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DALNAHINE - Bargain Buy

Dalnahine 1918 Cost £100 - Won £7,500(approx.)
Before there were exports to America and when shifting older horses to Australia was in its infancy(the business was mostly the other way around), battlers with good horses often sold out to wealthier owners looking for a short cut to the presentation ceremonies. With few permits and a horrible handicapping system it was the best option for many.

Dalnahine was an example of that but with one remarkable aspect. He was a product of the famous Stevenson and McMath stud in Southland, and helped make the Harold's Rest family famous. But he was an old horse before he really made his mark.

Sold by his breeders to Hec Jarden, Dalnahine went through a virtual 'Who's Who' of New Zealand trainers after losing form in his middle life. Ben Jarden was the first followed by Manvers Edwards, another trainer of champions, and then James Bryce, the greatest trainer of the era. All of them gave Dalnahine the flick. Over the hill, been there done that, was their verdict.

In stepped leviathan Dunedin owner Jim Samson(he once nominated 16 horses for a Wingatui gallops meeting when most leading local trainers were lucky to have 10 in work), and he got Dalnahine for £100. He handed him over to a lesser-known trainer, Jock Henderson of Oamaru, and what followed was rather sensational.

Within six weeks of making his stable debut, Dalnahine had won over £2000 - huge money then when only a few races had a total stake of more than £1000. He went on performing at the highest level for several seasons. He ran in NZ Cups and was something of a sensation at Forbury Park at times. His brother Dalmeny, retained by the breeders, was also a high class performer.

Henderson's secret, if there was one, was never revealed but he was an expert trainer in his own right with a high strike rate before his comparatively early death. His greatest feat however was turning a 9yo 'has been' into one of the best pacers in the country


Credit: David McCarthy writing in Harnessed 2016

FIELD SIZES

Someone who has just backed a loser in a capacity field during the course of the Cup carnival at Addington is bound to lament that 15 starters is too many.

That may well be; but spare a thought for the punters who had to sort out their selections for the race in the accompanying photo, run at Addington in 1924, with 33 starters.

Run on the opening day of the Metropolitan club's August meeting, this event, the two-mile Trial Handicap, was won off 36yd behind by G Rutherford's Colchester, driven by Drum Withers. A son of dual NZ Cup winner Wildwood Junior, Colchester was 17th in the order of betting, which, in those days, with brackets went up to 25 in the 75%/25% win/place pool.

In beating favourite Prince Swithin (owned and driven by Lester Maidens) by a half length, Colchester covered the two miles in 4:42 4/5. Third after starting from 60yds, was Dalnahine, driven by Dil Edwards. The others in the race were Stunt Artist, Albert Logan, Quiver, Talaro, Bessie Logan, Dandy Rose, Kate Thorpe, Bruce, Holly Boy, Golden Gun, Transport, Harewood, Tarzan, Becky Logan, Away, Vera Logan, Percy Dillon, Harold Burwood, Hackthorne, Menember, Ivy Audubon, Jack Potts, Thixendale, The Rook, Bell Harold, Latona, Pinevale, Audacious, Lady Embrace and Prince Pointer.

There is a photo in the Auckland based NZ Trotting Hall of Fame of the official result of a race at the Cambridge Trotting Club's Summer meeting of January 7, 1950, contested by 35 starters.

But it appears the largest field ever to face the starter in NZ was that which lined up for the Harvest Handicap at the Ashburton Trotting Club's winter meeing on June 5,1948. Believe it or not, 41 horses went to the post that day, and the favourite won. The winner, coming off 12yds, over a mile and a half in 3:18 2/5, was Attack, then trained at Springston by N W Dickie for J N (Nick) Scott and O G (Ollie) Oakley, and driven by Dickie's son, the late Ivan Dickie.

Credit: Ron Bisman writing in HRWeekly 8Nov90

Manny Edwards

EDWARDS: M B

M B Edwards, whose death occured last week, was one of the Dominion's most successful trainers and reinsmen over a long period. He headed the trainers' list in the 1926-7 season.

Edwards was the son of the late M Edwards, who was also a leading trainer and driver. When he set up on his own account about thirty years ago, M B Edwards met with early success with Phil Smith, Homeleigh Dick and Vice Admiral. Many of his early winners came fron the 'Willowbank' Stud, Southland, among the good ones sent to him from that successful nursery being Dalmeny, Black Admiral, Dalnahine, Harold Thorpe, and Shine Soon. Another Southland pacer with whom he won important races was Mate o' Mine.

