1968 Inter-Dominion Grand Final in Auckland.

Mr Pateman also bred and raced a smart pacer in the mid-1970s, Grosvenor Lord. One of the shareholders with Noel Simpson in the founding of Prestatyn Raceway in Wales, which opened in 1963, Mr Pateman served as judge among other official capacities and with Simpson worked hard but in vain to get harness racing off the lower rung in the United Kingdom.

Credit: 1993 TAB Harness Racing Annual

PEOPLE

JIM DALGETY Snr

Jim Dalgety, who died at Oamaru after a short illness, operated the Belmedia Stud at Kakanui, where he farmed from 1942. His first racing venture was Vanity Scott, a daughter of U Scott and Tara's Hall whom he bought as a 2-year-old for 210 guineas in 1955. She won him nine races and left the winners Kimargo, Master Key, Golden Vanity and Yankee Scott.

Other good winners trained by Mr Dalgety included Spangle's Gold, Jack Ruler, Butler Hanover, Lakeda, Fielder and Lord Paso. His most recent winner was Guiding Boy at Forbury Park in 1990. A vendor at the national yearling sales for many years from the early 1950s, he bred a host of winners, including Chief Command, Indecision, Living Doll, Lord Paso, Star Stranger and Jack Ruler, all from Queen's Coronet. Mr Dalgety stood the stallion Jack Chance in the mid-1970s

His sons Jim (Lantana Lodge, West Melton) and Don (Shardon Stud, Kakanui) both established their own standardbred studs after assisting their father.

Credit: 1993 TAB Harness Racing Annual

PEOPLE

J X FERGUSON

Few have bred as many winners as J X Ferguson, a prominent Banks Peninsula farmer who continued the Le Lievre family destiny in harness racing. His death recently, at the age of 83, has ended a long association with the sport that began with his grandfather, Etienne Le Lievre. For most of his life Jack lived in Akaroa, but unwilling in his latter years to tackle the hill climb home after a night at Addington, he shifted to a smaller holding at Greenpark.

Mr Ferguson quickly made his mark as a breeder, sending the Man O' War mare Polka Dot to Light Brigade. This mating produced the dual Auckland Cups winner Soangetaha, and to U Scott, Polka Dot left Prince Polka, which won the Auckland Cup in 1955 when trained by Noel Berkett.

An introduction through Soangetaha's trainer Derek Jones to Andy Carmichael forged a friendship that lasted for many years. Mr Carmichael bought many of the horses Jack bred, including Prince Polka, and they were partners in Good Admiral, which won 18 including the 1971 NZ Trotting Stakes, the Reta Peter Handicap and the Challenge Stakes at Alexandra Park.

Jack bought Mischievous, and sent her to U Scott. She left Desiree, the cornerstone of John Butcher's wonderful 'ias' family - notably Abdias, Tobias and Samarias - and Desilu, the dam of the great racemare Delightful Lady. He bred Inter-Dominion Trotting Grand Final winner Precocious from Johnny Globe and Dauphine; Petite Polly, the 1987/88 Victorian Broodmare of the Year; Girl Brigade, which was Southland Broodmare of the Year; and Dels Dream.

A family member recalls that Jack regularly bred from 12 to 15 mares, and was a loyal patron at Roydon Lodge when Sandy Green was studmaster. He sold many he bred through the sales, but in more recent years he raced them, from the stables of Noel Berkett, Jack Smolenski and Peter Robertson.

His favourite was perhaps Jayex, a colt by Nevele Romeo from Eblouir which won the NZ Champion Stakes and a heat of the Sires' Stakes in a short career. With Glamour Chief, he ran second in the NZ Derby, and Melvander, which was the last he raced, won the NZ Trotting Fee-For-All and finished second in the Inter-Dominion Grand Final. "I think the sudden death of Melvander probably knocked him," recalls the spokesperson.

A keen sportsman and a harness racing enthusiast from his earier days, J X Ferguson bred more than 100 winners. He is survived by his wife Maisie, son Peter, and daughters Jill and Lyndsay.

