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YEAR: 1941

LEICESTER MAIDENS

Now forgotten, a lesson on how few "legends" last beyond our own time, Winchmore trainer Leicester Maidens produced some amazing results with "has been" pacers and trotters on both sides of the Tasman in the 1930's and 1940's. What was his secret? - and did it later play a role in Bart Cummings winning at least one of his Melbourne Cups?

Maiden's feats with top class veteran horses remain unequalled. In 1941, fresh from a two year retirement on health grounds, he won 23 races just from January to July when leading trainer Ces Donald had 34 for the whole season. More remarkably, the youngest of his winners was eight and the eldest two were 12! Zincali, raced by West Coast All Black, Jack Steel, and formerly with experts Maurice McTigue and "Dil" Edwards, was the leading stakes earner nationally, winning six races and setting an Australasian record for a mile and a half.

In 1936 when asked to take a "lost cause" for Ashburton owner, Harry Nicoll, Maidens agreed - if he could also try the New Zealand Cup/ Dominion Handicap winner Wrackler, then 10, which had been hacked in retirement for more than 12 months. Nicoll reluctantly agreed and within three months Wrackler had won the Addington Handicap beating most of the best open class trotters around.

Born in 1900 into an Ashburton farming family, the personable and popular Maidens first came to prominence with Harvest Child, one of two high class winners from th first crop of the "hyped" expensive stallion, Sonoma Harvester who never repeated the feat. Past his best and a refugee from stables such as that of Freeman Holmes, Harvest Child was rejuvenated under Maidens.

At his 1930's peak Maidens had 30 horses in work near Methven, a huge number then. Rollo, then a 12-year-old, had been retired out of Roy Berry's stable but won several rich races for Maidens. Peter Locanda, Marie Celeste - both 10 year olds - Zingarrie, Jesse Owens - who won four of his six starts for Maidens after being taken over from Dinny Teahen of Certissimus fame - and Palomar were other great successes.

His two best results, apart from Zincali, were Blue Mountain and Peter Smith. Blue Mountain was a tough grey horse owned bt Mrs Inex Sweetapple of Auckland and fornerly with Jack Shaw before Maidens raced him in partnership with his owner. He went within a length of beating Indianapolis in that champion's first NZ Cup in 1934, anothe champion Harold Logan being three lengths away.

Maidens inherited Peter Smith late in his career. He won the rich Olivier Handicap and ran third in three NZ Cup attempts, his problem on Cup Day being that as a fast beginner he was always dragging the field up to inevitable tearaway pacemaker, Gold Bar.

Maidens retired again in 1945 and took over the Royal Hotel in Palmerston North. In 17 seasons training by his count he had been in the top four trainers or drivers seven times and rarely outside the top five. In 1949 Maidens turned up in Melbourne, claiming health reasons though his wife, Margaret, remained in Palmerston North. After a time he took over a free-legged pacer well past his best called Dauntless Peter and decided to train him in hopples, something the horse hated with a passion. "He tried to kick them off every day for six weeks," Maidens recalled.

Largely thanks to a rejuvenated Dauntless Peter who beat the best in the Melbourne Free-For-All in spite of carrying a buckled wheel for most of the way so bad the driver had to sit on one side of the cart, Maidens then won a Melbourne trainer's premiership. Later, in 1953, he was on the front pages (headline "Women Screamed) after surviving a spetacular smash at the Showgrounds when thrown 20ft high in the air, and he was also a guest columnist in the Melbourne Argus.

He was then private trainer for owner/breeder Bob Stewart but after a time there was strife with the stewards over the form of Silver Trigger in two races the same night at a provincial meeting. Owner-trainer and horse were disqualified for 12 months. On appeal Stewart was absolved. However Maidens, who had been in trouble for giving the stewards a "serve" about them talking to him before the start of the race on the night, (he won one race and was second in the other) lost his appeal in spite of several impressive character witnesses in his defence. Stewart sold up in favour of galloping in disgust. Maidens later retired and died in Toorak, Melbourne, in 1973.

The Maidens secret? Various tonics were in use in that era but few were unknown to the top trainers on whom Maidens seemed to improve on time after time. He had either found an effective form of natural hormone treatment or, as he himself seemed to claim, he was ahead of his time in recognising the role of ulcers on the performance of older horses. "Old horses suffer more from ulcers because of stress and the standard training feeding diet ofter makes it worse," Maidens once said in an interview. "Ulcers are painful and have a big effect on diet and work. I pay special attention to diets for my horses (lower oats content, special cooked supplements) and work them less to cut stress."

60 years later, after veteran Rogan Josh came from nowhere to win the 1999 Melbourne Cup, Bart Cummings sang the praises of an ulcer product as the winning edge. Treating ulcers became a racing fad - until an ingredient was found to be a prohibited substance. Ulcer treatment remains large in the training of older horses as a result.

It would have been another story the colourful Leicester Maidens would love to have told.

Credit: David McCarthy writing in HR Weekly 6Feb13

 

YEAR: 2012

WRACKLER & HARRY NICOLL: CHAMPIONS BOTH

What a combination it was. On our left was Wrackler rated "on all evidence available the world's best double gaited horse" and still the only one to win both the New Zealand Cup pacing and the Dominion Handicap trotting. On the right was his owner Harry Nicoll, arguably the greatest administrator in the history of the harness sport. An autocrat, he was the president of the New Zealand Trotting Conference (HRNZ) for over 25 years and of his Ashburton club for a staggering 48 years. Without Harry Nicholl the Inter-Dominion Championships would never have got off the ground.