For a period Edwards enjoyed outstanding success in the classic field, his juvenile winners including War Buoy (NZ Sapling Stakes, NZ Derby, etc), Frisco Lady (NZ Sapling Stakes and NZ Champion Stakes), Twos Loose (Timaru Nursery Stakes, NZ Sapling Stakes and NZ Derby) and Gamble (NZ Derby).

Credit: NZ Trotting Calendar 5May48

1947 NEW ZEALAND DERBY STAKES

In one of the roughest classic races seen at Addington for some considerable time, in which interference leading to protracted judicial inquiry was rife in the concluding half-mile, Congo Song won the NZ Derby Stakes at Addington on Saturday after a great duel with Beckleigh.

Congo Song who was bred by A Holmes and P Symes, and is trained by A Holmes, was driven by Holmes's brother, M Holmes, who has a proud record in the Derby. Congo Song gave him his eighth success in the race. He won with Wrackler in 1928, Arethusa in 1930, Ciro in 1931, Aldershot in 1938, Imperial Jade in 1939, Scottish Lady in 1942, Free Fight in 1946 and Congo Song this year.

Congo Song, who finished second in the Canterbury Park Juvenile Handicap and the NZ Sapling Stakes as a two-year-old, continued this promise by filling second place to Gay Knight in the Canterbury Three-year-old Stakes at the Metropolitan August meeting. In this race he looked very unlucky to be beaten, and on the strength of this showing he was made a short-priced favourite for the Riccarton Stakes, which he won decisively, though narrowly from Belmont Hall.

Congo Song is one of the finest types of three-year-olds ever to win the blue ribbon event. He boasts plenty of size and quality, is a magnificent pacer, and in all his races he has displayed gameness that would do credit to any seasoned performer. His barrier manners are above reproach, and altogether he is everything a classic winner, especially an entire with the budding qualifications of a future stud horse, should be.

Congo Song is by Gold Bar, 1:59 3-5, from Flying Helen, by Flying Prince, whose name appears very rarely in pedigrees, because he died young. He was above the average as a two-year-old, finishing fourth in the NZ Sapling Stakes, but he did not win a race, and if memory is not at fault his death was reported when he was a late three-year-old. He was by Wrack (imp) from Queen Cole, by King Cole from Norice (imp), so his breeding was impeccable. Flying Helen is out of Helen, by Brent Locanda (imp), who reached prominence on the sires' list, among his best known performers being Black Admiral, Locanda Mac, Locanda Dillon, Somerby, Vilo, Brentloc, Locanda Boy, Dundas Boy, Trenand, Peter Locanda, Dalmeny, Dalnahine and Epigram. Helen was out of Tui Russell, by Russell Patch (imp), who was a son of famous Dan Patch, a world's champion in his day, and whose record of 1:55¼ behind a windshield, although subsequently disallowed by the American authorities, stood as the official world's record for some time. Tui Russell's dam was Elie de Beaumont, a daughter of Prince Imperial, whose name continues to crop up in the pedigrees of high class pacers and trotters. The Elie de Beaumont family has produced many winners, though nothing in the top flight as yet. Congo Song may repair that deficiency. Congo Song's time of 3:17 3-5 in the Derby has been beaten only once previously, by War Buoy, who put up the race record of 3:16 1-5 in 1933.

Beckleigh, runner-up in the Derby, is a rapidly-improving bay colt by Dillon Hall from Maeve, by Grattan Loyal from Olwyn, by Four Chimes from Taruna Mary, the dam of the great stayer in Lindbergh, who won a heat of the NZ Trotting Cup when the premier race was run in two divisions and a final. Fortuna, who ran a creditable third after getting almost on terms with the winner at the distance, is a bay filly of very nice quality by Springfield Globe from Betty Wrack, who goes back to the same source of winners as the greatest of out Colonial-bred brood-mares, Thelma. Fortuna is a full sister to Super Globe, a young pacer of real possibilities.

