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RACING HISTORY

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Jubilant part-owner Alan Hunter displays the Cup

1987 TOYOTA NZ TROTTING CUP

Melbourne businessman Alan Hunter, 52 year old co-owner of Inter-Dominion titleholder and yesterday's $300,000 Toyota NZ Trotting Cup winner Lightning Blue, has raced horses since he was 23.

"I bought my first horse, a Van Derby pacer named Great Effort, for a thousand pounds," he recalled. "I had to borrow money to do it, and I didn't know how to tell my father about it. He won a good few races for me, and I thought: 'This is easy.' I later found it wasn't so easy, but it hooked me on trotting. I have a few gallopers, including a jumper called Mister Mint, who could win our next Grand National Steeplechase; but I much prefer trotting and football to galloping."

Hunter estimates that he has won about 700 races with his horses. The bulk of this success has come since his profitable business involving cleaning chemicals and detergents has enabled him to spend up large since 1981. "I've had 78 winners at Moonee Valley since then," he said.

"My first NZ horse was Hubert Campbell, who won me 14 races and about $60,000. He was my favourite and a real top-liner. Since then, I've bought, through John Devlin, Paul Davies and other agents, at least a dozen Kiwi horses including My Surdon, One Happy Fella, Kilrush (who cost me $100,000, broke a pedal bone and didn't win me a race), Conga's Pride and That's Incredible. I tried to buy the NZ-bred Jay Bee's Fella, who has done so well in Western Australia, but the deal fell through; and he was beaten at the weekend so I might have been a bit lucky, as it was big bikkies involved. I pay a lot of money for good horses, but I would be ahead of it. It's a wonderful game, with wonderful people in it. Jim (O'Sullivan) is a super man with a horse, and a super man to know."

Hunter was obviously thrilled to be on hand to see Lghtning Blue's Cup win. "I went back to Melbourne at Inter-Dominion time, thinking I wasn't going to have a horse in the Final and opting to see a two-year-old race at Moonee Valley. As it turned out My Lightning Blue won the Final, my other horse here then, Quite Famous, won one of the consolations, and my youngster won at Mooney Valley all on the same night."

Yesterday, Hunter's partners in the horse, (Nes Conidi and Tony Prochilo) who had watched him win his Inter-Dominion Final, were both home in Melbourne.

Nothing made quite the smart start in the Cup as Skipper Dale. And this was rather unusual because Skipper Dale was off the second line and was fortunate to dash through a gap left by Sossy and Metal Mickey after only 70m. At the same time, Frangelico was being held up a place further out, Happy Sunrise broke briefly and Master Mood didn't make marvellous acceleration.

Tony Herlihy wisely sent Luxury Liner forward after 600 metres, and with two laps to run he was in front, ahead of Gaelic Skipper, Lightning Blue, Skipper Dale and Sossy. Four hundred metres later, Rum Brydon swept round, running hard, and he made the front near the 2000 metres. Jim O'Sullivan had Lightning Blue out of the trail at the same time, to sit in the 'death', outside Luxury Liner, and ahead of Gaelic Skipper.

The pace slackened near the mile and remained that way until near the 900 metres. Master Mood and Happy Sunrise were the last pair and facing an awfully difficult task, with the pace by now right on and Lightning Blue, Luxury Liner and Skipper Dale many lenghts in front of them.

On the corner, O'Sullivan had made his move passing Rum Brydon and receiving very generous response from Lightning Blue.

Herlihy, with more hope than confidence, sent Luxury Liner into the attack, Patrick O'Reilly joined in with Skipper Dale and Sossy came too. But Lightning Blue, showing the same extraordinary strength and courage of eight months ago, was quite supreme in the end, winning by a length and a quarter, with a short neck and three-quarters of a length between the others.

Rolls Hanover made progress strongly near the end which was commendable allowing for the fact he pulled a punctured tyre for the last 1400 metres.

The time of the race was 4:05.13. Lightning Blue ran his last 2400m in 3:00.7, and his last 1600m in 2:00. The first 800m of that 1600m took an easy 1:03.4, and the last 800m followed in 56.6, the last 400m in 28.5.

Credit: Ron Bisman writing in HR Weekly

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Young Eden after her record breaking win

1987 NEVELE R STUD NZ OAKS

Young Eden had to overcome a long list of adversities to win the New Zealand Oaks in race and New Zealand record time. Indeed, on at least two occasions, Edendale trainer Alex Milne really wondered if she was finished as a racing proposition.

The first occasion came before Young Eden even lined up in a totalisator race. Milne recalled after Young Eden's surprise success in the $40,000 Nevele R sponsored classic how the daughter of Noodlum had crashed to the track in training in the early stages of her two-year-old preparation. "She smashed the sulky and a broken shaft dug deep, high up on the inside of a hind leg. I had to tell the owners she was finished for the season at least. She'd just been to her first workout and shaped up pretty well...well enough to consider racing her later in the season," Milne said.

Ken Milne and Russell Hollows had originally leased Young Eden from her Stirling breeder Frank Young with no right of purchase, but with the right to her first foal. When advised of the accident, Young gave his friend, Milne, one month's option to by the filly at a 'pretty reasonable' price. She is the first foal from Young's smart racemare Eden's Joy, a winner of six races and a half-sister to six winners. "Ken asked me if I thought she would recover from the accident and whether she was worth buying," said Milne. Saying he could see no reason why Young Eden shouldn't make the grade as a three-year-old, Milne persuaded Milne and Hollows to buy her, and what a bargain she has proved.
The Oaks success took her record to four wins and four placings from nine starts for stakes worth $43,000, with the promise of much more to come. But it's been far from plain sailing this season as well.

From the time she stepped onto the track, Young Eden has looked one of the better fillies around, but her racing programme was again in doubt a couple of months ago. "She curbed a hock and was actually a bit lame when she won the DB Heat at Ashburton. Then she tore some ligaments in a hind leg in the DB Heat at Forbury Park. Both hind legs were a bit of a mess but we tried everything we knew and then sent her up to Craig Buchan at Dunedin so he could work her on the beach at Brighton. "I worked her there about a week ago and she felt alright, so we thought we would give the Oaks a try. With no workout or trial to get a line on her, I really had no idea how she'd go," said Milne.

Young Eden, a hot favourite in her previous outing at Addington when she was a gallant third in the Fillies' Triple Crown, was allowed to start at odds of almost 30 to one in an Oaks seemingly dominated by Bionic Chance and Victoria Star. Settling at the rear from her second row barrier draw in the mobile 2600m contest, Young Eden was able to leave the rails when Coma Berenices choked and fell after 800 metres. Eddie Cowie, who won the Oaks last season with Free's Best, suffered minor bruising after parting company with Coma Berenices. With Young Eden travelling strongly, Milne decided to press forward three wide entering the back straight the last time and was up outside the leader Bionic Chance 600 metres out. "I got a hell of a surprise when I got up there and found Bionic Chance wasn't going so well," Milne said, "Pat looked at me and said something about being flat." Young Eden took the lead early in the run home and kept going strongly to win by a length and a half over Victoria Star, Rosy Score and Bionic Chance.