An oarsman of international standard in his youth, it was said that Harry had never been to a trotting meeting until 1906 when the Ashburton club invited him to its meeting. It was not quite true. But the club was almost broke and Nicoll, a local business who successfully raced gallopers as "Mr J Case" and ran the local Racing Club was seen as a possible saviour.

Within two years Nicoll had embraced trotting and won the New Zealand Cup with Durbar, a 12-year-old he had bought here from an Australian and who raced on until he was 18. Nicoll was soon the leading owner and leading the code into class racing and handicapping by yards instead of clocks. After being thwarted by politics from heading the NZ Trotting Association he upset the famed Aucklander James Rowe for the chairmanship of the Conference in 1922 and won every election held from then until retiring in 1947.

By 1931 he was an honorary life member of every trotting club in New Zealand, joint president of the NZ Metropolitan club and later Predident of the Australasian Trotting Association. It was his offer to bankroll New Zealand horses going to Perth for the first Inter-Dominion which made the concept feasible. His Ashburton club was offering £3000 for three classic races in the 1920's making it the most successful in Australasia regardless of size.

Nicoll's Durbar Lodge near Ashburton was the leading stable with the renowned Andy Pringle as his private trainer. Nicoll bought from the United States the free-legged pacer, Wrack, by the world's leading sire Peter The Great, and the first genuine Grand Circuit horse to come to this country. He had paced 2.02.4 in Ohio shortly before his arrival - faster than later pacing supersire Hal Dale. Nicoll charged 40 guineas a service, a fee not matched for over 25 years and one Wrack could not sustain. History records he was a great success but for a time he was rejected by breeders until trainers like Bill Tomkinson, Don Warren and Roy Berry realised they did not handle high speed work and the tide was turned.

Nicoll was no sentimentalist. He sold up a lot of his horses during the Depression including Wrackler, and filly freak Arethusa, both retained by his son, Arthur. He sold his boom youngster, Indianapolis, Wrack's greatest son, knowing what he might become. In 1938 after the stallion had served 72 mares Nicoll sold Wrack to Tasmania. He died in Sydney in virtual exile the following year. It was a finale which did not sit well with many sportsmen here.

Nicoll was also controversial when Maurice Holmes, having knocked down half the field in the New Zealand Derby driving Nicoll's Arethusa, was given a suspension which ended the day before he was to drive her in the Northern Derby. "The judicial decision" raged the Truth newspaper, "could not have been more ridiculous had it decreed that in future Holmes was allowed to carry a sawn off shotgun to assist him bringing down what he desired."

Wrackler was all American-bred and his dam Trix Pointer the only Cup winning mare to leave a Cup winner. He was the champion 3-year-old and at four won the New Zealand Trotting Gold Cup in Wellington, a unique achievement for one that age. Wrackler was prepared by Don Warren to win the 1930 NZ Cup easily. It was a vintage pacing era so the Cup was run in divisions and Wrack horses thrived on hard racing. The day produced an amazing double because the Derby was the same day and won by Wrackler's sister, Arethusa, also driven by Maurice Holmes. Both horses wre typical Wracks - plain as pikestaffs, lean as whippets but with great stamina.

Warren was an expert and popular horseman with heart and personal problems. In August 1931 he was demoted by Nicoll as the Durbar Lodge trainer in favour of his assistant Jackie Behrns. A few weeks later Warren made a cup of tea for his wife and Behrns, chatted for a while and then went behind the barn and blew his head off with a shotgun. His health and demotion had devastared him. He was only 43.

At a War Relief meeting at Addington in July 1932 Behrns, having persuaded Arthur Nicoll who now owned him to try Wrackler as a trotter, won a feature at Addington at 8/8 in the betting which qualified him for the Dominion Handicap which he won four months later. At Addington about the same time he finished second in the big trot and in the very next race took on the "cream of the Dominion's pacers" in a high class race. His mixing of gaits could confuse him. In the 1934 Dominion he slid into a pace and lost his chance.

Wrackler was retired in 1935 but later returned to racing under Lester Maidens and won top trotting races at Addington as a 10-year-old. He lived a long and contented retirement carrying children to school on his back daily for many years before dying at the age of 27 in 1951.

It is virtually impossible his feat can be repeated in the modern era. Nor will any of Nicoll's successors be permitted to hold office for a quarter of a century. Wrackler and Harry Nicoll certainly like setting records.

Credit: David McCarthy writing in HRWeekly 8Aug2012

 

YEAR: 2008

CYRIL WHITE

A lot has changed in the world since Cyril White was born during New Zealand Cup Week in 1918. When Lucky Jack won his first Cup in 1937, White was working as a 'cowboy' at Arthur Nicoll's Durbar Lodge in Ashburton, which meant he was more often tending to and milking the cows.

"Gordon Stewart was the Manager at Durbar Lodge then, and Wrack was nearly finished (as a sire)," recalls White. "I used to ride the hunters as pacemakers and we'd get very strong arms from spending hours on dry brushing the horses. In those days the streets were paved with grass," he added.

Wrack's famous son and three-time Cup winner Indianapolis was unplaced from 72 yards in 1937, as Lucky Jack won for trainer/driver Roy Berry and Ashburton breeder/owner Bill Lowe, but the 18 year-old White was too busy working in a woolshed at Middleton to be anywhere near Addington.

Cyril White will turn 90 on Tuesday, November 11, which also happens to be Cup Day, and life today revolves around waiting for his 'meals on wheels' and the nearest he will get to Addington this year is his Trackside channel. He was hoping to get to Ashburton on Monday to see the 'new wonder horse' Auckland Reactor, but mention the name Purdon to Cyril White and he asks after Roy and whether he is still 'about' too.