Credit: NZ HRWeekly 10Jun92

PEOPLE

MAURICE McTIGUE

Maurice McTigue, who died at Ashburton aged 85, was, in his heyday, NZ trotting's leading owner-trainer, with a remarkable strike-rate for a one-man band.

An electrician early in life, McTigue in the early 1930s bred Waress, a filly by dual Auckland Cup winner Man o' War from Ivy Mac, a little mare whose dam Manuka (a straightout trotter) was a sister to champion pacer of the turn of the century, Ribbonwood. A staying type, Waress won five races, and, with her and other good performers in Fine Art, Morello and the dual-gaited Dark Hazard, McTigue burst into trotting's headlines in the '30s. Morello in 1938 gave McTigue a winning debut in the NZ Cup.

Waress produced a line of winners for McTigue, all by Jack Potts. The best of these, Plunder Bar, won 12 races and was twice second in the NZ Cup. Other good performers from Waress were Indigo and Vimy Ridge. Putting unraced Jack Potts mare Berengaria, the first foal of Waress, to Springfield Globe, McTigue bred Tactician.

Racing until he was 13, Tactician won 20 races, highlighted by his victory over Johnny Globe in the 1955 Inter-Dominion Final in Auckland. In beating False Step and Local Light in the Rattray Stakes at Addington in 1957 in 1:59 4/5, Tactician recorded the first sub-2:00 race mile outside America.

The first president of the Mid-Canterbury OTB Association and a past-president of the Methven Trotting Club, McTigue was survived by five children, including National Government Minister Maurice McTigue.

-1993 TAB Harness Racing Annual-

-o0o-

M C(Maurice)McTigue, a prominent Methven harness racing identity, the first President of the Mid-Canterbury OTB Association, and a past President of the Methven Trotting Club, died last week, aged 85.

Mr McTigue, a former electrician and the father of the present Minister of State-owned Enterprises, gained his biggest triumph in 1955 when he won the Inter-Dominion Grand Final with Tactician. He bred Tactician from Springfield Globe, winner of the 1939 Inter-Dominion Grand Final and Berengaria, the first foal from his good Man O'War mare, Waress (9 wins).

Tactician did not race until he was four, and won his first two, at Hawera. Mr McTigue was against racing horses at two, after he saw Plunder Bar beaten on a heavy track in the Sapling Stakes at Ashburton. Plunder Bar, which he bred from Waress, later became a top horse and won 12 races, but it took him 12 months before he was properly right again.

Long before Tactician came along, Mr McTigue had struck in the big races, winning the 1938 NZ Cup driving Morello. Tactician raced until he was 13, won 20 races, became the first outside the US to better 2:00 for a mile in a race and earned more than £25,000.

Among the other fine horses he raced were Loyal Rey (12wins), Great Divide (11), Precious Metal, Maharaj, Black Surprise, Indigo (8), King's Play, Messala, Kubla Khan (8), Golden Fleece (9), Grand Canal, Genghis Khan, Fine Art (14), Dark Hazard (11), Play On, West Point, Peter Polo, Royal Worthy and Loyal Friend.

Always active around his farm, Mr McTigue enjoyed a game of billiards and a beer at the 'local' until a year ago when he was hurt in a car accident.

Credit: NZ HRWeekly 2Sep92

INTERDOMINIONS

MELBOURNE - WESTBURN GRANT
Enabled only by the wonders of modern science to even be competing, 6yo stallion Westburn Grant and 51 year old New South Wales trainer Vic Frost teamed for a triumph in the $400,000 1992 Final in Melbourne. Those closest to this brilliant horse and his master were almost overcome with emotion. Westburn Grant had undergone expert surgery to pin a shattered pastern following a training accident in Perth in January 1991.
Best of the Kiwis was Blossom Lady, who ran third.

HORSES

VANCE HANOVER

Vance Hanover who died suddenly aged 17 at Vance Lodge in South Auckland on Saturday morning at the peak of his mercurial career was a sensational sire. There was no other way to describe him.

