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FAMILY INTERESTS

 

An interest in Trotting or an association at top level with the administration of the sport has, in many instances, been passed on from father to son.

Dr M G Louisson, the son of the Honorable Charles Louisson the second President of the Club (1906-24), was elected a Steward in 1926, a Committeeman in 1933 and was Vice-President from 1945 to 1948. Dr M G Louisson’s son, Dr J M Louisson, was appointed a Medical Officerin 1948 and in 1981 still retained that appointment. As well as an interest in Trotting both the Doctors Louisson have been associated with the Canterbury Jockey Club as Committeemen.

The next President was Mr J H Williams (1924-40) and his son, Mr J R Williams, was a Steward and Committeeman of the Club for approximately three years. Mr J R Williams resigned from the Committee and Stewards as he was strongly opposed to Night Trotting and, as a Committeeman, could not support its introduction at Addington.

The fourth President of the Club was Mr A L Matson (1940-45) and he had a long association with Trotting and his son, Mr H D Matson, was elected a Steward in 1958 and a Committeeman in 1963. Mr H D Matson tendered his resignation towards the end of 1968 as he was being transferred overseas by his firm.

In 1956 Mr W M Ollivier became President and, in his case, he was following a tradition set by his father and grandfather. His grandfather, Mr A M Ollivier, acted as Secretary from 1887 to1889 and prior to this appointment Mr A M Ollivier acted as Clerk of the Course from the inaugural Meeting on. At the conclusion of his term as Secretary he became a Steward and a newspaper report on the 1891 Annual Meeting listed him as President, although records show that the first President was not elected until 1904. Mr A M Ollivier’s son, Mr C M Ollivier, was elected a Committeeman and Steward in 1918 and was Vice-President from 1924 to 1935 under the Presidency of Mr J H Williams. The third Ollivier, Mr W M, was elected a Steward in 1942, a Committeeman in 1943, Vice-President in 1952 and President in 1956 a position he retained until 1960.

It had been proposed by members of the Committee that Mr J B McDermott should be nominated as a Steward but his father, Mr E T McDermott, held the view that it was not in order for his son to be associated with the Club’s administration during his term as President (1974-79) so it was not until 1980 that MrJ B McDermott was appointed to fill a casual Stewards vacancy.

Mr D McCormick was a long serving Committeeman and Steward of the Club as well as being one of its representatives on the Grounds Committee and one of the Club’s original Directors on Addington Trotting Course Ltd which was established in 1952. He served as Chairman of Directors for the 1954-55 year. He was followed in the role as an administrator by his son, Mr D R McCormick, who was elected a Steward in 1967, a Committeeman in 1973 and Vice-President in 1979.

While only associated with the NZMTC as a member of Committeeman Mr F G A White, Mr F W White was a Steward of the New Brighton Trotting Club from 1946 to 1954.

Mr P Andrews was elected a Steward in 1974 and a Committeeman in 1979. His father, Mr S Andrews, had a long association with the Canterbury Park Trotting Club being a Stewart, Committeeman and President and also one of his Club’s representatives on Addington Raceway Ltd.

The current Secretary, Mr T H Davis, has had a long interest in Trotting as his father-in-law, Mr T J Atkinson owner of the Cup horse Acropolis, was a member of the NZMTC and a Committeeman of the Canterbury Trotting Owners & Breeders Association. Mr Davis’ son, Mr R G Davis, has been an employee of the NZ Trotting Conference for some years and acted as Assistant Handicapper under Mr R C R Morton and is currently the Keeper of the Stud Book.



Credit: NZMTC: Historical Notes compiled by D C Parker

 

YEAR: 1923

ROBERT McMILLAN

A fatal collision between the West Coast express and a car at Hornby was a front page story early in 1923. Added to the sensation was that Robert McMillan, the car passenger killed, owned the Santa Rosa Farm in Halswell, then the country's most successful Harness stud.

Champion stallion Harold Dillon, and horses like Great Audobon, Nelson Bingen, Brent Locanda and Petereta most of which produced at least one champion, made up the roster. They had made McMillan, who had personally selected many of them, a wealthy man. The driver of the car, severely injured, was his great friend Eugene McDermott, also of Halswell and regarded as the leading non professional horseman in the country.

Canadian-born of Scottish stock, McMillan had worked for a leading American trainer, John Blant for many years before coming to New Zealand and making his way as a trainer, ultimately at Santa Rosa on Nicholls Rd opposite the Halswell Hotel. McMillan had also struck gold when he bought Great Audobon, the first son of the legendary Peter The Great to win a trotting race in New Zealand. He also won as a pacer before siring the NZ Cup winner, Great Hope, with which McMillan won the Great Northern Derby at his first start (1921) before selling on.

McMillan struck up a close association with Etienne Le Lievre of Akaroa who stood his best stallion imports, usually selected by McMillan, at Santa Rosa. At the time of his death McMillan was described as "a real man and one ready to do a good turn to anyone who was a trier". The two Macs, McDermott being of strong Irish stock, had taken a late afternoon drive to Yaldhurst to inspect American imports based with Ben Jarden, one being the later famous stallion Jack Potts.

Soon after McMillan's burial at St Mary's church in Halswell, Santa Rosa was sold to trainer Albert Hendrikson from Templeton and it gradually lost its lustre as a commercial stud, later being used for training by Charles Cameron and others before housing took it over.

McMillan's death had exposed an embarrassing situation in his private life. In 1914, in his late 40's, he had married Madge Green, 24, who had borne him three children in four years. However the marriage broke down and McMillan was ordered by the court on his wife's petition in 1921 to restore her rights, after she was banished from the house. Great Hope's sale may have been part of the settlement because she did not appear in his will, his estate being valued at a considerable £13,000. The children had been cared for by Madge's sister, Miriam, and that apparently continued to be the case after his death. His only son, Peter, later returned to Canada and one of his two sisters died in Arizona.