There was considerable merit in the performance of Victoria Star as well. The daughter of Lordship was trapped three wide during some scorching early sectionals and then became badly placed back in the field. She rallied gamely in the straight to leave a fine impression. After a slightly disappointing run in the Great Northern Derby, Bionic Chance raced right out of character. Hunted out from barrier nine to lead after 200 metres, Bionic Chance ran herself into the ground, being timed through the first mile in 1:59. Only Lightning Blue, in the Inter-Dominion heat won by Skipper Dale in New Zealand record time, has run the first mile of a 2600m race at Addington faster. "She wasn't so much pulling or hanging, she was just on one rein the whole way," said driver Pat O'Reilly Jnr later. "I thought there was something wrong in the preliminary and I knew as soon as we were underway, we were in trouble," he added.

After being tucked away for much of the suicidal pace, Young Eden proved the best stayer on the night. Her 3:16.41 (2:01.5) easily bettered Free's Best race and New Zealand record.

It was by far the biggest success to date for Edendale horseman Alex Milne, 31, son of renowned Southland trainer Alex Milne Senior. A professional licence holder for about eight years, Milne has had some handy pacers before, the best of them King Farouk and Auburn Bret, but rates Young Eden in a class of her own. "I really don't know how good she is. To have done what she has done after all the trouble we have had...well."

Russell Hollows, a sawmiller in Balclutha, was on hand to accept the trophy and found the experience rather bewildering. "This is the first horse I've had. This racing game is all very new to me." Russell said. His partner Milne, a Stirling wool buyer whose only other venture in the game was the smart pacer King Farouk, was unable to make the trip due to his commitments as coach for a Balclutha rugby team.

Credit: Frank Marrion writing in HR Weekly

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Race Ruler and Trish Lowry

1987 JOHN BRANDON NZ DERBY

As Bionic Chance shot past Race Ruler apparently on her way to an epic New Zealand Derby win, Joe Goodyer remained quietly confident "Spike" had the race won. He was not alone in those feelings either. Driver Maurice McKendry knew his charge had something left and had yet to ask Race Ruler for a supreme effort. "I was never worried. He's proved he's a top horse at the business end before and Maurice hadn't hit him," Joe said later.

It was breath-taking stuff. Winning the 73rd running of the New Zealand Derby would have been enough, but Race Ruler was also shooting for the much publicised $102,500 bonus, which would see him collect $248,750 in 10 days and have the chance at another $238,125 pay-out in the Great Northern Derby. All that seemed lost when Race Ruler, after having things pretty much his own way in front, was suddenly second to the flying filly Bionic Chance passing the 200m peg. But, just as quickly 150 metres later, Race Ruler put the issue beyond doubt when he forged ahead again to pass the post half a length clear. McKendry, 32 next month, was suitably impressed. "You hate comparing top horses, but I'd have to rate this one the best I've driven," he said, adding "Placid Victor would be a close second."

The success gave the Methven born and raised McKendry five wins in the John Brandon series from six drives, having won two legs - beaten a head in the third - with Placid Victor two years ago. "I'm beginning to like this series," McKendry said with a grin. Asked if he felt added pressure with the bonus on the line, McKendry replied, "No, it's not the money or the bonuses - the pressure comes every time you drive a top horse."

Bionic Chance, the only filly in the race, was beaten but far from disgraced. From four back on the outer, Pat O'Reilly Jnr set her alight with 1000 metres to run and in an electrifying move she was up outside Race Ruler at the 800. O'Reilly then grabbed a handful again, content for the run home. "We were going better around the home turn and she easily put a good length on him (Race Ruler) when I asked her to. Then for no reason she just knocked off and it was all over," O'Reilly said.

Emcee followed Race Ruler all the way and was two and a half lengths away in third, just holding out Megatrend and Elmer Gantry. Megatrend was the only unlucky runner. From barrier seven he somehow wound up four back on the rails and was still looking for pacing room inside the 200 metres. When a gap came he charged through but then took exception to a flailing whip in front of him. "He should have got third," a disappointed driver Jack Carmichael said.

For Goodyer, 54, it was a highly rewarding and emotional victory. Originally from Murchison on the West Coast, Goodyer has been in the game for over 30 years but has never "put the cart before the horse". "I've usually only kept about six in work at one time. Any more and I would have needed to get help in. I've always tried to keep a team that's profitable," Goodyer said. Now at Taupiri near Huntly, Goodyer recalled how he moved to Canterbury to "learn the ropes" with different horsemen in the early 1960's. "I did three years with Jack Litten when he had several top horses, including Caduceus. Jack was one of the best around in those days. You can't beat experience."

Mainly through the deeds of Race Ruler, Goodyer has now built up his stable to around 16 horses, and has several youngsters waiting in the wings. Among them are two juveniles owned by Alf Wallis and Len Giraud, the owners of Race Ruler. Goodyer bought the Noodlum gelding at the 1985 Great Northern Yearling Sale for $4,500 - "because I liked the look of him" - and, inspired by his deeds last season, Wallis and Giraud asked Goodyer to buy two more youngsters. Wallis recalled how he used to live in Huntly and Goodyer was "just down the road". "We had a horse but he had a bad heart, so I asked Joe to find another," said Wallis. Goodyer bought two at the Great Northern, the other being Maurie's Boy, a winner of three races and $10,000 last season. Prior to Race Ruler and Maurie's Boy, Giraud had also raced one other horse, having some success with a galloper.

For young Trish Lowry, Goodyer's 'right hand man' for the last two months, Saturday was a day of both exhilaration and relief. She admitted to being 'totally worn out' by the end of the week through worry and lack of sleep, and actually slept (or attempted to) last Friday night in the box with Race Ruler. It was definitely a long way from home in the quiet county of Dorset, England. Goodyer credits much of Race Ruler's success in the last fortnight to Trish's dedication and Laser - the latest development in laser therapy from North America.

Credit: Frank Marrion writing in HR Weekly

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Luxury Liner (outer) prevails in a blanket finish

1987 AIR NEW ZEALAND NZ FREE-FOR-ALL

Some magnificent racing at Addington on Show Day was capped by the breathtaking finish in which New Zealand Cup runner-up Luxury Liner turned the tables on his victor Lightning Blue in the $100,000 Air New Zealand NZ Free-For-All.

This time honoured race has seldom failed to provide an exciting spectacle; Friday's had the crowd up on its toes and roaring as a dozen crack pacers bore down to the wire in a group that could in the end have been covered by a tarpaulin. The gutsy Lightning Blue had again worked early and sat parked, and this time he had to contend with the spriting abilities of Happy Sunrise, who zoomed around to replace Master Mood in front 1400 metres out. Jim O'Sullivan, Victorian trainer-driver of Lightning Blue, aware of Happy Sunrise's reputation, decided he couldn't let that rival his own way and that he had to apply pressure. When Happy Sunrise shook him off momentarily straightening, it appeared that the Methven wonder - whose sale to Queensland at a reputedly huge but undisclosed price was clinched on the eve of the race - was going to embellish his outstanding local record with another win. But somehow Lightning Blue, under hard driving from O'Sullivan, delivered up more. Nearing the finish it was Lightning Blue in charge again, with Happy Sunrise dying in the hole.

Then, from the centre of the pack, Luxury Liner, who had been three back on the rail most of the way and then all over the place in the run home as Tony Herlihy searched for a split for him, exploded to the wire to take a photo decision by a nose. O'Sullivan couldn't believe it. "You must have caught me in the very last stride," he said to Herlihy as they returned to greet the judge. "I didn't even see you; I thought I had won." Thrilled with the way Luxury Liner had performed, Herlihy said that it was well inside the last 100 yards that he had secured an opening to shoot for. It capped a great week for the Reids, of Waiuku, owners of Luxury Liner and of Fay Richwhite Sires' Stakes runner-up Top Vance.