The nuggety, unraced stallion - the first son of world champion pacer and sire Albatross to be made available to NZ breeders - rocketed to a pre-eminence that could one day see him heralded as the Hambletonian 10 or the Meadow Skipper of the standardbred industry in this country.

Vance Hanover sired winners from mares of the lowliest credentials to forge himself an initial popularity that led him to attracting record numbers of matrons, eventually including the most fashionable. He shattered all previous records for mares covered, local individual winners and wins and seasonal stakemoney won by his stock. With 10 crops on the tracks, he is well on his way to dominating the sires' premiership for the fifth straight season. The quality of his representatives, who will no doubt dominate our racing for some seasons to come, embraced speed, stamina, versatility and durability, while both his sons and daughters demonstrated these assets and there were already signs that his sons and daughters would breed on successfully.

Helen Andrews, wife of Vance Lodge co-director Eric Andrews, found Vance Hanover dead in his paddock around 8.30 on Saturday morning, some 45 minutes after he had served a mare. "He had served all but three of the 115 mares booked to him here, while down at Templeton, where Kevin Williams has been inseminating South Island mares booked to him, there were about 20 to go of some 120," said Vance Lodge studmaster Fraser Kirk.

Williams confirmed that six mares were inseminated with Saturday's final collection from Vance Hanover. "There will only be about 20 mares miss out, although there are a few mares who have only been inseminated once that we have our fingers crossed for, and these include some good ones, like Bella Regazza, the dam of Giovanetto," said Williams. "We had 70 positives, and I think there will be about 80 booked here get in foal."

Vance Hanover was insured by Andrews and Graham Brown, co-directors of Vance Lodge. Said Kirk: "I thought he would live until he was 30. He was unraced and so strong, and his legs were unmarked. What the future holds now I just don't know." Said Williams: "It is such a shock. We had it teed up beautifully, allowing more than 100 South Island breeders access to him, and everything was working like clockwork. At least we pioneered this semen transportation in New Zealand, and proved that, beyond doubt, it is both viable and successful."

Vance Hanover was the 1975 foal of the Best Of All mare Valentine Hanover, who was from a prized Tar Heel mare Valentine Day. On this good breeding and his own impressive conformation, famed Hanover Shoe Farms in Pennsylvania sold him for $85,000 as a yearling. As an un-raced 2-year-old, he cracked a sesamoid. His trainer, Vernon Dancer, wanted to bring him back into work when the fracture mended, but Vance Hanover's owner indicated she didn't want the horse to race.

He was purchased for New Zealand by Aucklander Noel Taylor and Southland breeding expert Norm Pierce, who first leased him and then, a year later, sold him to the late Dave Jessop. Offered first in 1979 by Jessop at the bargain fee of $400 - to attract as many mares as possible and set his new Placid Lodge base at Waiuku on firm footing - Vance Hanover attracted big numbers of mares, albeit very few of them that could be described as other than nondescript.

While Vance Hanover's earliest sons and daughters showed excellent potential (he was leading sire of 2-year-olds with his secod crop in 1983/84), Jessop kept the fee down at $500. In 1984 he got an amazing total of 402 mares to him - definitely a NZ record and possibly a world best. At this point, Jessop, in ill health, reluctantly let Vance Hanover go to a consortium headed by North Shore accountant Graham Brown, in a deal that put the stallion's value at something close to $1m.

Vance Hanover moved a few kilometres up the road to the newly established Vance Lodge at Waiau Pa on the southern shores of the Manukau Harbour. His fee was hiked to $2000, and, with Trevor Payne his studmaster, his book there in 1985 was 347 mares. It was in this year that, for the first time, a good number of class matrons met up with him, his book including some 50 mares sent from the South Island. To Vance Hanover's everlasting credit, from the many mares booked to him in his earliest years of duty who had not produced anything of account, even to fashionable sires, he achieved an excellent strike-rate of winners to foals.