White would also do stints with such famous horsemen as Manny 'Dil' Edwards at Yaldhurst and 'F J' Smith in Auckland before the war, and set up stables in Ashburton when he got back from "four years and a fortnight" away fighting in North Africa and Italy for the 8th Army. A horseman with a reputation for his 'old school' methods which most often worked and a skill if not cunning to win when the time was right, White was still training well into his 70s and in the 1989/90 season, when he won a couple of races with the Noodlum mare Willsee. The first of those was a Methven around Cup Week in 1989 when Willsee scored at long odds for local identity Dave Lemon with his son John driving.

Before that there were wins with trotters Reign Hi and Baywood along with pacing mare Opening Night at Methven, and White has fond memories of a good trotting mare in the early 80s called Cathy Crockett who won six races and had a lot of placings along the way. The daughter of Crockett won five races in the early part for White, the last of those at Addington and at good odds, before she raced from various other stables for over two years without showing any form at all. White then got her back as a 9-year-old, and at Ashburton on Boxing Day in 1986 she won the feature class five trot downing Novander at odds of 14-to-one. she was raced by her breeder Les Moore, a long-time supporter of the stable. "She was a funny old thing - early on she would jump everything in sight, but you always had to give her her head." There are stories about how it helped when Cyril allowed the sulky wheels to run freely enough too though.

That same day at Ashburton, the class three trot was won by Pat O'Reilly jnr and Tyron Scottie, a horse that White lined up a couple of times the previous season after converting him to trotting for Ashburton owners Alan and Ian Neumann. Tyron Scottie was a Noodlum gelding who had been bought as a pacer at the yearling sales for $4000. He had been broken in by Allan Dunn and "made to pace" by Gordon Middleton, and White spotted him trotting while being jogged on a lead around the roads one day. "His legs had been cut where the hopples went, and I said to the owners I think I can make a trotter out of him. After starting him a few times, I told them that the horse was going to travel, and I was getting a bit past all that." Tyron Scottie was winning his fourth race that season from his six starts for O'Reilly, and would win 21 races and about $300,000 in all.

Shortly before that, White had raced a talented pacer called Rock On, who won five races for him including a Kurow Cup. A Dancers Boy gelding, Rock On won the Oamaru Juvenile Stakes on debut and as an early 3-year-old at Ashburton, when White was 60, he also drove him to win his second start that season at odds of 12-to-one. White's last win as a driver was with Rock On as a 4-year-old at Addington at 21-to-one downing Carnival King, a good sort trained by the late Pat O'Reilly snr, along with Captain Clive and Seafield Hanover. White bred Rock On from Widow Grattan, by Widower Scott from Nimble Grattan, a Josedale Grattan mare who had been a handy trotter for him back in the 50s.

Josedale Grattan, who won the 1941 New Zealand Cup for F J Smith, had been "a real gentleman of a horse" during White's time with the renowned Welsh horseman. "We used to go to a few dances with widows (from the war) and they could be quite nimble, and that's how Rock On got his name," laughed White.

Life wasn't much fun though when White was a lad and working around various farms and stables before volunteering for the war. He didn't always have a lot to do with the horses in those days, outside of riding work and cleaning up afterwards. Top horses like Josedale Grattan, Van Derby, Ironside and King's Warrior made an impression during his time with Smith though. Van Derby was a beautiful horse and F J thought he would win the Cup with him, but something went wrong. King's Warrior and Ironside started in the Cup before Josedale Grattan, an American-bred horse which Smith had bought and imported as a 2-year-old, ran away from Gold Bar in 1941. F J was very meticulous in everything he did, and caused a bit of a fuss as a driver because he wore gloves. He would give the horses a body wash with methylated spirits - he would never put a hot horse under cold water. Mind you, we often didn't have a hose and running water anyway."

One horse he does remember very well back then was Tonioro, who won a trot during a galloping meeting at Ashburton in May 1940, during his time working for the Vivian brothers at 'Shands Track'. He had been set to win by Lester Maidens and paid fourteen pounds, and I had 'ten bob' on him and that paid for my new teeth. I had them done in stages as I could pay for it."

"In those days we were still learning to drink, which could be quite handy at such times. A schooner (45oz) of beer would cost sixpence, and there would be a lot of them. Now a jug costs seven dollars - it's just as well I don't need much."

White can also well recall in those pre-War years taking care of horses such as the good George Barton-owned mare Santa Fe and Bittersweet on trips to the West Coast, and how often the bridges would get washed out and they'd have to walk them for miles for dry lodgings at night.

White was 21 when he signed up for the War and 22 when he found himself "going back and forth across the desert with Rommel. You didn't think much about the situation then because it was just a way of life, and you got on with it. They were pretty clever though at turning you into a soldier inside of three months." White spent most of his time in the infantry and in Africa, but never got further than Italy during "the last push". "We won through in Africa eventually because Montgowery was a mate of Churchill and he got the equipment he needed. "Freyberg didn't get that, and at the end of the day it was just aboutwho had the most guns and gas."

White lost a lot of mates, but the only time he was hurt if was his "own silly fault. We had taken over a position from the Brits and they had dug the trenches about six foot deep. I was sitting up there one day when a couple of shells came over and landed about fifty feet away. I thought I'd better slip down out of the way, but it was a lot deeper than I was used to and my knee blew up like a balloon. I reckon they must have been coalminers." Towards the end of the war in Italy, White can recall the trotting meetings at Trieste where Tom Gunning also figured, and "mule racing just below (Monte) Cassino."