Only half-head from Lightning Blue, Frangelico, who had been fairly handy throughout, fought strongly for third, with another half-head to Levendi, who finished boldly along the rail. Unused to the angle, Levendi's driver Glen Wolfenden thought he may even have won.

After the first mile of the race had been cut out in a remarkable 1:56 the pressure was kept on. The last 800m required 58.1 and the final 400m in 28.3, with the total time for the mobile 2000m 2:26.4 - a 1:57.8 rate.


Credit: Ron Bisman writing in HR Weekly

FEATURE RACE COMMENT

Anthony Butt, Simon Katz & Dick Prendergast

1987 DOMINION TROTTING HANDICAP

Dick Prendergast, the popular Chertsey trainer joined the list of harness racing 'notables' by winning the $125,000 DB Dominion Handicap with Simon Katz.

It was a rare achievement. With his future son-in-law Anthony Butt handling the big, bay 8-year-old, Simon Katz won the Worthy Queen Handicap on the first day of the meeting, the New Zealand Free-For-All on the second day of the meeting and the jewel in the crown came when he led for the last 2600 metres in the Dominion. Simon Katz was in commanding form throughout the meeting and Butt took full advantage of his form and fitness.

"Dick said to me before the race not to be afraid to go to the front; he sticks on good," said Butt. Once Simon Katz had mastered Jamie Higgins - after 800 metres - Butt decided to follow the advice Prendergast had passed on. There were some brief sorties from the middle and back, from Troppo early, Tussle and Game Ebony later, but Simon Katz never really had much to worry about.

Having his 102nd start, Simon Katz took his earnings past $200,000 and his number of wins to 15. He has finished in the first three 49 times. Simon Katz is an 8-year-old by Noble Lord from the Eagle Armbro mare, Carly Tryax.

Tyron Scottie, a 5-year-old and something of an apprentice in the role, made a strong, late run from the pack, followed by Landora's Pride and Tussle. Landora's Pride was five back on the rail, level last on the turn, and put in telling strides too late for her third. "She's not racing as well as last season," said driver John Langdon, "she's actually going better."


Credit: Harness Racing Weekly

CANTERBURY PARK TROTTING CLUB

The Canterbury Park Trotting Club traces its origins to the Plumpton Park Club, which raced on a 74 acre course at Sockburn centred on the present Air Force Museum. The early history of the club was fairly chequered and, for three seasons, it went into recess.

On Feb 2, 1884 the CANTERBURY TIMES advertised the "inaugural" meeting of the Plumpton Park Racing Club would be held on March 11, 1884.

Seven races were held including one Trot. The totalisator, operated by Hobbs and Goodwin, handled £1,300.

Club stewards for that first meeting were: B J Hall, E R Deacon, J B Hill, W Attwood, A McDonald, S Bailey, W H Porter, T H Ranger, T Acland & Captain Bell. The treasurer was W G Judge (also the chairman of the directors of the Coursing Club in 1886) and the Secretary was Mr E S B Bell.

The trot was won by the mare, Formosa, which was also owned by Mr E S B Bell, who is shown in the bookmakers' settling lists a few days later as being paid £28.

The trot also revealed a rather amateurish ring-in attempt. The CANTERBURY TIMES recorded thus:

"The handicapper having no knowledge of a brown mare called Kathleen, put her on 55 secs. But it became known that the mare resembled strongly a grey mare called Peggy, which had won the Dunedin Trot in 1882.
During the day the mare sweated and white patches on her tail became apparent. A steward ran his hand through her tail and it covered in a brown, sticky substance.
The horse was quickly removed from the course. She holds nominations at New Brighton and Lancaster Park meetings, but is unlikely to be seen again on a Canterbury racecourse."

The Club ran five meetings in the 1884-5 season, all with the same format. In 1886-87 there were four meetings and the following season Plumpton Park reverted to five meetings. At the February and April meetings the club ran two trots on the programme instead of the customary one. The last meeting of 1887-88 was held in July and in August the Canterbury Times reported there appeared to be a problem with successful owners not being paid out.

It transpired the meeting had been run solely by Mr E S B Bell who was now adjudged bankrupt. Quite a scandal erupted and investigations revealed that Mr Bell's licence to run the meeting under the name of Plumpton Park had been granted by the Canterbury Jockey Club which, for no apparent reason, had refused a similar request from a Mr M Taylor. Stewards of the Club in those days were liable for the payment of stake-money but Mr Bell was found to have advertised his meeting without including the names of the stewards or other officials on the day.

The owners and public had contributed some £160 to Mr Bell and there should have been enough to pay out the Stake-money and still leave some £40 over. Mr Bell appears to have dropped out of sight, but the scandal continued. On September 143, 1888, the Canterbury Times reported a court case involving Mr C Hood Williams, owner of Sultan, a winner at the meeting and to whom £28/10/- was due. Mr Williams sued a Mr P Campbell, who had been listed in the official race book as a steward and thus was culpable to pay the stake.

During the court case it was learned that Mr Bell, secretary also of the Plumpton Park Coursing Club and the Island Bay Racing Club in Wellington (it was in recess at the time) had approached Mr Campbell to act as a steward on the day. Others in that capacity were a Captain Bell, Mr E S B Bell and Mr George Cutts.

On September 20 Judge Beetham found against the owner, Mr Williams, and ordered him to pay costs of £6/7/-, saying he had no claim against Mr Campbell. "You entered into an agreement with Mr Bell, not Mr Campbell, and you did so with your eyes wide open," said Judge Beetham. The judge's decision aroused considerable controversy and the Canterbury Times was moved to comment: "It is a pity Judge Beetham was not better acquainted with the customs of the racing world in such matters."

The Plumpton Park Club then went into recess. It did not operate at all in the seasons of 1888-89,1889-90 or 1890-91.

Then, on July 9, 1891, the Canterbury Times carried an advertisement for a Plumpton Park Steeplechase meeting to be run on August 1. The club was granted a "conditional permit" by the Canterbury Jockey Club to run four steeplechase events and, at the time of advertising, still did not have a totalisator licence. Stewards for the club were given as: D O'Brien (also the judge), E W Roper, F Beverley, J A Holmes, C S Howell, J B Hill, T Quill, A S Clarkson (also hon. secretary), A Loughrey and R J Mason. It was known officially as the Metropolitan Plumpton Park Company.

The Canterbury Times commenting on the return of a Plumpton Park Club, recalled the debacle of 1888 and claimed there was "no known club racing at Plumpton Park." The steeplechase meeting was moderately successful. The Canterbury Times, on August 6, noted the club had now changed its name to the Plumpton Park Racing and Trotting Club and this is confirmed in a report from the New Zealand Trotting Association.

On October 8, 1891, the Canterbury Times advertised the "inaugural meeting" of the Plumpton Park Racing and Trotting Club to be held on November 12. It was to be the club's first full trotting meeting with eight races. Stewards were listed, the same as for the meeting on August 1, but the treasurer was Mr C S Howell, the secretary, J A Connell and the starter, H J Derrett. Nominations were taken at the Scotch Stores Hotel. The meeting was a great success, the totalisator handling £2,409, and the honour of winning the first race went to Mr J Gaskin's grey mare J M, which also won the last race.