Vance Hanover was in 1986 re-negotiated to stand at Ivan Pavlovich's plush new Great Northern Bloodstock nursery at Te Aroha, in a deal that put his value close to $2m. With his fee eventually set at $6000, he covered 130 mares there in 1986, after which Pavlovich decided to let him go, by popular demand, to be available to South Island mares at his newly-leased and refurbished stud, Poplar Lane Lodge, Ashburton. At Poplar Lane in 1987, Vance Hanover, at a basic $6000 plus GST, took care of 243 bookings.

In topping the sires' list in 1987/88 for the first time, with only six crops on the tracks (and these virtually all in North Island stables), Vance Hanover set new figures for sire earnings in a season of $1,323,129 and a record number of individual winners during the term - 66. He had 139 starters for the season, who won 156 races in total, including 96 at Alexandra Park. Vance Hanover had burst into the top spot as a result of a remarkable season for his progeny across the spectrum of age-groups and classes. In 1988/89, Vance Hanover eclipsed his previous record total with two months of the term to run, and by season's end his representatives had amassed a whopping $1.62m. His 87 individual winners was another record, and also their 190 wins. In this season he served 264 mares.

Despite Vance Hanover's great work for Great Northern Bloodstock, the Te Aroha showplace was one of several major new North Island stud operations placed in receivership in 1989. Unable to meet the drip-feed financial commitments to hang on to Vance Hanover, Pavlovich was forced to return him to his former owners. Vance Lodge co-directors Graham Brown and Eric Andrews announced the stallion would be set up permanently back at Waiau Pa. With Fraser Kirk giving up training horses to become studmaster, he would cover some 220 mares per season (per medium of AI) with a basic fee of $5000.

The now 15-year-old, for the third straight season, broke records, his progeny winning 220 races and $2,182,441 in NZ. In 1990/91, Vance Hanover for the fourth straight year emerged as premier NZ sire. This time his 231 starters won a total of 173 races in NZ for $2,152,039 - just short of his 1989/90 record.

Pre-empting the official decision in July 1991 by Conference to allow fresh or chilled transported semen, Vance Lodge struck a deal with Kevin (Master Mood) Williams, master of Tall Tree Stud Farm at Templeton, announcing in June that semen for Vance Hanover would be sent south for use on mares agisted at Williams's property. Acknowledging the difficult economy, Vance Lodge dropped Vance Hanover's basic fee to $4000. Other notable stud farm operators protested the arrangement before themselves seeing the light and setting up similar inter-island semen transport for their stallions.

In the current season to date, Vance Hanover's progeny in NZ are well on the way to putting their sire on top for the fifth straight year, almost certainly with another record stake tally. Way out in front on the sires' list once more, he boasts the winners of 71 races and $1.1m - more than three times the amount won by the stock of his closest rival, Smooth Fella.


Credit: Ron Bisman writing in HRWeekly 15Jan92

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Katrina Purdon receives the Derby trophy

1992 JOHN BRANDON 30 NZ DERBY

Kiwi Scooter was rugged the winner of the $150,000 John Brandon 30 New Zealand Derby. Australian visitor Lotsnlots again found the Roy and Barry Purdon - trained gelding superior but ran gamely for second, and the filly Tigerish put up a run that would have won 99 out of 100 races for a gaining third.

The 3:13.6 for the mobile 2600 was the third fastest Derby run - behind Master Musician's 3:13.5 and Winning Blue Chip's 3:12.2 - which was the type of race Kiwi Scooter wanted. Barry Purdon has always promoted staying power as Kiwi Scooter's best weapon and the hectic pace set by Clever Legend and Jimmy Curtin could not have suited him more.

While not the quickest out, the son of Direct Scooter left the gate at good speed and kept handy for the first 400 metres. Some early sprints, including a blinder from Lotsnlots near the 1900 metres, forced him back in the field, and near the 1400m Purdon decided to employ the grinding tactics that worked so well in his win the previous week. "He can get out of the gate quick, but it seems better to settle him. He doesn't run out of gas that way," said Barry. On the corner as Lotsnlots tried to apprehend him, Kiwi Scooter pulled away, and went on to win in very convincing fashion.

