| PEOPLE |
YEAR: 1990
 |
Bob Townley, 'Doody' and Alec's older brother, died on Sunday at the Accolade Lodge, Rangiora. Aged 82, Bob was the eldest of 10 Townley children, two of whom are left alive.
Townley drove some of the great names in harness racing, notably Harold Logan, U Scott, Supertax and a good trotter in Jenny Guy. "I think he was 13 when I won the NZ Free-For-All with Harold Logan," recalled Townley last year. "But U Scott was the fastest I ever sat behind." That U Scott was to make a name for himself as a sire and then as a broodmare sire which was a paradox to Townley. "Gallant Knight was a good horse, a beauty, but at stud he left nothing," he said. "U Scott was a cranky, hard-pulling horse yet left a host of winners." According to Townley, U Scott was a two-minute pacer but never got the opportunity to try. "He would have run two minutes without any bother," he said. "U Scott was a hard-case but he could fly."
Townley trained at Winchester, Orari, Nightcaps, Papanui and for Dave Rogers, who had boxes at the Islington Hotel.
'Doody' recalls him winning the Methven Cup with Regal and many races for Henderson Hunter, including the 1940 Auckland Cup with Ned Worthy driven by the late Billy Doyle. Ned Worthy was raced by Southlander Henderson Hunter, father of the current trainer. He employed Townley to take care of his horses and it was his first job in trotting after starting off with his father, Bob senior, at Winchester. "Mr Hunter had a lot of good horses from the First Water family, and Ned Worthy won the first three-year-old race to be run in Southland in his year," Bob said after he had qualified Centre this time last year.
Credit: NZ HRWeekly 7Jun90