When White got home in 1945 he set up his own stables in Ashburton, and married Olive McDowell, who went into a Home about five years ago. "Like a lot of lads in my time, I thought I might become a jockey, but I was too big-boned. I kept riding for most of my life and actually had a (galloping) licence for a time (in the 50s) as well after the War. But I saw one lady come off and get hurt quite badly, and that put me off riding very much. I preferred to drive the trotters after that."

Apart from his own mare Nimble Grattan, there were good ones like the Quite Sure entire Super Note and the Light Brigade mare Tronso for Bill and Ray Jamison. White "had to give up" Tronso about a month beforev she won the Dominion for Colin Berkett, who he says would "short change" horses by not jogging them enough. He also recalls about the stock of Quite Sure that "they were quite flighty and too thin-skinned to wear hopples".

White obviously has a lifetime of stories to tell, all of which would in some way be colourful, but one that sticks in his mind was a trip to Nelson in the late 50s with a nice team of horses in Nimble Grattan, Our Bridget and Stylish Petro. "We had been at one pub and then had a bit of trouble getting past (the pub at) Leithfield. We got past Kaikoura and one fellow was snoring away, and the driver hadn't realised something had come adrift from the truck - every time we went around a corner, something wasn't right. Eventually we pulled up and realised we had lost a wheel. One fellow caught a ride to Blenheim with the wheel to get it fixed, but by the time he got back we had sorted something else out. Anyway, by the time we got to the track, the races had begun and we just unloaded Our Bridget and she went out and won."

White actually (offically) trained and drove Our Bridget and Stylish Petro to win early on the first dat of the meeting. Our Bridget didn't win later that same day,but she did win again at good odds on the second day. Nimble Grattan didn't win on that trip and had to wait until a few seasons later when she was a 7-year-old and won three races. The first of those was at Kaikoura and the second was a Ashburton, when White drove her to upset Ahumai and Wes Butt and pay £64. She would later win in Auckland from another stable, before White got her back as a well-out-of-form 11-year-old and he won with her again at a Hororata meeting paying £16.

They could be "tough old birds" in those days, and it seems "they don't make horses the way they used to".
Needless to say, the game has changed and there aren't many Cyril Whites left about either.




Credit: Frank Marrion writing in HRWeekly 6Nov08

 

YEAR: 1986

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

 

YEAR: 1964

BLUE MOUNTAIN

Blue Mountain, one of the top pacers in the Dominion in his day, died recently in his 37th year.

Blue Mountain, at the time of his death, was being cared for on the property of Mr O H Sprott, Pendarves. He was grey in colour when registered as a 3-year-old in 1930, but was pure white in later years. Blue Mountain commenced racing as a 4-year-old, and was retired at 10 years.

J M Maconnell, who trained at Drummond, Southland, first produced Blue Mountain, who was later trained by E Todd at Wyndham. After he won his way out of Southland classes, Blue Mountain was transferred to L A Maidens's Methven team, and for a short time after that was trained by J S Shaw at Addington, only to be taken over again by Maidens, for whom Blue Mountain won the majority of his races.

In 1934, Blue Mountain finished second to Indianapolis in the NZ Cup, and in the same year won the Ollivier Handicap in 4.17 3/5. Blue Mountain also finished third in the Auckland Cup to Roi l'Or and Worthy Light. He took a record of 2.38 3/5 for one mile and a quarter, and won 16 races altogether.



Credit: NZ Trotting Calendar 3June64

 

YEAR: 1963

G S ('Swanee') SMITH

He still rides his bike to and from the Addington course - an alert, wiry-looking old gentleman who would pass for years younger than he is, but who long since qualified as the Grand Old Man among head-quarters' personalities. G S ('Swanee')Smith was born at Naseby, Central Otago, in 1882. His father, the late J R Smith, owned a livery and coaching stable, and as a hobby raced and trained many good gallopers.

Young Smith was brought up with horses all around him or, as he puts it now: "was born on a horse." His family owned a large farm and used to run a coach service between Naseby and Ranfurly, although this was a small business compared with Cobb and Company's service from Ranfurly to the Lakes District.

At the age of nine, Smith was riding gallopers in work for his father, and he was 12 years old and weighed 4st 3lb when he won his first race, on his father's horse, The Last, in 1893. Another 'important' early win was on Jack The Flat, in the Naseby Cup (worth 40 sovs), the main event at the Maniototo Jockey Club's meeting in 1895. "Before I went to school, I remember my father putting me on a horse, and giving me a rap on the knuckles if I held the reins too high," Smith said. He recalled that in those days, the practice was to walk with the horses to all the meetings - distances of up to 150 miles on occasions. As well as Jack The Flat, Smith and his father were successfully associated with many other good winners around the Maniototo, Palmerston, Roxburgh, Naseby, Lawrence and Vincent districts. These winners included De Trop, Sebastapol and Emmason.

Smith began to put on weight, and around about 1900 left home to work on the railways in the Dunedin district. It was there, several year later, at Tahuna Park, that he saw that he saw the Australian trotting champion, Mr Buckland's Fritz, give an exhibition run. "I said to myself there and then: 'I'm gonna have one of them,' and although I remembered that my father had always told me that he would 'shoot' me if I had anything to do with trotters, I soon managed to get an amateur's licence," he said.

