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Start of the New Brighton Flying Mile 7 Dec 57

FIRST MOBILE START AT NEW BRIGHTON

Nothing short of a sensational performance was returned by Lookaway to win the New Brighton Flying Mile.

At the half mile Caduceus had a substantial break on his nearest rival and Lookaway at this stage was at the rear, and was experiencing difficulty getting clear. His task of getting anywhere near Caduceus looked hopeless when his driver, M Holmes, pulled him back to get a run as the three furlong peg was reached.

Once clear Lookaway unwound a brilliant run and was rapidly closing on the flying leader, Caduceus, turning for home. Halfway down the straight it became apparent that he had the measure of Caduceus, and Lookaway actually won going away by two lengths. Lookaway's performance was even more remarkable when it is realised that the first half mile was run in 58secs.

A grand start was made behind the mobile barrier, the horses all being in perfect line. When the starting point was reached the gate was a trifle slow in moving away, and one or two horses near the outside appeared to be inconvenienced as they were all ready to move off at top. It appeared as though Lookaway had to be restrained a little with the result that he was slow to get going.

From the middle of the field, Caduceus made a brilliant beginning and he was in front leaving the straight. He was followed by Light Nurse, Ricochet, Our Kentucky and Don Hall with False Step next, then came Lookaway and Tactician. Racing to the six furlongs, Caduceus was two lengths clear of Ricochet with another length and a half to Light Nurse and a similar distance to False Step, with Our Kentucky, Tactician and Lookaway following. At the six furlongs Lookaway was experiencing anything but a happy run and Caduceus had increased his lead to five lengths. Once Lookaway worked clear he set out to bridge the gap, and the manner in which he did so brought unstinted praise from the crowd. He was given a fine ovation on his return to the birdcage.

Form worked out well as Caduceus, False Step and Don Hall, who finished in that order behind Lookaway were first, second and third in the New Zealand Flying Stakes at Addington. No excuses could be made for the beaten division but Caduceus was not disgraced in having to be content with second place. He set out to assure a solid pace and this told at the finish. Only a horse of the calibre of Lookaway could have beaten Caduceus on the day. False Step ran his usual honest race and the same could be said of Don Hall but the remainder were outclassed.

Credit: 'Irvington' writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 11Dec57

HARRY REYNOLDS

Mr Harry Reynolds of Redcliffs, a well-known breeder, trainer-driver and administrator of trotting in Christchurch died recently at the age of 86. He was connected with sport for more than 60 years, and he also invented one of the first automatic totalisators and produced the first pneumatically-tyred sulky. Starting barriers used by some clubs in Canterbury were also invented by Mr Reynolds.

Mr Reynolds was a watchmaker by trade. His health failed in 1893, and he was ordered to take up an outside occupation. He bought a mare for £12/5/- and renamed her Sapphire, and she turned out to be the greatest trotter of the day, at one stage winning nine races in succession.

Mr Reynolds was a member of the committee which formed the New Brighton Trotting Club. He was a life member of three racing clubs in Canterbury. In 1890 Mr Reynolds invented a starting clock and was appointed a starter. This prevented him from racing horse but he was one of the nine men invited by the late Mr H Mace to his home, Brooklyn Lodge, North Brighton where the New Brighton Trotting Club was formed. Mr Reynolds later resigned as starter and took up the position of timekeeper.

Credit: NZ Trotting Calendar 20Jul49

That the start of a race very often, is the deciding factor is well known to all who participate 1n the costly amusement of horse racing, and the starter at times is subjected to much adverse comment and jeering from a disappointed crowd. But of all bad starts, and there have been many, yet brought off on any racecourse, the despatch effected by Starter J. H. Tompkins m the Free-For-All race at the Now Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club's meeting last week at Addington, fairly took the bakery.

The interest taken in the race was on a par with that of the Trotting Cup, as the field in the Free- For-All, one mile and a quarter, comprised seven of the Dominion's champion light harness horses. Of course, with all the horses on the same mark, and the drivers anxious to gain the slightest advantage, it was hardly reasonable to expect the horses to go off like a line of soldiers, and the spectators would have been satisfied with anything near the mark. But what happened?

After one false start, the horses came back and, at the second attempt, the horses were sent on their journey. They went in single file, and, for a time, no one seriously thought the race had started, and when Eccentric continued one length ahead of the field, each horse separated by daylight, it dawned upon the orowd present that the race was being decided. Thanks to the disgraceful start, Eccentric won from the game and public idol, Emmeline. No sooner had the horses passed the post than the crowd gave way to their feelings, and commenced hooting, with cries for "The starter, where, is the starter?" For fully ten minutes the hooting was continued, and the scene ranks second only to the occasion in Auckland when the crowd took charge of the course at Alexandra Park and refused to allow the programme to proceed.

On all sides the start for the Free-For-All was voted a genuine fiasco, and it is hard to understand why Starter Tompkins allowed the field to go.


Credit: NZ Truth 21 Nov 1914

IMPROVED METHOD OF STARTING WANTED

Viewed from any standpoint the growth of trotting as a pastime or a business, or both, throughout the Dominion has been little short of phenomenal. There have always been meetings at Addington during the thirteen years the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club have been in possession of their present grounds, at which some good horses have taken part, and there has been a steady increase in the number of good ones that have been seen in competition there from year to year.