Encouraged by that meeting the club held another on January 1, 1922, offering increased stakes of £220. On April 4, 1892, the first annual meeting of share-holders in the Plumpton Park company was held. T Quill was listed as chairman of directors and a profit of £62 was announced. Mr Quill noted that during the previous 12 months the Plumpton Park Racing and Trotting Club had operated as a separate body, having taken over the course and grandstands at cost price plus £25 per annum rental.

The Plumpton Park Club continued to operate successfully, mixing full gallop and trot meetings until 1896-97 when its two meetings that season were strictly for trotters. The meetings were split into four days and were known as the spring and autumn meetings.

In 1898-99, for the first time, the club was officially known as the Plumpton Park Trotting Club, having dropped the word "Racing" at its annual meeting. In 1898 Mr F Beverley was elected president. Until that time Mr C S Howell had been recognised as the chairman and he was voted president in 1899. In 1895-96 the club made a profit of £212 and listed its assets at £433/1/4. In 1896-97 it made a profit of £390/6/7 and listed assets of £2,625 which included the freeholding of the Plumpton Park course at £2,400.

Around this time it was decided to move the club's offices to the Duncan's Buildings, which were also the home of the Lancaster Park Trotting Club and the Canterbury Trotting Club.

The name of the club was changed to the Canterbury Park Trotting Club in October, 1909. The club continued to race successfully following the 1909 change of name, but this did not influence the 1920 Racing Commission chaired by Mr Fred Kent KC.

The Commission was ordered to make recommendations on the racing and trotting permits to be used after August 1, 1921, the total available to trotting being 78. In its report the Commission recommended that Canterbury Park be one of those clubs ordered to surrender its permits, another being the Otahuhu Trotting Club, whose permits were absorbed by the Auckland Trotting Club.
Canterbury Park officials used every means to apply pressure on politicians to gain their support for the retention of their permits and went as far as meeting with the Premier.

About that time the Metropolitan Club was making endeavours to develop its own racecourse in Riccarton and it purchased more than 90 acres in an area bounded by Riccarton Road, Blenheim Road and Wharenui Street. Eventually Canterbury Park won its right to retain its permits and this was immediately followed by an approach to purchase the buildings at Addington, take over the lease held by the Metropolitan Club and race on its own when the last-named club shifted.

The closure of Plumpton Park was widely criticised, particularly by trainers who ha properties close by. The club felt that it was unable to face the expenditure needed to upgrade the course, and this decided the issue. Canterbury Park paid £15,000 for the purchase of the lease and buildings and held its first meeting at Addington at New Year, 1923. The two-day meeting proved highly successful and the financial returns fully justified the decision of the committee to make the big change from Plumpton Park.

It was in 1928 that the Metropolitan Club decided that the development of its Riccarton property could not be proceeded with and in May of that year entered into an agreement with Canterbury Park to become a tenant of the course. The alliance between the two clubs continued, rather uneasily at times, with Canterbury Park being approached in 1936 by the Metropolitan Club to sell back its lease of Addington of to amalgamate. There is no record of this being developed further.

An approach by a deputation of the Metropolitan Club was made in December, 1943, to buy the course, but once more Canterbury Park applied the veto. Two years later the two clubs met to consider the formation of a holding company to run the course, but Canterbury Park came back with a suggestion that they should sell to the Metropolitan Club provided they could race permanently at Addington.

Discussions between the two clubs continued year after year, with accountants and solicitors closely involved. Finally, after the Valuation Department had valued Canterbury Park's interest in the course at £80,000, it was reported in August, 1951, that arrangements for the control of the grounds had been finalised, but general meetings of the clubs had to be called. It took until May, 1952 before the Memorandum and Articles of Association of Addington Trotting Course, Limited, were signed by the two clubs. The company is now known as Addington Raceway, Limited.

It was not long before the company became involved in a bitter argument with horsemen when oil was applied to parts of the clay track surface. Eventually an all-weather surface was laid down, again not without criticism from some quarters about the size of the material used. With improved screening methods these problems have been overcome today and now Addington Raceway has a surface equal to anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere.

The low running rail, too, had its critics when it was first used - but they were quickly overcome when persons and horses involved in accidents were tossed to the inside of the course, something which could not had occurred when the old, higher running rail was in place.

In the late 1950s the Canterbury Park Trotting Club introduced its policy of attempting to secure a better deal for trotters, in particular trying to introduce more racing for three-year-olds, and later began non-totalisator events for two-year-olds. This was done at a time when many were urging the Metropolitan Club to drop the New Zealand Trotting Stakes, then the only classic for three-year-old trotters, as the race more often not had developed into a procession and had frequently been a disaster as a betting medium.

The Canterbury Park club persevered with its encouragement for young trotters and on June 6 1981, it ran the first totalisator race restricted to first-season horses. This was the New Zealand Two-Year-Old Trotting Stakes won by the Westport filly, Game Countess, trained and driven by Wally Forsyth. The race is now recognised as the main race on the calendar for young trotters and it has been granted Group 2 status by the Trotting Conference.

In the past 25 years or so the club has provided racing for the top pacers and trotters and in 1973 it introduced the New Zealand Standardbreds Breeders Stakes, a mile race for mares and fillies. From a lowly start this race has grown rapidly in stature with most of their time competing. Bonnie's Chance gained fame when she won the race in three consecutive years from 1982, recording the race record time of 1:57.7 in her second success. This time was lowered to 1:57.3 by Hilarious Guest when she won in 1985.

After trying a series of races for four-year-old pacers at its October meetings, the club in 1983 introduced the Lion Brown Three-Year-Old Series, which was won by Logan Dryham, with Naval Officer being promoted to second upon the disqualification of Roydon Glen. This series has proved popular with the public, owners and trainers alike. Thanks to generous sponsorship the final this season carried a stake of $30,000, with a further boost to $50,000 planned for 1987-88.

The club has for some years now been in the top six in New Zealand as far as stakes paid and totalisator turnover are concerned. In 1985-86 the club paid out a record $444,260 in stakes, giving it an average of $63,465 at its seven meetings. On-course betting averaged a respectable $469,227, while the off-course average was $1,052,550. In 1986 the club was granted a permit for an on-course totalisator meeting and this was scheduled to have been run on December 11 of that year.

Credit: CPTC: Centennial History 1986

STARTERS & STARTING

RON CARTER

Mr Ron Carter, one of the best known and respected trotting officials in Canterbury, died at his Prebbleton home on Wednesday. He was 73.

Mr Carter became an assistant to the starter, Mr Bert Hastings, in the late 1930s and he succeeded to the senior position in 1959. He was the starter at Addington Raceway for 21 years until his retirement in 1980 and also acted for clubs throughout Canterbury as well as in Otago, on the West Coast and at Hutt Park.

Before he shifted to Prebbleton about ten years ago Mr Carter operated a contracting business, founded by his father, from a property in Centaurus Road, much of his work being done in the Horotane Valley and on the slopes of the Cashmere Hills where his horse-drawn equipment was used to cultivate areas where motorised vehicles were unusable.

For years he broke-in and gaited standardbred horses and until fairly recent times he usually had up to six horses in his care in various stages of their early education. Mr Carter took great pride in the fact that Orbiter and Noodlum were among the many horses he handled which went on to show fine form on the race track.

He often recalled that in the cases of Orbiter and Noodlum they had much greater intelligence than the average horse. Right from the time he started handling them he found that he only had to show them what was required once or twice and they accepted the instruction, whereas with others many hours had to be spent achieving the same results.