At the Forbury Park Trotting Club's spring meeting in 1911 - the fourth year of the club's existence - Smith produced Colleen Bawn, an aged black mare of unknown pedigree, owned by a Mr Lethaby, to win the Second Amateur Handicap. It was his first success in the game, but was a forerunner of many more. 'Swanee' recalls that he used to work Colleen Bawn in a sulky that stood higher than himself, and he had quite a job stepping up into the seat. Shortly after that success, Smith shifted to Southland, where he worked on the railways and trained in his spare time. There he won races with his own gelding, Papeete (by Sir Hector), and with a Sir Hector mare Flower o' Turi. In the saddle he won the 1919 Dunedin Handicap with a good performer in Dandy Chimes, and the same year he won the Gore Trotting Club Handicap with Barooga. Both Dandy Chimes and Barooga were by Four Chimes from an unnamed Kentucky mare. Dandy Chimes won his way out of the southern classes, and eventually entered J 'Scotty' Bryce's stable, where he was trained for several important wins in Canterbury. Other good winners trained in the far south by Smith were Harold Wallace, Last Vue, Queen's Lane, Siesa, St Mihiel and Ringway. The last two raced in his own interest.

About 1920 Smith shifted to Canterbury and set up in Buchanans Road, Sockburn. With him he brought Mr J Hamilton's good Bellman gelding, Bellfashion. In 1921-22 he produced Bellfashion to win races at Addington, Forbury Park and Washdyke. The day he won the Timaru Handicap at Washdyke, Smith was also successful with Mr T Newman's imported American stallion, Lee Norris, and Mr F Smith's Harold Dillon mare, Bundura. He also won two races at Forbury Park with Mr Newman's Petereta gelding, Peter King, while he drove Mr G W Dransfield's up-and-coming Logan Pointer gelding, Loganwood, on several occasions. In 1922-23, Smith, took over the training of Loganwood, and won the Midsummer Handicap at Addington and the Forbury Handicap with him. Another important success was in the Nelson President's Handicap with the Harold Rothschild gelding, Rothman, whom he raced in partnership with a Mr Lake.

The next season Lee Norris represented the stable successfully in the Avon Handicap at Addington, while he was beaten by a head by the late Mr M O'Brien's Pete Peter in the Addington Handicap. With Loganwood, Smith beat Bonny Logan and Pedro Pronto in the Selwyn Handicap and Locanda Mac and Whispering Willie in the Midsummer Handicap, both at Addington. Other successes came with Mr M Gorman's Jim Logan and Mr D Rodgers's Fireman. The latter paid a big dividend in the last event of the season, at Washdyke. Followers of the Smith stable enjoyed another big dividend when Mr Rodgers's Wildwood Jun. gelding, Pinevale, eighth favourite in a field of nine won the Oamaru Handicap. Bellfashion, now racing in Smith's interest, won the Railway and Linwood Handicaps at Addington. Actually, the late Sir John McKenzie's good mare, lightnin', beat Bellfashion by four lengths in the latter race, a saddle event, but Lightnin' lost the race, being declared ineligible.
Smith also produced Mr H G Hunt's Dusky Pointer to win the Nelson Cup and another event at Nelson, where his own Harold Dillon mare, Ivy Viking, won at Nelson and Wellington.

In 1925, Smith left Canterbury to return to farm in Central Otago. He was off the racing scene for 12 months, and he didn't work his way back into the picture until right at the end of the 1926-27 season, when he was successful at Ashburton with his own Denver Huon mare, 5-year-old Sadie Huon. At this time he was training at New Brighton. In 1927-28, Sadie Huon won at Geraldine and Timaru for Smith, and the following season he took over Mr F Smith's Rey de Oro gelding Agile, who was from Bundura. Agile won four races that term, after which Smith shifted to Spreydon, near the foot of the Cashmere Hills. Agile won three races including the Mace Memorial at New Brighton and the Flying Handicap (in 2.57 1/5 for the 11 furlongs) at Forbury Park, in 1934-35. Also in that term, Smith won two races with his own Rey de Oro 3-year-old Agility. Agile again won the Flying Handicap at Forbury Park in 1935-36, and this time he was seventh favourite in a field of eight. The following season, Agile, now racing in the trainer's interest, beat Todd Lonzia and Double Great in the Ashburton Boxing Day Handicap.

After winning a race with Agility the following season, Smith became associated with C S Donald, who was then at the top of the ladder and had a big staff of good horsemen helping him with his large team. Agility passed out of Smith's hands and later won the Taranaki Centennial Cup in A Holmes's interests. Donald's team at this time included Mr W L Parkinson's good Jack Potts gelding, Ferry Post. After winning a string of races early in his career, Ferry Post became tempamental, but Smith seemed to get on better with him than anyone else in the stable; and in 1940-41 he worked and drove him to win the Harper and Beach Handicaps at New Brighton. Ferry Post won another two races the following season, with Smith in the sulky again.

Smith broke a leg in a race smash on the Coast in the early 1940s and was off the scene for about two years, but he returned and joined up with the noted horseman, L A Maidens, at Addington. Maidens shifted to Australia, leaving Smith in charge of the team, which included the veteran Jack Potts gelding, Zingarrie, and the chestnut Turco. Smith promptly recovered his reputation for big dividends by piloting Zingarrie to win the Heathcote Handicap at the National meeting of that season. Zingarrie was 16-16 in a field of 18, and returned odds of better than 150 to 1. That was the last success of the gelding's career.