Credit: 'Ribbonwood' writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 12Nov47

PETER BINGEN

"Peter Bingen, who is 32 years old, is running on my farm at Kaipaki, Ohaupo," writes Mr C V Garmonsway in a letter to the Calendar. "He has not done any stud work for three years...has the run of the 125 acres dairy farm, enjoys a good cover every winter, is in perfect health and never fails to do a trial run on his own every day. He looks like going on for quite a few years yet," continues Mt Garmonsway's letter. Mr Garmonsway enclosed the photo of the old horse and himself which appears on this page. It is not the best of reproductions, but it will lose little of its interest; for those of us who saw Peter Bingen race it will recall the handsome dark bay horse's brilliant racetrack record of the late 1920s and the sensations he caused by becoming the first pacer in Australasia to better 4.19 for two miles and 2.40 for a mile in a quarter.

In winning his first NZ Cup in 1928 Peter Bingen registered 4.18 4/5, thereby lowering the previous record of 4.19 2/5 standing to the credit of his famous full-brother, Great Bingen; and then, a few days later, Peter Bingen won the Novenber Free-For-All (at that time the only free-for-all run in the Dominion), he clocked 2.38 4/5 and lowered by a wide margin the standing record for a mile and a quarter, 2.40 1/5, held by Minton Derby.

Peter Bingen, up till the NZ Cup carnival, he had been a fast horse but a moody one, and he was one of the outsiders of the 1928 NZ Cup field. That was one of his most generous patches, however, and he could not be caught after dashing into the lead to the call of his trainer-driver, the late J J Kennerley, with a round to go. The finish was one of the finest in the history of the race - still is. Over the final furlong Great Bingen and then Ahuriri were closing on Peter Bingen at every stride and he lasted just long enough to get the verdict.

Peter Bingen began his racing career as a trotter and, as a 3-year-old, he finished second - 20 lengths away - to Peterwah in the NZ Trotting Stakes at Forbury Park. He was switched to the pacing gait before the end of his 3-year-old season, but he never entirely lost his trotting instinct or ability and he had a beautifully smooth action at either gait. Kennerley used to give him a considerable amount of his training work for big pacing races at the trotting gait. "It helps to humour him," this very able trainer used to say, and Peter Bingen, who had his fair share of what many detractors of the Bingen breed called "fiery temperament" was a shining example of what patience, careful study and understanding will do for such a horse. In less capable hands Peter Bingen could have ended up a nonentity. He liked to trot, and Kennerley derived a lot of satisfaction from letting him step along at the square gait, in the course of his NZ Cup preparations, at a speed that would have won good-class trotters races.

Peter Bingen opened his winning account at Greymouth as a 4-year-old in October, 1924. That season he won four races. At five he won three races, and the following season he was first past the post five times. The 1927-8 season was a lean one for him and he ended up with a pretty poor name. People who had followed the aristocratic bay horse had turned almost as sour towards him as he apparently had to this racing business; he did not win a race that term, although he ran one good race at the NZ Cup meeting to finish second to Native Chief in the Free-For-All.

Came the 1928 Metropolitan August meeting and Peter Bingen was nowhere in the August Handicap, then a race little below NZ Cup class. The same lot was his in the principal event on the second day, the King George Handicap. But then the mood struck him, and he romped home by three lengths in the National Cup on the concluding day. Two months later he was at Greymouth contesting high-class sprint races which in those days were regarded as curtain-raisers to the NZ Cup. He was not impressive, being unplaced behind Cardinal Logan, Great Bingen, Ahuriri and Talaro on the first day, and a poor fourth to Cardinal Logan, Bonny Logan and Golden Devon on the second day. In extenuation of Peter Bingen's failures there, it is only fair to mention that Cardinal Logan was then the Dominion's most agile pacer on that small track; Peter Bingen was not.

But the public were sick of 'Peter' once more. He was too 'in and out' for the ten-bob punter, the army of small speculators who make horses favourites or consign them to the category of rank outsiders. They did not go quite so far as pushing Peter Bingen down among the depths in the 1928 NZ Cup, but it was a close shave: in a field of 14 totalisator chances, Peter Bingen was 10th in order of favouritism. It was a powerful field by any standards, past or present. In fact, there have been one or two Cup fields of the last few years that would have been hard pressed to go with the array of giants who met on that warm, sunny day, Tuesday, November 6, 1928, to do battle for the then rich stake of £3000. From the North Island, with a reputation that sent him out favourite, came Padlock. Second in demand was Ahuriri (winner of two previous NZ Cups), bracketed with Imprint; third favourite was the handsome Terence Dillon from Oamaru, next in preference was the old champion Great Bingen, followed by Prince Pointer, the trotter Peterwah, Jack Potts, Talaro and Queen's Own and then Peter Bingen. Others in the field were Black Admiral, Machine Gun, Dalnahine, Kohara, and Waitaki Girl - all names to conjure with at one time or another.