Eugene Clement McDermott was the son of a professional trainer, John McDermott, originally from Doyleston but based for some years in Domain Terrace. He shifted to Junction Road in Halswell after World War 1 where the family farmed for over 80 years. Eugene, who operated as a stock dealer from an early age, and as a farmer based in Tankerville Road, was a leading trackwork rider at Addington when that was popular and a champion saddle trot race rider on horses like Vilo, Capriccio, Schnapps and Cora Dillon, all trained by his father, besides a host of outside rides. However he resisted pressure to become a professional until late in life for special reasons and never trained a big team.

After the Hornby tragedy McDermott said he would give up owning racehorses and while in later years he relented it was usually only in special cases such as the trotter Garner which he bought for £16 and won many races includig a clean sweep of the features at an Auckland Cup meeting. Ironically it was the death of another close friend, the country's leading trainer, Bill Tomkinson which propelled MsDermott back into the headlines.

Tomkinson suffered minor injuries falling from a drum securing a float door as the team left for Auckland in 1934. Sent home from hospital apparently fit and well he became seriously ill and died within days triggering the biggest Christchurch funeral of the year. The cortege procession was a mile long. McDermott, a pallbearer, had also raced gallopers with Tomkinson and his young son, Jim.

He took over driving the Tomkinson star Indianapolis that year. They won the 1934 NZ Cup but "Mac's" most memorable triumph was with the champion in an odds-on win at Addington the same year. After less than 200m before a very large Addington crowd the hot favourite broke a hopple. Normally he would have been pulled up but Indianapolis seemed to be only keener with the flapping hopple so McDermott decided to let him run for the public's money. The result was a famous hour in Addington history. Indianapolis never missed a beat. He won easily and paced the last 2400m in 3:08.8 - then two seconds inside the national record for that distance and a theoretical world record. McDermott was cheered "to the echo" by grateful punters.

In the 1937 Cup his own luck ran out when he fell from the sulky of Colonel Grattan with about 800m to run, suffering a fatal heart attack. He had told friends before the race if he was leading at that stage Colonel Grattan would win. His son, also Eugene, was taken out of school to help run the family farm.

Later a prominent owner and highly regarded administrator, he had played rugby for Canterbury in the war years. One of his sons, John, also an Addington administrator (his brother Maurice is a stalwart of Banks Peninsula) is now a licensed trainer - like both his great grandfather, 100 years ago and his grandfather. The McMillan racing tradition died that fateful day at Hornby but the McDermott legacy lives on.

Credit: David McCarthy writing in HRWeekly 1May13

 

YEAR: 2001

Croker winning the Southern Graduate
2001 PGG NZ YEARLING SALES SOUTHERN GRADUATE

Had a certain buyer put his finger up for one more $500 bid on Croker at the Sales last year, he would now be holding his hand out for a $13,750 cheque. That is how much the Falcon Seelster-Take My Arm colt won after taking out the PGG Yearling Sales Southern Graduate.

Croker ended up being a buy-back for his vendors John and Maurice McDermott when he reached $15,500 in the ring - $500 short of what the brothers were prepared to let him go for. The pair even turned down a subsequent offer on the day, but they are looking the winners now because Croker is going to target the Welcome Stakes this Saturday night before a heat and hopefully the Final of the Sires' Stakes Series.

Trained by Colin and Julie De Filippi, and now part-owned by Colin in partnership with the McDermotts, Croker ended a long drought for both brothers, especially John, by winning on Friday. Maurice last tasted success with Kedell at Rangiora in February 1999, and before that with Kedell's dam Scintilla at Addington in 1993, but John hadn't known that winning feeling since Olympic Medal scored at Addington back in October 1984.

A former employee of the Bank of New Zealand who specialised in rural finance for two decades, John also spent 18 years on the committee of the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club and was the Club's representative on the Sires' Stakes Board for six years. Taking a break from both roles when the three Addington clubs amalgamated, John also had a change of tack following the passing of his father Eugene in October 1998 and joined his brother to run the 200-hectare family farm in Halswell, where they milk a town supply herd of cattle. A Past-President of the NZMTC, Eugene McDermott was well-known for co-breeding the fine pacer Robalan, and he was also the son of Eugene Snr who suffered a heart attack while driving Colonel Grattan in the 1939 NZ Cup.

The mare that got John himself started was Olga Korbut, a Lordship half-sister to Noodlum that he was given a half share in in return for grazing horses on the farm. Taken to C6 by trainer Freeman Holmes, Olga Korbut ran second in the 1975 NZ Welcome Stakes to Fancy Fred before going on to capture her last five races that season. "It has been a battle trying to continue her breed," McDermott said. "She only had the five foals and all but one were colts; I spent a lot of money trying to breed her by embryo transfer."

Since taking over the farm, McDermott is breeding from four mares - Scintilla, Vault (Olga Korbut's filly), Croker's dam, Take My Arm and Shining Cloud. "Kevin Townley trained Take My Arm for us. She went amiss a week before she was due to go to the Qualifying trials, but he thought she would be worth breeding from though. "She has a late colt foal at foot by Caprock, and was served by Il Vicolo." Take My Arm's first three foals are Boston, Barney Bear and Croker.

"He is a bit of a character, ducking out like he has done a couple of times," McDermott said of his latest winner. "Colin has always rated him though, and when a horseman like him says that, you take notice."



Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 11Apr01



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