At no period in the club's history, and at no time in the history of the sport in New Zealand, or, indeed, in the Commonwealth, has there been such a large number of high-class performers, and others in the making, brought under the notice of racegoers as was the case during the progress of the meeting which was brought to such a successful termination yesterday.

There we had extreme speed and staying qualities developed to a remarkable extent. There were brought together horses showing greater quality and more bloodlike characteristics than were observable in the horses of a decade back. The heavy, coarse type is steadily, not to say speedily, disappearing, and the classy-looking horse is in the majority, be he pacer or trotter. This is largely the result of bringing intelligence to bear in the mating of sires and dams in a country which lends itself so admirably to the production and development of good horse stock.

Those of us who attend regularly at the big racing and trotting carnivals in Canterbury cannot fail to observe that the performers at Addington are of a higher standard. Those who come at longer intervals are quick to observe how the class improves. True, the horses come from everywhere - the big prize-money has a magnetic attraction - and the best are brought together, but there is no denying the fact that the trotting and pacing racehorse of the day is far ahead of those of bygone years, in the matter of good looks and speed, and, therefore, of stamina as well as speed, for after all, the true stayer in trotting and pacing, as well as in racing, must have the pace and the ease of action to carry him or her through.

It must be extremely gratifying to the importers of high-class stock, and the breeders who are continually endeavouring to build up and strengthen their studs, as well as to all who have taken a hand at any time in the breeding and developing of trotting and pacing horses, to find that such satisfactory results have been achieved on the convibcing grounds of the colony.

That there are any faster tracks in New Zealand than that at Addington is open to question. Possibly there may be, and it has to be remembered that all the records are not held by horses that have performed on the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club's course, which some reinsmen and riders think can still be improved, but while no more records are broken at the meeting under notice, at no other were there ever witnessed quite so many sterling all-round performances at different distances. Many winners and losers alike bettered their previous bests, showing conclusively how they have developed.

That after all these years the starting should prove so patchy, and that it should have been so unsatisfactory in the Cup this year, has occasioned no end of regrets and much comment, and yet there were hundreds of people who were quite prepared to witness a repetition this year of what has been experienced in the past. Known bad actors certainly spoiled the first two thousand-pounder, as they have so often spoiled races of minor value, over which there has been little, by comparison, at stake. How to bring about a change is what has been exercising the minds of the executive of the club, and those who own the horses, those who train and handle them as well as the public who follow the fortunes of the competitors by backing them.

How to bring about better starting is the burning question that has cropped up over the best Meeting ever held in the Dominion. It was exasperatingly hard luck that the big race should have been spoiled by an indifferent start, admittedly the worst of the Meeting. For this Mr Reynolds and his assistant must take a share of the blame. Allowing known bad actors to be in the field at all, and to have the privilege of drawing places where they were likely to get in the way of good-mannered horses in the first place, was a mistake for which the Club's executive was responsible and allowing the horses to score up too fast, and not having them back after the mix up, showed a want of decision which was most unfortunate, with the result that in a handicap race in which the limit was only six seconds from the time the first horses passed the starter until the last ones also passed, instead of only six seconds elapsing more than double that time was taken, not because the horses, or the majority of the horses, could not begin well, but because they were baulked from the very outset of the journey, and thus all the work of the handicapper or of the owners themselves, who almost to a man must have known the marks upon which their horses would be placed when they entered them, came undone in the time compressed into a few seconds - seconds of great import, the essence of the contract, so to speak.

How is such a thing to be remedied in the future? This is the question now. It was the question last year, and has been an ever recurring one. Suggested remedies are many. One is to revert to the standing start: another not to let the horses come up so fast; another to start by yards.

The walking up or moving up start was introduced to give highly-strung horses and those that did not act well from standing starts a chance. It was never intended that horses should be allowed to score up fast. Starting by yards has disadvantages entailing some extra work for handicappers and requiring the presence of officials to see that horses keep on their marks. The best starter obtainable could not always get such horses as were in the New Zealand Cup and some of the other races, away, and they should not be asked to do so. Bad actors should never be allowed to take the pole under any circumstances. They should be barred for repeated acts of misconduct, and until barred be made to go to the extreme outside.

The drawing for places should not, if it does, prevent the starter exercising the privilege of placing unruly horses where they would be least likely to cause trouble. Experience has shown that amongst the very best of our horses the highly-strung and rattle-headed are as plentiful as amongst the slower ones. If some of the bad actors had been placed where they should have been, or their nomination not accepted at all, the regrettable mix-up in the Cup would not have occurred.

The difficulties of starting have been increased somewhat by the short limits and the handicaps between the competitors, and there will always be a lot of luck in getting off big fields of horses, such as that sent out for the New Zealand Cup, no matter who starts. If the clubs would take the sensible view of things and go in for class races, all horses off the same mark, according to the classes in which they belong, then we might hope for a more perfect system of starting than at the present time.