Turco was to be the makings of Smith as a successful trainer. Bred in 1936 by Mr J Dempster, of Nightcaps, he was by Rey de Oro from the Wrack mare, Wrackoda, who traced on the dam's side to the imported Vancleve. He was first trained by O J Dempster, and won his first race at Invercargill in 1839-40. He won several more races, and became unsound and was off the scene for two seasons before returning to race in the interests of Messrs A V Prendeville and J X Ferguson. Smith, who gained valuable knowledge from Maidens, the following season persuaded Turco to recover all of his former brilliance. After a string of placings, which included thirds to Emulous and Highland Scott and Emulous and Jack's Son at Epsom, and to Loyal Peter and Liberty Bond in the Summer Handicap at Hutt Park, he beat Liberty Bond and Loyal Nurse in the Dominion Handicap at Hutt Park and Gallant Maid and Navigate in the Harewood Handicap at Addington. One placing from his next four starts followed and then he ran out the season the winner of his last four starts. His successes were over Cameronian and Lucky Loyal in 4.21 at Addington, over Native Scott and Jack's Son in 4.18 at Addington, over Knave of Diamonds and Dundee Sandy in 2.37 4/5 at Addington, and over Countless, Dundee Sandy and Double Peter in the All-Aged Stakes at Ashburton. Smith considers Turco by far the best horse he has anything to do with. "He was a brilliant beginner, and if tucked in behind until the right moment, could out-finish the best of them," he said. Other winners prepared by Smith in 1945-46 were News Agent, Princess Maritza and D A Morland's Noble Reta (the dam of Bon Ton).

In 1946-47 Turco dead-heated with Haughty, ahead of Josedale Grattan and Countless, in the NZ Premier Sprint Championship, and then defeated Countless, Integrity and Double Peter in the Ollivier Handicap at Addington. He also gained six important placings, including a close second to Battle Colours in the Hannon Memorial. By this time Smith had taken under his wing a string of pacers and trotters, and those who he won races with in 1946-47 included Jackie Guy, Loyal Peter, Aberhall, Willie Winky, Fancy Goods, King's Messenger, Incredible, Mountmellick, Logan Ray and Convincer. Most of these horses were considered near the end of their tethers when Smith took them over, but he worked wonders with this team; such was his outstanding ability to train and drive.

The following season he took over the former southern mare, Mr R Wylie's Grattan Drive. A fine performer, she created an immediate impression under Smith by winnig over two miles at Addington in 4.17 2/5. She won two further races at Addington that term and also the Au Revoir Handicap at Forbury Park in the fast time of 2.55 for the 11 furlongs. It was during that season (1947-48)that Smith ventured to Auckland with a team to contest the InterDominion Championship series. With Loyal Peter he won a qualifing heat, but finished unplaced in the final, "through," he says, "an error of judgement." With Turco he won the Consolation Pacer's race in 3.12 2/5 and, with the Wrack trotting gelding, Willie Winkie, the outsider of a field of 10, he gained third placing in the Trotters' Grand Final. Jackie Guy, Mountmellick, King's Messenger and Mr C S Over's Red Ace were other winners from the stable that term.

Early the following season Smith trained and drove winners in Voco Power, Red Ace, Baby Grand and Grattan Drive, before piloting Jackie Guy to victory at Addington. Jackie Guy, however, was disqualified from that race, and Smith lost his driving licence on the grounds of interference. M Holmes, S A Edwards, R Young, W R Butt, D G Jones, J A Carnichael, R Stevens and others drove members of his team from them on. Later in the season, Jackie Guy won a double at Wellington and the stable was represented by other winners in Silent Knight, Trustee and Systematic. Trustee, a Quite Sure gelding and a member of the First Water family, won three races, including the Canterbury Handicap at Addington, for which he was the outsider of the field of 12 and recorded 4.15 1/5. Mr H Rattray's Grattan Loyal gelding, Systematic, was also at good odds for his two successes that term.

The next season Trustee won at Wellington when ninth favourite in a field of 12, while other winners included Systematic, Baby Grand, Jimmy Dillon, Right Royal, Dolly Fraser, Merry Man and Tiny Scott. Jimmy Dillon, an aged Quite Sure trotting gelding, raced in the interests of Mr Prendeville won three races including the NZ Trotting Free-For-All and the NZ Hambletonian Handicap. Right Royal, a speedy son of Jack Potts and Bingenique, raced by Mr W A Newton, won sprints at New Brighton and Forbury Park.

Smith won two races with the Dillon Hall gelding Popotai, in his own interests the following season, and four races with Mr C A Winter's 4-year-old Gamble horse, Gay Lyric. Other good winner produced from his stable that year were Systematic, Trustee, Tiny Scott, Dark Water and Scott Wrack. In 1951-52, he produced winners in Dark Water, the veteran Duncraig, Gay Lyric, Popotai, Systematic and Mrs A and Mrs J Darwell's Josedale Grattan gelding, Denbry, a temperamental customer at that stage of his career. The following season his major success was in the Johns Handicap at New Brighton with Denbry.

He long since gave up "pottering about with a horse or two" but his love of the game still draws like a magnet this remarkably agile octogenarian to training work and to race meetings at Addington and New Brighton. "It keeps me young," grinned Swanee.


Credit: 'Ribbonwood' writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 26Jun63

 

YEAR: 1957

Lookaway, the first 4yo to win the Cup
1957 NZ TROTTING CUP

Records are made to be broken and Lookaway broke one last Tuesday when he romped home at the head of the field for the 1957 New Zealand Trotting Cup. He became the first four-year-old ever to win the race and a great horse and a great reinsman combined to achieve an outstanding performance.

Lookaway has had a meteoric rise to Cup company and on Tuesday he lived right up to the high opinion formed of him by his many admirers. Lookaway had gone from success to success, culminating in his clear cut win in the Dominion's premier two-mile race. His win gave M Holmes his third driving success in the race. He drove Wrackler to win in 1930 and trained and drove Chamfer to win in 1950.

The race was truly run from start to finish and the backmarkers were working hard from the time the barriers were released, and Holmes drove his own race. He waited for nobody, a habit Holmes has. The first half mile was run in 64 1-5secs, the mile in 2:08 4-5, the mile and a quarter in 2:41 2-5, the mile and a half in 3:12, the mile and five furlongs in 3:43 3-5 and the full journey in 4:14 4-5.