Mr Carter is survived by his wife, Rose.

Credit: The Press 24 Oct 1986

PEOPLE

JACK BROSNAN

In 1884 a proud young man from County Kerry in Ireland arrived in a South Canterbury district, later to be named Kerrytown. He brought with him a knowledge and love of horses, and the name of Timothy Brosnan became well respected in trotting circles. Today his son Jack, aged 81, still works with horses on the same family farm. His grandsons Richard and Tim continue the Brosnan tradition, and there's a younger generation growing up to take over the reins.

While Richard's achievements are public knowledge, it is not so well known that Jack Brosnan is the wise old man behind the success. He puts in a good eight to twelve hours a day, starting around 8am. His pace is slow and methodical, with many a pause to roll a cigarette, or lean on a shovel handle and take up a debate with a visitor. He has got firm views on many things, from stipendiary stewards to politics. He does all the tractor work on the farm, grows the oats and hay. He looks after the stables, the feeds and the odd jobs about the place. The whole complex, looking north to Mt Peel and Four Peaks, is sunny and about as spotless as hardworking stables can be. They're practical and efficient, no-nonsense sort of structures that well reflect the Brosnan philosophies.

Richard, 38, in his 21st year of full time training, acknowledges that his father is the biggest influence in his life. Two other men who were important to the developing horseman were Gladdy McKendry and Doug Watts. "I always ask Pop when things aren't going as well as they should," the father of three says. "He has an intuition about horses, especially early on with young ones. He has got a wealth of experience, and if there's a problem he will always come and have a look at it, and we can generally work things out." And he says, yes, sometimes he does have an older, wiser head on young sholders when he is out on the track because of that paternal influence.

Other people say Jack Brosnan has an exceptional ability to assess horses. He takes little notice of the stop watch, preferring instead to study stamina and class, and how a horse worked in a race. He is very firm with horses, but treats them all as individuals. Like many of his age, he is sceptical of modern methods and has a surgery of time-tested folk remedies at his fingertips.

He is firm too with owners. The Brosnan pride stands tall, and where an owner can't pay the price of trust he has been asked to take his horse away. There is more than a little of that famous Irish fighting spirit in this first generation New Zealander. He grew up with horses on the farm, taking control of a team of Clydesdales when he was 15. His father stood Man O' War (twice Auckland Cup winner) at stud and they raced horses as a hobby. He and a younger brother, worked in tandem. They also married sisters, Eileen and Winnie McGirr from Methven. Racing was well established in their family too.

Jack's father had a good mare in Golden Vale and the boys inherited her. She left them a legacy of luck with four winners. Battlefield won his first outing. Marsceres got to Cup class and made the cartoons of the day when he started five times in one week for four wins and a second. Battle Vale and War Field also won, so fuelled by those early successes, the Brosnans of the new generation were hungry for greater success. "It didn't matter what sort of horse we had - just as long as they were good," Jack says.

In this new age with public money in public companies, mechanical training aids, computer picks and laser machines, there are a diminishing number of characters like Jack Brosnan. Their love of racing goes deep into the cores of their souls. Their level of communication with horses goes beyond the materialistic. Their ability to draw the best out of the animals rests on an integrity earned by hard work and time.

He doesn't go to the races very often these days. Few of the familiar faces he has seen the decades out with are still there along the rails. The racing pages - and he bemoans the lack of racing news published in his local daily - and race commentaries are the substitutes. His life is busy. He's proud of his family, and lives with Richard and Juliya, their three children (Virginia, Richard and Soraya) and Tim. And just outside the house, there is the horses. Always the horses.



Credit: Christine Negus writing in HRWeekly 18Sep86

PEOPLE

DAVE TODD

Dave Todd, the man who bred and developed Cardigan Bay, world harness racing's first millionaire, doesn't bother to go to the races nowdays. He is 83 and feels his eyesight has slipped too much to enjoy the spectacle. "I like to sit at home and listen to them on the radio though," he said recently when reflecting on his successful lifetime involvement with harness racing.

Dave relinquished his licence to train seven years ago and contents himself in his twilight years with gardening, sea fishing and overseeing the training operations of his grandsons small team at famed Chimes Lodge, Mataura. Stuart and Richard Scott, his two grandsons, share their grandfather's love of standardbreds. But they know only too well that the chances of getting another in the same class as Cardigan Bay are one in a million.

Dave loves nothing better than a bit of trout fishing. In his younger days, he and his mates frequented the productive waters of the Worsley, Upukarora and other peaceful high country rivers. "But I have had to give the trout a miss lately...a cobber dropped in one day and borrowed my rod and tackle and hasn't got round to returning it." Ken Johnson, a good Stewart Island mate, who is a commercial fisherman, has introduced Dave to sea fishing in recent years. That pastime has introduced a new and enjoyable dimension of the outdoors for Dave, a keen deerstalker in his prime and still the proud owner of an outstanding Virginian (white tail) deer head exhibited in his lounge.

Price, racing men often point out, never made a horse. Dave Todd is the first to acknowledge that adage, because Cardigan Bay cost nothing to breed and went on to win more than $1 million in four different countries over nine seasons of competition on the world's major raceways. The old warrior is now content in retirement at Sir Henry Kelliher's Pukututu Island Stud, Auckland.

Dave trained the champion's dam, Colwyn Bay, for Alex Jopp, who farmed at Hindon, 25 miles from Dunedin on the Central Otago branch line. Colwyn Bay won four races but would have graduated to Cup class if not inconvenienced by an injured fetlock and deep seated corns. Jopp didn't want to retire the mare on the Hindon type of country and Dave offered to buy her. Her owner, however, insisted that she be gifted to Dave. A man never looks a gift horse in the mouth and the mare had a new owner.

Dave and his late brother Sandy, who was six years his senior, were close colleagues of George Youngson of Gore, another true blue Scotsman and another of Southland's grand old gentlemen of trotting and a pioneer in breeding. "George and I never charged each other stud fees...we had a reciprocal business arrangement," Dave recalled. "George was keen for me to send a mare to Hal Tryax, who arrived after the stud season was well underway." Colwyn Bay duly conceived to Hal Tryax, the first 2:00 three-year-old imported to New Zealand from America. Cardigan Bay was the result. "So, there's another story - a horse who won a million cost nothing to breed."

Cardigan Bay 'told' Dave literally from the word go that he had a big heart. During an aborted roundup of mares and foals at Chimes Lodge (gates were left open), a couple of mares and foals careered about for a long time. The two mares and one of the foals were easily caught when they became exhausted. But the sturdy Hal Tryax colt further defied efforts to be caught and was as fresh as a daisy some time after. "I knew there and then that he had to have a big heart and the constitution good horses are made of," Dave said. Bill Pearson, the Todd brothers' Gore-based veterinary surgeon, could see no reason why colts should not be gelded before they were weaned. Cardigan Bay was gelded at five months of age when still running with his mother. In hindsight, Dave reckons that early move might have helped to contain and harness the colt's remarkable energy and vigour.