The handicaps clearly establish every Neeting that such a system is possible of accomplishment, and clubs like the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club should be the first to move in this direction. Fields can become too big and unwieldy, as some have proved over and over again at Addington and elsewhere.

Credit: The Press 15 November 1913

The Club’s first starter at Addington was Mr C O’Connor who remained in the position from the inaugural Meeting until 1902 when Mr H Reynolds was appointed.

It was reported in the NZ REFEREE of 19th November 1902 that the starting had shown distinct improvements since the appointment of Mr Reynolds who effected hie despatches by means of a new clock invented by himself. The machine consisted of a large open faced dial with numbers going up to forty seconds marked in large figures round its edge. A single hand moved around as soon as the first horse started and as it came round to each competitor’s mark an electric bell rang. This enabled drivers to gauge the length of their wait and was a big improvement on previous methods. Mr Reynolds retired from the position as starter in 1914 having had a long connection with the sport and his integrity and zeal were unquestionable.

In 1914 mr J H Tompkins was appointed starter and in the REFEREE of 11th February 1914 reference was made to his appointment and said that he had acted as assistant to Mr Reynolds on several o the Canterbury Courses and was well qualified to fill theposition although it was considered by no means a easy as some of the Official’s critics seemed to imagine.

It was reported in the REFEREE on 18th February 1914 that an experiment was adopted by the Club in having the Stewards Handicap handicapped and started by distance instead of time, as had been the practice for many years. The experiment was by no means a new one for in the early days of the sport in Christchurch the distance system was in general use but was discontinued in favour of the time handicap. There was a good deal of controversy over the starting question and it had been recognized at Addington at least, that the fields were getting out of hand particularly in the cases of some of the fastest mile classes with a limit of three seconds. It was pointed out that the start by distance in such cases would tend to give better results and afford more protection for the public as the moving up start, with the time system, gave opportunity for serious abuse. It was further reported that the racing generally was full of interest at this time although one or two of the events were won with comparative ease and Mr Tompkins, the Club’s newly appointed starter, had made a successful debut although he had had some difficult fields to handle.

In the latter part of 1916 there came a demand for a starting machine that would enable fields to be properly controlled and dispatched. Mr M Higgins, a North Island inventor, andis business representative, gave a demonstation of his patented starting machine. It was reported that it was as effective as it was simple and consisted of a wire running on pulleys along either the inside or the outside rail of the running track held at the starting post by a lever and attached with a strong spring fixed to the rear of the limit handicap mark. At each handicap mark a pin attached by a clip to the wire held a single strand barrier to a brass lock fixed to the rail. The barrier consisted of rubber and cord attached to the opposite rail and when the horses were facing their respective barriers the starter released the lever and the tension of the spring drew the wire rapidly along the rail instantaneously releasing all the barriers which flew as on to the opposite side. Mr H Reynolds, for many years the Club’s starter, also invented a device for starting races by the yard system and Mr Reynolds’ method was very simple merely consisting of twine stretched across the course and joined in such a fashion that when the horses moved forward it was broken. If a horse moved forward before the signal was given an electric bell rang signifying the horse had moved forward before the signal to start was given.

The NZMTC decided to use Mr Reynolds’ starting device at its Spring Meeting following the favourable impression created by this system when it was used for standing starts over a mile at the August Meeting. The results of the starting at the Spring Meeting were not as satisfactory as had been anticipated as it appeared that few of the trainers considered it worth their while to educate their horses to the standing start. It was considered that some improvements to the apparatus were necessary as the horses carried along pieces of twine with them throughout the races.

Following the August Meeting Mr Tompkins’ services were dispensed with and Mr W Black was appointed to act as starter at the Club’s November Meeting in 1917.

It was reported in December 1917 that Mr H Reynolds, who was on leave from camp, dispatched the fields at the New Brighton, Ashburton and Canterbury Park Meetings.

In August 1918 Mr W Norman, the well-known Southland starter, made his first appearance in an official capacity and his method of starting the races was watched with interest. Mr Norman was mounted on horseback with two mounted assistants who marshaled his field some distance from the starting post and then walked them up to within a few lengths of the clock befor they were sent on their journey. Starting under the seconds system during the three days was of a very high order under Mr Norman and his work left no grounds for criticism. There were various happenings during the Meeting that brought into prominence the arguments that can justly be argued against the starting clock system as it failed on ne or two occasions, putting horses at a disadvantage.

In December 1919 the Stipendary Stewards reported strongly in condemning the time system of starting and suggested that the method was neither fair to the owners, riders, drivers nor public. The Stipendary Stewards said that the system was not fair to Mr Norman and his assistants who tried their best to secure even starts but could not perform miracles as the system offered a premium to competitors who anticipated the bell. Mr Norman continued as the Club’s starter until 1926 when Mr A J Hastings was appointed.


Credit: NZMTC: Historical Notes compiled by D C Parker

Appendix No. Six: STARTERS

1899-1902 C O’Connor

1902-14 H Reynolds

1914-17 J H Tompkins

1917-18 W Black

1918-26 W Norman

1926-51 A J Hastings

1951-80 R Carter

1980-2006 J P Mulcay

2006- P R Lamb