Once Lookaway became balanced he was taken up to sit in behind the pacemaker, General Sandy, and when that horse began to weaken just after passing the half mile, Lookaway streaked away into the lead and turned for home with a winning break on the rest. From that stage to the winning post it was only a matter of keeping him up to his work to win by the official margin of five lengths from last year's Cup winner Thunder. M Holmes must be given full credit for the manner in which he has developed Lookaway and he drove another masterly race on Tuesday.

Brahman was the only one to really break at the start but Thelma Globe was slow and Caduceus was also a little slow to get into his stride. Passing the stands for the first time, General Sandy was setting a solid pace from Roy Grattan with two lengths to La Mignon, Trueco and Lookaway, almost together. Then followed four lengths back, Worthy Chief, Tactician, Thunder, Laureldale, and Caduceus with a gap to Adorian. At the mile post Lookaway had moved up to trail General Sandy and M Holmes had settled down in his characteristic attitude. At this stage the two leaders were clear of Trueco, Highland Air, False Step, La Mignon, Thunder, Worthy Chief and Caduceus.

Passing the half mile Lookaway raced into the lead and reached the three furlongs with a handy break on Trueco who was closely followed by General Sandy, Highland Air and Thunder. Lookaway continued his fine run to reach the post a clear-cut winner from Thunder with La Mignon in third place and False Step fourth. Then came Caduceus, Highland Air, General Sandy, Worthy Chief, Trueco and Tactician, with the rest beaten off.

It is safe to say that there would be no more happy man on the course than Mr C L Rhodes, owner of the Cup winner. Mr Rhodes bred and did the early training of Lookaway and no owner is more deserving of success in the light-harness sport in the Dominion than Mr Rhodes. Lookaway is the first foal of Raceaway, who was a useful winner herself and took a record of 3:41 4-5 for one mile and five furlongs. Raceaway was got by U Scott from Loyal Bonny, by Grattan Loyal-Bon Rey, by Rey de Oro-Bonilene (imp) by the Bondsman. This is one of the most successful families in the NZ Trotting Stud Book.

For more than twenty years Mr Rhodes has raced pacers and trotters and he has won much more money with his horses than most people, and he has owned more horses than most people. They have not all been winners - some have not even got to the races - but this has never daunted Mr Rhodes. He has kept on pressing on regardless and no one would get a greater thrill out of Lookaway's fine win than his owner-breeder and one-time trainer.

Mr Rhodes made an inauspicious start in the light-harness game. His father-in-law, Mr Free Holmes, gave him a Sonoma Harvester gelding called Harvest Child in 1933. Harvest Child was then eight years old. He had been raced extensively, and with a good deal of success, before becoming the property of Mr Rhodes. Harvest Child made no return for some time and then Mr Rhodes leased him to L A Maidens who then trained at Winchmore. Maidens won three further races with Harvest Child and these successes stimulated Mr Rhodes's interest in the sport. He has never let up since.

Mr Rhodes has been in the limelight in recent years through the deeds of the 'Peterson' family. Mr Rhodes has put much of the money his horses have won back into his training establishment, 'Peterson Lodge' at Templeton. His 150 acre farm, and ideal training quarters and track (formerlythe late R B Berry's establishment) are praised by every visitor. Horses raced by Mr Rhodes have won over £60,000. Lookaway's latest success brought his record to 14 wins and £12,711 5s in stakes, a grand record for a four-year-old.

In presenting the Cup to Mr Rhodes, the Governor General, Lord Cobham, paid tribute to a fine horse and an expert driver and congratulated Mr Rhodes on his fine win. Mr Rhodes replied. Lord Cobham stated that he had seen trotting several years ago in Perth when he visited that city with the MCC cricket team.

This year's New Zealand Cup created widespread interest weeks before the big event, and there appeared to be a new spirit in the large crowd which turned up at Addington on Tuesday. The weather was threatening in the morning but had improved by the time the Cup came up for decision. The new spirit was reflected in the totalisator investments on the race which showed an increase over those of last year. The on course total on the race was £25,395 compared with £22,096 10s last year and the off course total was £24,137 as against £23,329 last year.

Attendances and totalisator figures for Cup Day showed a sharp increase over the figures for the previous year. The crowd was officially estimated at 21,000 compared with 18,000 twelve months ago. The crowd tested the capacity of the totalisator and many hundreds were shut out on the outside enclosure on several races. There was not the same congestion on the inside. On-course totalisator investments amounted to £191,118 5s, including £17,965 15s on the duoble, compared with £165,908 5s last year. Off-course investments also showed a substantial increase, amounting to £151,052, compared with £128,443 10s last year. The meeting was held in fine weather, but a cool southerly wind made conditions unpleasant early in the day. The track was in good order.

Credit: 'Irvington' writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 13Nov57

 

YEAR: 1951

WRACKLER

Wrackler, the only horse to win the NZ Trotting Cup and the Dominion Handicap, the principal events for pacers and trotters in NZ and one of the greatest double-gaited performers the world over, had to be destroyed at Ashburton last week because of a injury. He was 27-years-old.

The champion double-gaited horse of all time in the Dominion, Wrackler recorded many outstanding performances which made him a firm favourite with racegoers 20 years ago. He showed early signs of his ability, and as a 2-year-old in the 1927-8 season he raced twice, finishing third in open novice company and third in the NZ Sapling Stakes, in which he was not as his best.

