 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 1941
PEGGOTTY
In 1935 a five-year-old racing mare was bought at a Christchurch sale ring for £4 as a plough horse for then Mid-Canterbury farmer, Reg Butterick.
In 1938, as Peggotty, she was the Cinderella of harness racing, whose every appearance attracted an army of fans and supporters, especially among women. Peggoty's story, now largely forgotten, was a classic example of the racing adage "never say never".
Bred by a leading Christchurch sportsman Charles Olliver, Peggotty had a curious "back to front" body - a strong shoulder but weak behind. After a few months in the plough she had to be retired to hack duties. One day when Butterick let her loose she showed unexpected speed.
He asked trainer, Jackie Behrns to try her as a racehorse. In a few starts as a pacer she did nothing. As a last resort because the mare picked her feet up high when pacing, he put away the hopples and tried her as a trotter. The result was miraculous. Late in 1937, as a seven-year-old mother, Peggotty lined up at Addington and won by the length of the straight.
She won her next seven races including two at the inaugural Interdominion Championships at Addington in 1938. A trotter winning eight on end then was unheard of. The pacing record was nine in a row and stood for another 40 years. In her first defeat, Peggotty, normally a safe beginner, lost 100m at the start and still ran fourth. She won 11 of her first 13 trotting starts and her fame went outside racing circles. Some rated her as our best trotter ever.
Many wins meant she was soon racing off impossible handicaps and Butterick, a man who had a stunning record of buying racing bargains, retired her in 1939. Peggotty had a foal but it died.
So Butterick himself trained her for an amazing comeback. On Cup Day at Addington in November 1941, in her first start for more than two years, against seasoned stars, 12-year-old Peggotty won the Dominion Handicap, New Zealand's premier trotting race. The huge crowd gave her a tremendous reception. Women fans were said to be in tears.
That was her last hurrah and she left only one minor winner at stud. Ugly to look at Peggotty may have been to the purist but poetry in motion when on the trot. Living proof that looks are not everything.
Credit: David McCarthy writing in 9Jul 2011
YEAR: 1941
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
1941 DOMINION TROTTING HANDICAP
The death has occurred of Mr R H Butterick, for many years one of Canterbury's best-known owners, trainers and breeders. Reg Butterick was one of trotting's 'characters'- a self-effacing, agreeable type of man who had a great deal more ability than ever appeared on the surface.
Reg secured his first real 'break' in trotting one overcast afternoon - it was Wednesday, August 14, 1935, to be exact - when he bid 4gns for lot 13 at a horse sale of nondescripts at Christchurch Tattersall's Horse Bazaar, Cashel Street (now-1962- Gough, Gough & Hamer's premises) and had it knocked down to him. This was a bay mare, seven years, by Wrack from a Nelson Bingen mare, and about the plainest bit of horseflesh imaginable. It took the auctioneer, the late Mr A L Matson, all his time to give her away, and Reg Butterick declared that he "only bought her for a farm hack."
By mere chance Mr Butterick discovered the mare could trot; he put her into training and she proved a goldmine by winning seven races on end. She was then retired to the stud and produced a foal by Quite Sure which strangled itself in a fence. Of a fatalistic philosophy, Reg Butterick decided that Peggotty should not have been retired to the stud, and he put her back into training - she proved better than ever, and won the Dominion Handicap in 1941.
Reg Butterick, who bought the American trotting stallion Josedale Dictator from the late F J Smith and had him at stud for many years, owned a lengthy list of horses, the best of whom were Roy Grattan, who was placed second in the NZ Cup, Macklin, winner of the Auckland Cup, and Peggotty.
Credit: NZ Trotting Calendar 26Sep62