How Peter Bingen slipped the field with a round to go and refused to come back to the sizzling final thrusts of Great Bingen and Ahuriri lived on for many a day as one of the burning topics of light-harness conversation. The unkind thought in many trotting folks' minds - 'fluke' - did not survive above a couple of days, because the following Thursday he inflicted similar defeat on the Free-For-All field and broke his second Australasian record in as many starts - a mile and a quarter in 2.38 4/5 in the Free-For-All, in which Kennerley adopted the same tactics as in the NZ Cup: he took 'Peter' to the front a long way from home and was not caught, although his winning margin over the flying Prince Pointer was only a head, and Jewel Pointer and Great Bingen were not far away. The only other starter was Native Chief.

Peter Bingen was now enjoying the 'green years' of his somewhat chequered career: he came back the following year as good as ever and after finishing second to Kingcraft in his qualifying heat (an innovation that was soon dropped), he won the NZ Cup Final very easily from 36yds. The field was not quite as strong in 1929, the minor placings going to Logan Park, Dundas Boy and Imprint, with the hot favourite Kingcraft, who stood on the mark, unplaced. Peter Bingen put up the same time as the previous year. He finished second to Padlock in the Free-For-All, and the same season put up another great effort to finish second in the Auckland Cup from 84yds to Gold Jacket. The track was soft.

After having a complete season off, Peter Bingen returned to racing in 1931-2. He failed in the NZ Cup, in which he was still the backmarker, finished second to the new champion Harold Logan in the Free-For-All, and at his final appearance in public he finished third in the Champion Handicap, of a mile and a quarter, at Auckland. Peter Bingen won £8629 in stakes at a time when prize-money was less than half of what it is today. He is by Nelson Bingen, an American sire who was a stylish winner at the trotting gait in the Dominion and who made a big name as a sire of trotters and pacers. He sired 219 individual winners of £191,000 in stakes (in round figures).

Bertha Bell, the dam of Peter Bingen, was an outstanding producer. This bloodlike-looking mare was foaled in America in 1909, a daughter of Peter The Great, 2.07 1/4, and Corana Mac, by Wilkes Boy, who earned immortality by siring Grattan and so founding one of the greatest Canadian families of trotters and pacers. Another point of interest in Bertha Bell's pedigree is that her third dam was Lady Thorpe Junior, a mare whose blood played a prominent part in fashioning the pedigree of Lou Dillon, 1.58 1/2, the world's first two-minute trotter. Bertha Bell found a ready affinity with Nelson Bingen, for to him she left Great Bingen, Worthy Bingen, Peter Bingen, Bessie Bingen, Bertha Bingen, Great Peter, Baron Bingen and Great Nelson all winners. To other sires she left Great Parrish and Corona Bell (by Guy Parrish) and Ringtrue (by Travis Axworthy). Bertha Bell's progeny won £34,535 in stakes.

At the stud her sons sired numerous winners. Worthy Bingen sired Worthy Queen, whose mile record of 2.03 3/5 has stood as the trotting main since 1934, and more than 30 other winners. Great Bingen sired more than 40 winners, including classic winners in Taxpayer, Double Great, Refund and Great News; Great Parrish has sired close to 40 winners, and Ringtrue more than 30.

Peter Bingen has perhaps the best siring record of all the sons of Bertha Bell, for his progeny include Peter Smith (placed in a NZ Cup, and a free-for-all winner), Double Peter (who reached Cup class), Peter's Find (a classic winner); and a high-class pacer in King's Play was by Peter Bingen or Blue Mountain King. Peter Bingen sired close on 40 winners in all. At no stage was he extensively patronised, and most of the mares he did get were not of the choicest. In effect, like many of his great racetrack contemporaries, he was virtually wasted as a sire because of the prejudice against Colonial-bred stallions.

Credit: 'Ribbonwood' writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 20Aug52