Wrackler soon opened his winning record as a 3-year-old. In that season he won the Great Northern Derby and the NZ Derby. He won the NZ Trotting Gold Cup at Hutt Park as a 4-year-old, and in 1930 he won the NZ Trotting Cup. Wrackler started from 12yds in the second division and won by two lengths from Jewel Pointer, with Logan Chief third. He won the final more easily, finishing four lengths ahead of Arthur Jinks. Wrackler's owner, Mr H F Nicoll, had another notable success that day, Arethusa, the Cup winner's sister, winning the Derby.

In 1931 Wrackler ran third to Harold Logan (48yds) and Kingcraft (scr) in the final of the NZ Trotting Cup after finishing second to Free Advice in the second division. He started from 36yds. Soon afterwards he was converted to the trotting gait.

Wrackler won the Dominion Handicap from 60yds in 1932, and at that same meeting he recorded 4.23 2/5 for two miles when he started off 120yds and finished second to Todd Lonzia (36yds) in the Sockburn Handicap. It was madnificent trotting. Another of his notable achievements as a trotter was to beat a strong field of pacers over two miles in the Owners' and Breeders' Handicap at Addington in 1932. The runner-up was Sir Guy, one of the best pacers of his time. Though he trotted a mile and a half in the splendid time of 3.15 4/5 (an Australasian record at the time), he was unable to win the Middleton Handicap from 84yds, Arcotis (12yds) keeping clear of his challenge.

Later in the season Wrackler won the Champion Trotters' Match Race, over a mile and a half, from a flying start, at Addington. He was followed home by Olive Nelson and Todd Lonzia. Until he reached marks from which his tasks were hopeless, Wrackler continued to be an outstanding performer at trotting meetings in those days. At Addington one day he won as a trotter and then reappeared to fill a place as a pacer. Performances such as those at the centre of NZ trotting firmly established the Wrack gelding as the greatest double-gaiter NZ has seen.

The dam of Wrackler was Trix Pointer, the NZ Trotting Cup winner of 1919. D Warren was Wrackler's first trainer. Later J L Behrns and still later, L A Maidens, trained him. In most races M Holmes drove. Wrackler was well cared for by Mr Nicoll in his retirement. He was hacked about a little on the farm, and at times took the children to school, but his was a life of ease in recent years.

Credit: NZ Trotting Calendar 12Dec51

 

YEAR: 1944

1944 NEW ZEALAND PREMIER SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP

Pacing Power's grand finishing run to wear down Loyal Friend near the finish and win the NZ Premier Sprint Championship at Addington on Saturday, brought the crowd to it's feet.

Pacing Power had been an unlucky horse for well over a season, and this victory was well-deserved compensation for some bad luck that attended his efforts in big contests. In the 1943 Cup he was the victim of serious interference, and in this year's Cup he had to race on a track that scarcely suited him as well as the fast, dry track he was successful on in the Sprint Championship.

Pacing Power is all horse. Previously his leading role had been that of a stayer, but on Saturday he outstripped the best sprinters in commission, and no matter whether some of the chanpions stood on the mark or not, a championship is a championship calling for good manners and solidity in a horse, as well as speed and stamina. Pacing Power has all these attributes in liberal measure, and, only now six-years-old, he may yet inscribe his name on the roll of NZ Cup winners, because he has not been over-raced and may be just reaching his prime.

He certainly has the right back-ground because he is a descendant of famous Thelma, whose blood will be found in the pedigrees of previous Cup winners in Wildwood Junior(1909 & 1910), Author Dillon(1918), Lucky Jack(1937 & 1939) and Marlene(1940).

Full Result

1st: G Lancaster's PACING POWER. Trained & driven by R B Berry, Yalhurst.

2nd: A J Wilson's LOYAL FRIEND. Driven by F G Holmes.

3rd: B J Wilks's DUSKY SOUND. Driven by L A Maidens.

4th: H W Drewery's JOAN CONQUEST. Driven by J B Pringle.

The winner won by a head, with three lengths back to third.

Times: 2:38 2-5, 2:38 3-5, 2:39 1-5.

Also started: Bronze Eagle bracketed with the winner; Fine Art bracketed with the third horse; Gold Bar; Happy Man; Haughty; Integrity; Indian Clipper; Ronald Logan bracketed with the fourth horse; Parshall.

Credit: NZ Trotting Calendar 15Nov44

 

YEAR: 1942

1942 NZ PACING SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP

Gold Bar is the new record-holder at a mile and a quarter. His 2:35 to win the NZ Pacing Sprint Championship by three lengths from Haughty is a world's race record, and as far as New Zealand-bred horses are concerned, Gold Bar now holds the mile harness record 1:59 3-5, the mile saddle record 2:03 3-5, the mile and a quarter record 2:35, the mile and three furlongs record 2:56, and the mile and five furlongs winning record 3:27.

It is a bunch of records never before held by the one horse in the Dominion, and as a speed king Gold Bar has certainly earned a high place in light harness history.

He now goes to the stud at a fee well within the reach of all breeders.

Full Result

1st: A Holmes's GOLD BAR. Trained and driven by D C Watts, Yaldhurst.

2nd: B Grice's HAUGHTY. Driven by O E Hooper.

3rd: Messrs Pezaro & Bridgen's JOSEDALE GRATTAN. Driven by F J Smith.

4th: E R Smith's PETER SMITH. Driven by L A Maidens.

The winner won by three lengths, with two lengths back to the third horse.

Times: 2:35, 2:35 2-5, 2:35 4-5, 2:36.

Also started: Bayard; Burt Scott; Dusky Sound; Fine Art; Mankind.



Credit: NZ Trotting Calendar 18Nov42

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