CLICK HERE TO GO BACK

ALF WILSON - RETA PETER 1920

We usually rate great drives on the final stages of a race but now and again it is won at the other end. Such was the case with the last trotter to win the Cup, the dual winner Reta Peter(by Petereta) in the 1920's.

She had been around the traps before breeder/owner Frank Robson persuaded First World War survivor Alf Wilson to take her over. She often went better against the pacers than trotters, and in 1919 after such a win, they decided to go for the Cup.

It helped that the handicapper had crucified the champion, Author Dillon, who had to concede the equivalent of 100m. Not everyone was convinced. "If Reta Peter could begin properly she could place in the New Zealand Cup," wrote one scribe. "But she won't. Don't waste your money." Brave words.

She went out 7th favourite though the crowd gave the little trotting mare a great reception. True, Reta Peter was always vulnerable in the first 100m while she got balanced. Wilson's velvet hands, getting her into third early, was the winning of the race. From there she did it quite easily.

She was awarded first place the following year on owner Robson's protest after his mare was checked near the finish by Sherwood who was first past the post. Controversial that.

TRIVIA FACT: Robson went from Linwood to a farm in Lincoln with his Cup winnings. Wilson found a 'freak' young trotter called Kawhaki, who won the Trotting Stakes by a country mile. Taken to Auckland he dropped dead on the training track. Wilson rated him the best trotter he trained. Some call, considering he had had one which won two NZ Cups!

Credit: David McCarthy writing in Harnessed Oct 2016

A G WILSON

Mr Alfred George Wilson, one of the most successful trainers of trotters and pacers in the earlier days of the sport in Canterbury, died recently in Christchurch at the age of 82.

Mr Wilson had a life-long association with horses, both gallopers and trotters. As a youth he was apprenticed to Messrs R J Mason and G G Stead, for whom he rode many winners. 'Myosotis Lodge' as his training establishment at New Brighton was known, was one of the best-kept of the period. Mr Wilson was always a stickler for detail and this was reflected in the condition of his horses and their gear on racedays.

Mr Wilson is better known as the trainer-driver of the great trotting mare, Reta Peter, who beat the pacers twice to win the NZ Cup. Another grand trotter produced by Mr Wilson was Kawhaki, whom he regarded as being in the same class as Certissimus.

Born at South Brighton, Mr Wilson was the grandchild of the first white people to settle there. He went overseas to World War I, where he served in the Veterinary Corps. On his return, one of the first horses he trained was Reta Peter. For several years, Mr Wilson ran a popular riding school with 22 horses and 6 ponies.

On June 14 this year, Mr Wilson was a guest of the New Brighton Trotting Club and watched the running of the A G Wilson Handicap, a race named in his honour.

Mr Wilson is survived by a granddaughter, Mrs R M Skellerup.

Credit: NZ Trotting Calendar 20Aug58