Cardigan Bay wasted no time showing that he had plenty of what it took to make a good horse. He could pace a furlong in 15 seconds and furlongs in 15 seconds by a yearling are not easily kept secret. A big, raw and immature type, he did not mature into a racehorse until a late three-year-old. He was not tried at two. It was simply a matter of 'waiting' on the big horse. In any case the stable had the more mature and precocious 2-year-old Blue Prince, also by Hal Tryax, to fly the flag. Dave and Sandy sold Cardigan Bay to Aucklanders Merv and Audrey Dean for $5,000 and a couple of contingencies after he had won seven races for them. The rest is now history. "Looking back, I wouldn't have sold him then if I had owned him outright, but Sandy, a real Scot, reckoned financial independence was a priceless asset and the money went into paying off the farm mortgage and other commitments.

Dave, born at Bothwell, seven miles from Glasgow, immigrated to NZ with his parents, Sandy and seven sisters when he was 12. He and Sandy rabbited about Central Otago in their teens. Alex McLellan of Invercargill trained their first winner - "a Sungod mare who wasn't much chop. Alex was a fine horseman and I learned so much listening to him, Jim McMurray and Barney Rushton...the younger fellows don't listen much to me, because they think I'm out of date with my thinking," Dave quipped. Dave and Sandy settled on a farmlet at Mataura in 1932. Over the years they bought small adjoining blocks when they came on the market. The farm grew to 180 acres and has since been handed over to the younger members of the family, Peggy and Ron Scott.

Sires they stood at Chimes Lodge included Grattan Loyal and Dillon Hall, "two of the best," Free Fight and Arion Axworthy, who was "no bloody good." Sandy devoted his time to the stud side of the operation and the books and accounts. Dave looked after the training side. Sandy seldom mated a broodmare until there was seed on the grass. Not long before his death 11 years ago, Sandy told the writer that too many stallions were abused by serving too many mares too soon in the colder southern breeding season. "It's the quickest way I know to ruin a sire," Sandy said. Dave and Sandy always claimed that every sire was condemned at some stage of other of his career. A lot of Southland breeders had written off Dillon Hall. That was until Acropolis, one of his sons, beat Plunder Bar in the 1943 NZ Sapling Stakes. "Then the phone just about rang off the bloody wall."

The Todd school was a tough one for horses. There was no holiday camp touch about it. An aspiring racehorse was guilty until it proved itself innocent. Looks and breeding counted for nothing if it could not run and show guts. Dave Todd was twice runner-up on the national premiership - once to Wes Butt and to Cecil Donald the second time. Had Dave not 'lost' a good horse to Jock Bain halfway through one season, he would have won the NZ Premiership. That was one dissappointment in a rewarding and fulfilling career. In the 1950s and 1960s in particular, Dave was ably served by Ken Balloch, a skilled and fearless reinsman who was part and parcel of the successful Chimes Lodge training operation. Fancywords and frills have never been evidenced about Todd and Balloch. Superlatives were not part of the combination's dictionary when it came to praising horses. Cardigan Bay, Blue Prince and Holy Hal were merely 'good' horses and not champions, terrific, great or anything like that.

When Jimmy Tryax won at Wyndham in November 1970, he became the 18th successive horse Todd had acquired from another stable to win first up for him. Dave reckons most of the secret lay in the fact that "half a kerosine tin full of worms" would be taken from a horse with a rigid worming programme, top feeding and a harder workload in training. So many responded immediately to the methods. There was no easy way out in the Todd and Balloch formula for success with horses. A horse had to line up and be counted and a poor one was not persevered with. It took about a fortnight to determine if a horse had a win in it.

When the Todd and Balloch judgement was on the line, the bacon was not always bought home. But it often was. Like the day Dave had a 'decent' bet on Colwyn Bay's nose at Wyndham. She duly obliged and the funds went up on stablemate Maestro, who came home at six to one later in the day. "I got a few hundred quid that day and it all went into the farm," Dave said. When the chips were down, Balloch had few, if any, peers in the south as a reinsman. Some of his contemporaries still like to recall the day at Winton when it was a 'money day' for the Todd runner Lassaloc. The mare was 'fair bolting' inside the last furlong and had nowhere to go. The situation was fast becoming desperate. Lassaloc had a wall of horses in front of her and Ken reckons the situation was getting 'bloody grim'. Then the front line drivers heard a threatening bellow from behind: "Get out of my bloody road or I will come right over the top." Lassaloc just made it and no more.

Dave Todd often regrets that he was before his time in trotting. Many horses are sold for big prices these days and breeding and training horses for sale was always part of the Todd operation. In 1945 he put down an all-weather track at Chimes Lodge. He and Jim Flynn were able to take Southland horses to Auckland in September and win. Twenty five years later, all-weather tracks took Southland harness racing by storm. Dave reckons no other innovation has played a bigger part in the development of Southland's multi million dollar harness racing industry.



Credit: Don Wright writing in NZ Trot Calendar 21Jan86

PEOPLE

CLARRIE RHODES

Horsepower has dominated the life of Clarence Leslie (Clarrie) Rhodes. From as early as 1914, horses were introduced to his life. Not trotters or gallopers, but those animals used to pull the hansom cab operated by his father. The four-legged mode of transport was pushed to the back of Clarrie's mind in the early 1920s when he took over a Buick car agency in Ashburton.

The ability to sell 13 cars in nine weeks, a territory record for the vehicle in those years, and one which many car dealers today would envy, gave Clarrie the opporunity to visit America. Working for General Motors and living in an apartment at 99 Street and Third Avenue, Clarrie sold cars for $US600 each. For every vehicle sold he received $US28. Those years he spent in America were during the prohibition, the era of Al Capone, days when it was best to mind your own business if you knew what was good for you.

In 1926 Clarrie Rhodes returned to NZ. He came from America by boat and it was a trip that was to change his life. "I was feeling homesick," said Clarrie. "On the same boat was Free Holmes. He had been in America to buy a stallion, Grattan Loyal, and was returning to NZ."

Clarrie struck up a good relationship with Free Holmes and on their return to NZ he was a regular visitor to the Holmes' homstead. So regular that three years after returning from America he married Free Holmes' daughter, Daphne. Inseparable since, the couple have been married for 54 years. It was that meeting with Free Holmes and the marriage that rekindled the old feeling for horses. Not that cars were completely forgotten. The C L Rhodes Motors Company was formed, and, along with that and a rental car and truck business, it is still thriving some 50 year later. A momento that Clarrie cherishes, his drivers licence for petrol driven vehicles, is still in his wallet. The date of licensing - 1921.

Clarrie made an inauspicious start to the light-harness industry. His father-in-law gave him the Sonoma Hanover gelding Harvest Child in 1933. Then eight, Harvest Child had been extensively raced with a good deal of success. After gaining no return from the horse for some time, he leased him to Mr L A Maidens. Harvest Child went on to win three further races and this success stimulated Clarrie's interest. It is an interest that has not let up.

The first horse to race in Clarrie's name and colours was Worthy Need. A son of Frank Worthy and Necessity, Worthy Need was leased out in his early life. The horse was so small as a foal that he looked no bigger than a dog. However, under the guidance of J J Kennerley, Worthy Need developed into a promising two-year-old. Kennerley, who trained at Addington, had another promising juvenile in his stable, Southern Chief. Both horses were destined to have their first attempts on raceday in the Timaru Futurity Stakes in March of 1935. The two worked a mile in good time leading up to the race, but Worthy Need got out of his yard just before raceday and met with an accident that set him back more than a season. Southern Chief went on to score an easy two length win in the race. Raced on lease till the middle of his 5-year-old season, Worthy Need was taken over by Clarrie and placed with Free Holmes. The horse raced on till a 9-year-old and won seven races and gained 37 placings for stakes of £3126, good money in the late 30s and early 40s.

