| PEOPLE |
YEAR: 1995
 |
The death occurred last week of Clarry May, a prominent Methven identity who started his career as a blacksmith but made his mark later as a trainer.
Aged 88, Clarry was born in Southland, and married Anne Robinson 63 years ago. After an engineering apprenticeship, he became a blacksmith and trained a horse while his three sons, Clyde, Terry and Leo grew up. He eventually gave way to family pressure, bought a farm and increased his stable numbers to a dozen.
His major success was the Auckland Cup he won in 1946 with Loyal Nurse but he rated Aerobee one of the best he had. A mare by Highland Chief, Aerobee did not start racing until she was six, and won six races. He took Oreti through to Cup class, and forged a winning partnership with his son, Terry.
Other smart horses he trained were Adios Adieu, Walk Alone, Royal Walk, Fanciful, Ruling River, the trotters Tasman and Glen Dee, Stroll Away and Deeside. One of the best was Banjo, a son of Young Bob he gave Anne after forgetting to buy her a birthday present. Banjo won nine races.
Among Clarry's six grandchildren is top driver Ricky May.
Credit: NZ HRWeekly 23Aug95