Tigerish, all class, came from far back for a close third to win $15,000 and Harmers Choice, while looking an unlucky fourth was apparently not because driver David Butcher said he doubted whether the horse was capable of finishing any closer. Master Blaster a worthy third on the middle night, was taken back from the gate at the start, and was never in the hunt afterwards.

Kiwi Scooter was not an easy horse to handle early in his career, though Barry did not connect it with the fact he had one testicle. "I thought he was a rig. When his other testicle came down, his attitude seemed to improve," he said.

Kiwi Scooter, now starting a spell from racing, is on c8, the same mark as Tigerish. Barry said it was "ridiculous" that after just two seasons of racing and about 20 starts each, both horses would go into open class racing. "It's tough on them. There should be a limit on how farthey can go at this age, say c7 for the colts and c6for a filly," he said.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HR Weekly

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Lindsay & Pam Turner pose with Oaks winner Tigerish

1992 NEVELE R STUD NZ OAKS

Tigerish, the youngest in the field, and the only chestnut, had too many guns for Rarity and 12 others in the $45,000 Nevele R Stud New Zealand Oaks. Such was her dominance that she looks a good thing to extend her Autumn record at Addington by winning the $135,000 DB Draught Fillies Final, especially from an ideal spot on the front line of the gate.

There was no surprise about last week's result, even though Rarity narrowed the margin back with a lightning burst to a length at the end. Tigerish squandered a wide break half-way along the straight through her little habit of easing up when close to the wire. "She pulled up a bit on me," reported driver James Stormont later. "My plan was simply to follow Rarity out. Once I got to the front I thought I might have got attacked but 3:17 for the trip (2600m mobile) kept them busy," he said. Trainer Lindsay Turner wasn't surprised to see her dodge some of the workload when there was still a bit of business to do. "She will be as lazy as anything if you let her, and it's the same with her work at home," he said. The fastest for the race has been Adina Bebe's 3:16 set in 1989, and the only others under 3:17 have been Young Eden and Julie Vance.

Turner, aged 36, has spent most of his life in the retail industry, employed for 15 years in Australia by Coles-Myer, and more recently in New Zealand as sales manager for FDC in Manakau City. The ability of Tigerish to earn Lindsay and his wife Pam around $240,000 in 14 months has been one of the reasons he has left the shop counter and concentrated on handling horses. They now have two small properties at Pukekohe,one for the agistment of stock, and the other where they have built a new barn to prepare yearlings for sale and wean foals. One horse that won't be in the barn is Tigerish, which is entirely paddock-trained.

Safely through Saturday's classic, Tigerish - a $2,000 buy at the 1990 International Yearling Sale - will be booked on a suitable flight to Brisbane for the Queensland and Australian Derbies, both in July. In the Oaks, the second line draw posed no problems for Tigerish, though it did for Pay Me Back, which broke and lost all chance when Delkedra - later relegated to fifth - upset her. This time she has drawn 11 but will start from the front - as will Pay Me Back - and wise heads won't be needed to reckon that Stormont will steer for the lead. If that is the case, and the others batten down the hatches, Smooth Performer's race record of 2:27.8 will be safe for another year. On Friday night Tigerish will have four fresh rivals against her: Kurahaupo Pride, Amenable, Nicola Mary and Tuapeka Dancer, which fill the places left by Kinski, Chicaboo, Lady's Day, Russley Fancy and Maude's Gift. Her main rivals, going on the Oaks form, will be Rarity and Cut The Cake, which suffered a hard run and took it well, and two Vance Hanover fillies that missed a start in the Oaks, Tuapeka Dancer and Kurahaupo Pride.


Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HR Weekly

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Giovanetto beats Master Musician & Blossom Lady

1992 MONSANTO FREE-FOR-ALL

"I only wish it had been the Cup," was driver Jack Smolenski's comment following Giovanetto's impressive win in the Monsanto Free-For-All. The 4-year-old Fitch II entire gained some compensation, having beaten all but Blossom Lady in the NZ Cup on the course 11 days earlier. Smolenski had experienced more bad luck just two races earlier when Rosie O'Grady failed by a nose to overhaul Directorship in the Dominion Handicap.

With the field reduced to seven runners following the late withdrawals of Remote's Dream and Anvil Lad, Giovanetto's chances were made somewhat easier coming in to six behind the mobile. He made the most of this and after beginning like a bullet, was eased to trail Blossom Lady with 1700m to run. With Master Musician moving forward to challenge the leader at the 800, it seemed the favoured trio would battle out the finish and so it proved.

Master Musician quickly headed Blossom Lady in the run home, but, not to be denied, Giovanetto, the least favoured of the three, stormed home along the fence to win by a length in 3:18.2."He felt good tonight ans I was able to make use of his gate speed to get to the front. I thought if I backed off a bit in the lead, Blossom Lady would challenge me early, and we got a good run through in the straight," Smolenski said. Runner-up Master Musician was not disgraced, turning in his best effort at the meeting, while third placed Blossom Lady "had her chance" according to driver Anthony Butt.



Credit: Greg Heller writing in HR Weekly 25Nov92

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Staka Pride winning the Air NZ FFA on Show Day

1992 AIR NEW ZEALAND NATIONAL TROTTING FREE-FOR-ALL

It was Show Day for the mares at Addington. Blossom Lady, Pay Me Back led the charge, and Staka Pride set a record, taking 0.3 seconds off Glenfield Girl's mobile 2600m for a trotting mare in winning the Air New Zealand National Trotting Free-For-All in 3:18.7.

Staka Pride had finished third after a promotion on Cup Day, getting through quickly from the second line to trail. She didn't finish with any punch but held her ground. This time as usual, she flew out of the gate, led, and saved herself in the trail when passed by Hickory Stick near the 1800 metres. This time, she had a real kick at the finish when the gap came along the rail, forging through, racing ahead, and winning by a length.

The improvement was pretty much expected by driver Leo O'Reilly, whose previous biggest win was the 4-year-old championships at Forbury Park with Regal Maina, and her Waimate trainer Keith Coutts. "She goes much better with her races close together," said Leo, the regular driver this past year, taking over from Allister Scott, now in Australia. "We wanted to pick on a young driver and one we could help," said Keith, who races the hardy Stakhanovite mare with his wife Lorraine. "What we liked about Leo is that he is very patient, and you can come away still with a horse for another day," he said.

Leo, aged 30, has won three behind her. He has a team of 12 in work at Rakaia, headed by the capable Innovate. Others he expects to make the grade a Payson's Brother 3-year-old filly, a Noodlum half-sister to c1 pacer Stater, and a Fitch II half-sister to Innovate.

Coutts has four in work, including Staka Pride's 5-year-old brother, Reddington. Staka Pride was bred by National Bloodstock, and Coutts, who stood Stakhanovite at the stud, raced her on lease until he exercised his right of purchase after her 2:04 mile win at Ashburton as a 3-year-old. Staka Pride had been winning at an average of $1000 per start but her $21,875 prize has now put her past the $100,000 mark from 83 starts.

For Staka Pride to have a chance of winning Saturday night's Dominion Handicap, her connections know she won't be able to rough it the way William Dee and Ceddie can. "As long as she doesn't have to do any work, she will be all right," said Keith.

Hickory Stick was a sound second, ahead of Rosie O'Grady, which raced on the outside line near the pace and stuck to it well. Ceddie was again the rugged customer, finishing fourth after sitting out wide in the open for the last lap. The favourite William Dee galloped at the start, but trotted to the satisfaction of trainer John Langdon once he settled, and Game Paul ran 13th, putting in his best work when it was as good as over.

Credit: Mikr Grainger writing in HRWeekly 18Nov92