In the next ten years, Clarrie accumulated several horses, mares like Safety Pin, Bel Hamed, Escapade, Golden Pointer, Pauline Dillon, Ivy Peterson, Betty Ducrow, Suspense and Diversion. Diversion was the second foal of Escapade. She was secured by Clarrie towards the end of the 1939-40 season. When retired, Jack Litten, who had owned and trained her to win early in the 1939/40 season, joined Clarrie in a breeding arrangement with the mare. Diversion had the bloodlines to be a top class breeding proposition. Her dam Escapade was a half sister to Rustic Maid. She was the dam of Chamfer (NZ Cup and Great Northern Derby), Free Fight (NZ Derby), Slavonic (NZ Sapling Stakes), Scottish Lady (NZ Derby and dam of Scottish Brigade, Great Northern Derby) and Little Taff (dam of Student Prince, NZ Derby).

Diversion's first foal was the Grattan Loyal filly Sapience. She was unraced but left the Australian winners Pastime, Wise Leader, Wise Admiral and Crompton. An unregistered colt by Josedale Dictator followed in 1945. The mare was not served in 1942 and missed in 1943. His Majesty was the third foal produced. He won for Clarrie before being put to stud in Australia. In 1948 it was Jack Litten's turn to breed from Diversion. He had a sire selected to send the mare to but, after gentle prodding from Clarrie, elected to send the mare back to Light Brigade, the sire of His Majesty. The resultant foal was a colt named Fallacy.

Fallacy left his mark in no uncertain terms. As a 3-year-old he was a racing sensation. In his first six weeks he won five races, including the NZ Derby in NZ record time. Later the same season he won the NZ Champion Stakes and NZ Futurity Stakes. During his career on the racetrack, Fallacy won seven races. At stud he left a record that many sires will never repeat. False Step, winner of three successive NZ Cups, was Fallacy's first progeny to win. In all, Fallacy sired 240 individual winners.

The early 30s, when Clarrie started to build up his racing and breeding stock, saw him purchase the Rey de Oro mare Ivy Peterson. She was the second foal of a non-standardbred mare Lady Peterson and was bred by Peter Todd of Lincoln. Clarrie raced Ivy Peterson for four seasons and the mare won four races and gained seven placings for £572. Sent to stud in 1940, she founded the "Peterson" family which has won numerous races for the Rhodes family over the years. Ivy Peterson was the dam of ten foals. Nine raced and seven won. Lord Peterson was the first. By Grattan Loyal, he won four and was placed ten times for £1022/10/-. Sir Peterson followed with seven wins and over £2800. Admiral Peterson scored six wins and 19 placings worth £4095 while Jack Peterson (1949 NZ Futurity Stakes) won eight and was placed 13 times for £4866. Colonel Peterson and Princess Peterson were the poor relations of the first strain of Peterson blood. Neither won, Colonel Peterson managing four placings and Princess Peterson three. Overall, from the purchase of Ivy Peterson, Clarrie not only had the start of a very successful standardbred family, but a line that in its first generation won 41 races and £17,321, a great deal of money some 40 years ago. And money which was quickly put back into racing with the purchase of Peterson Lodge, a 150 acre farm at Templeton (formerly the late Roy Berry's training establishment).

Though success came in abundance in the early years, Clarrie also had many more horses than most owners during those years. Not all, though, were of great ability and many never saw a racetrack. Like all owners, Clarrie had to wait a good while before the glory of a classic winner came his way. It was 13 years after Harvest Child was given to him that On Approval scored a half head win over Darkie Grattan in the 1946 NZ Sapling Stakes. On Approval had been bought by Clarrie as a yearling from a Mrs Frost of Cust. He paid £50 for the colt and a similar contingency. But the glory of seeing the win was not there. Clarrie was tucked up in bed at home when the Sapling Stakes was run, recovering from a bout of pneumonia. However, he did hear the race. The Sapling Stakes was the first race to be broadcast in NZ and Clarrie had the added honour of owning the winner. He says that his doctor could not believe the remarkable recovery he made after the late Dave Clarkson confirmed On Approval as the winner. The day after, Clarrie was sitting up in bed like a new man.

The dream of all owners is to have your horse win a NZ Cup. That, too, was Clarrie's dream. In November of 1957 that dream came true. Lookaway, the only 4-year-old in the race, created NZ history when he became the first of his age to win the Cup in its 53 year history. Trained and driven by Maurice Holmes, Lookaway came right away from a talented field, that included False Step and Caduceus, to win by five lengths. Clarrie rates Lookaway's win in that Cup as his most prized of all. However, the Cup never came his way. At the presentation it was not a cup that was given as a trophy but a silver tray. Lookaway holds a special place in Clarrie's memory. Lookaway's dam, Raceaway, was bought from Mrs C E Hunt of Burwood. Raceaway won three races for Clarrie before being put to stud. Her first foal was Lookaway. Two starts as a 2-year-old brought little reward for Lookaway but as a three and four-year-old he notched 16 wins. Nine came at three, his first at Greymouth in October of 1956 with Leicester Roper driving. Lookaway's last win at three came in the NZ Futurity Stakes, winning by five lengths from Gentry. His nine wins that year were scored by margins ranging from one to nine lengths. At four Lookaway was the top earner for the season. His bankroll of £10,285 was £2000 more than his closest rival, Highland Air.

Wins in the National Handicap, NZ Cup and NZ Free-For-All were topped with what Clarrie thinks was the horse's best performance. In the first mobile mile on the grass at New Brighton, Lookaway came from lengths off the pacemakers, Caduceus and False Step, on the turn to win by two lengths in 2:01.6. Along with Caduceus and False Step, Don Hall, Light Nurse, Our Kentucky, Ricochet and Tactician were among the beaten runners. More wins followed. At five Lookaway won the Hannon Memorial. At six, when Clarrie was in Australia, he received a phone call from a close friend Cliff Irvine. Irvine said Lookaway was at his best and he wanted to take the horse to Auckland. Being thousands of miles away, Clarrie was uncertain about the trip. However, a suggestion by Irvine that he lease the horse for a month was accepted by Clarrie. The horse duly won and on his return from Australia, when the horse was back in his ownership, Lookaway won the Au Revoir Handicap at Auckland for him. Au Revoir was another top horse that Clarrie raced. He won 13 races for him with the National Handicap and consolation of Tactician's 1955 Auckland Inter-Dominion being his best wins. The following year Lookaway himself scored a win in a consolation of an Inter-Dominion. This was at Addington in 1961 when Massacre won the final and four races later Lookaway won one of the consolations. Lookaway won another race in his final season at eight. The Ollivier Handicap fell his way with a youthful Bobby Nyhan driving and Leicester Roper training. In seven seasons of racing, Lookaway won 21 races for Clarrie. Added to the wins were 13 placings for total stakes of £20,976.

It was around the time of Lookaway's retirement that Clarrie struck up a good relationship with Martin Tananbaum, president of Yonkers Raceway in New York. In 1956 the control and operation of Yonkers was placed in the hands of Tananbaum and two of his brothers, Alfred and Stanley. Four years after taking control at Yonkers, Martin Tananbaum made his initial trip to NZ and Australia in search of the best pacers from 'down under.' It was during this trip that Clarrie and Tananbaum met. This is how the International Pace, one of the richest challenge races between American, Canadian and Australasian horses came about.

NZ's first entrant in the event, back in 1960, was Caduceus, trained by Clarrie's life-long friend Jack Litten. Tananbaum and Clarrie Rhodes organised horses to represent NZ and Australia and exported them to America. They would race in their NZ interests (owners). The owner and wife, trainer and wife and driver would all travel to America free of charge. Caduceus was NZ's only entrant for the first series in 1960 and deadheated with Champ Volo in the first of the three-race series. However, bad luck struck when he was relagated to fourth. There were also teething troubles for Clarrie and Marty over transporting the horses to America. They were unable to gain rights to fly the horses direct to America. Instead they had to ship the horses by sea from either Bluff or Lyttleton to Sydney and then fly from there to America. It was a costly operation and one that went for several years. Orbiter, who was the Kiwi representative in the 1966 International series, was one of the last horses to be transported to America in this way. Orbiter was one of a 20-horse flight of NZ and Australian pacers to America in February of 1966. The flight, originating from Sydney, was hailed as the largest airlift in equine racing industry. This has since been bettered in the now modern age of air travel. Some time after this, air rights were given to Clarrie and Marty Tananbaum and direct flights started from NZ.

The purchase by Tananbaum of a 440-odd acre property at Rochester, some 400 miles from New York, sparked the start of an exodus of NZ horses to America by Clarrie and Marty. Called the White Devon Farm, the property was managed by Harry Moss. Clarrie and Marty would buy horses in NZ, mainly mares, transport them to America and race them. Once retired they would breed the mares to top American stallions then return the subsequent foals to NZ. This operation went smoothly. At the same time, Clarrie would send four of his staff at a time to White Devon Farm to help out Marty Tananbaum and for the lads to gain experience. Each of the staff members spent a maximum of two years in America.

The tragic death of Martin Tananbaum some years ago was a blow to Clarrie Rhodes. In one of the largest private sale transactions ever, Clarrie purchased the whole White Devon Stud contingent following the death of Martin. Among the contingent was a stallion named Lumber Dream, who had been imported to NZ in 1964. It seemed appropriate that the horse was now Clarrie's property as Lumber Dream's dam sire, Dominion Grattan, was a grandson of Grattan Royal, sire of Grattan Loyal, imported by his father-in-law so many years ago.

With the success of his operations in America, Clarrie's Australian business was also well in operation. Horses he has leased or owned outright have to this day won 198 races across the Tasman. Kiwi Peterson and Garrison started the ball rolling, Garrison winning 30 odd races before going to America and Kiwi Peterson taking a lifetime mark of 2:06.1 and winning over $68,000.

American stallions imported to Australia, like Truant Hanover and Typhoon Hanover have also found their way to NZ, along with Canny Scot and Emory Hanover. Another stallion that Clarrie has a place for in his heart is the Fallacy entire True Averil. True Averil gave Clarrie his second win in the NZ Cup 14 years to the month after Lookaway. Driven by Doody Townley, True Averil got home by a neck from Radiant Globe after being four wide for the last half. The winning drive by Townley was in some way compensation. Townley, the regular pilot of Stella Frost, had lost the services of the mare for the Cup after she had been taken to America to race in the International Pace. So in some way Clarrie Rhodes paid Townley back by giving him the drive on True Averil. True Averil stood in NZ for some time before being exported to Australia. Clarrie recently bought the horse back to NZ and he is to resume stud duties from this season.

With over 43 years of experience in the light-harness industry, Clarrie Rhodes has plenty to offer younger trainers by way of advice, but the now veteran of over 500 wins as a breeder and owner is not as outspoken as in his earlier years.

-o0o-

Article in NZ Trotting Calendar 24Jun86

When Clarrie Rhodes died last week at the age of 80, NZ lost one of her most successful breeder/owners of standardbreds. Clarrie died early last Thursday after several years of heart problems.

It is difficult to do justice to a gentleman, and he was in the true sense of the word, whose involvement with standardbreds spanned all of 50 years. Clarrie did not confine his interests to NZ, being represented by over 200 winners in Australia and also having close ties with harness racing in North America since 1960.

He had his first success as an owner almost 50 years ago when Bill Grattan won at the New Brighton Trotting Club's Spring meeting in September of 1937 for trainer/driver Free Holmes. Fittingly, Clarrie's last win in NZ came in great style, Free's Best accounting for the NZ Oaks in national record time last month. Best Dream, exported to California but still owned by Clarrie, was his last winner, scoring at Fairplex Park in Pomona a few weeks ago. There were well over 500 wins, mostly in Clarrie's familiar colours of a black jacket, red sleeves and cap, between Bill Grattan and Best Dream.

The highlights of Clarrie's involvement with standardbreds was undoubtedly Lookaway's runaway win in the 1957 NZ Cup. Trained and driven for him by his brother-in-law Maurice Holmes, Lookaway became the first 4-year-old to win NZ's most prestigious harness race when he crossed the line five lengths clear of Thunder, La Mignon and False Step. For most, winning a NZ Cup is just a dream, but Clarrie had the added thrill when he won the event again in 1971 with True Averil. Clarrie not only bred and owned the entire, but trained him as well. Doddy Townley was the driver.

There was also an added thrill when Clarrie won his first major classic race, On Approval narrowly winning the NZ Sapling Stakes at Ashburton in 1946. Clarrie did not see the youngster win by half a head, he was stuck in bed at home with a bout of pneumonia, but he heard Dave Clarkson's commentary in what was the first radio broadcast in NZ.

Horses, and horsepower, have always dominated Clarrie's life. Among his earliest memories is the cab operated by his father and the horses which pulled it. Clarrie made his name selling motor vehicles in the 1920s, initially in Ashburton and later in North America. He remained a motor vehicle dealer for most of his life. On his first trip home from North America in 1926, Clarrie struck up a friendship with the legendary horseman Free Holmes, who had just purchased what was to be an outstanding sire in Grattan Loyal. Clarrie and Holmes' daughter Daphne married a few years later.

Clarrie's first love over the years was always the breeding industry, and much of his success can be attributed to his knowledge. Clarrie owned dozens of stallions throughout Australasia notably Lumber Dream here and Hondo Hanover in Australia.

Lady luck was not always on Clarrie's side. In the late 1940s he entered into a breeding arrangement with a life long friend in Jack Litten over a mare called Diversion. Clarrie bred Diversion to Light Brigade and got a useful winner in His Majesty. The following year, Litten bred Diversion to the same sire and got Fallacy, a brilliant racehorse who later sired over 240 winners. Fallacy sired triple NZ Cup winner False Step from his first crop, while he later left True Averil for Clarrie.

Clarrie's other good winners included Jack Peterson (1949 NZ Futurity Stakes), Gerfalcon (1942 NZ Trotting Championship), Au Revoir (Cup class), Safe Return (1961 Kaikoura Cup), Best Bet (1977 NZ Trotting Stakes), Alec Peterson (1979 Methven Cup), Bel Hamed and, more recently, the likes of Hondo's Dream, Best Dream, Chataway and the trotters Armbro Almont, Bossy Boy and Quick March, the latter a top mare in New South Wales. No doubt, there were many stories behind every winner for Clarrie and many, many other stories he could have shared. Sadly, a part of trotting's heritage passed away with him.

Clarrie is survived by his wife Daphne, sons Alan, Freeman, Gerald and Peter, and daughter Mary.


Credit: Brian Carson writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 27Sep83