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1932 DOMINION HANDICAP

In winning the Dominion Handicap, Wrackler has established a record that is likely to stand for years to come, as he can claim to be the only horse New Zealand has ever seen that has won the premier handicap for both trotting and pacing gaits.

The New Zealand Cup fell to his lot in 1930, and just two years later he takes the Dominion Handicap, the principal unhoppled trotters race of the season. Together with this record he has another, that of being the only horse in New Zealand that has paced and trotted two miles in better than 4min 30sec.

In yesterday's success he gave the exhibition of a champion. He was fourth with a round to go, but about two lengths behind the leaders. Going down the back the last time he had as his nearest attendants Huon Voyage and Olive Nelson, those ahead being Cannonball, Writer and Admiral Bingen. Cannonball held on the longest of the leaders, but before the back straight was left the issue was confined to Wrackler, Huon Voyage, and Olive Nelson, who were racing in that order. Great Way was the only other who looked as if he might participate in the finish, but he broke when trotting fast round the home turn. He was good enough, however, to hold fourth place at the post.

Wrackler had to withstand a challenge from Huon Voyage in the straight but he did not have to be driven out to best the Australian trotter by a length. Olive Nelson had not much dash after her brilliance earlier in the race, and finished four lengths away in third place. Cannonball tired badly, finishing fifth and Writer was next.

The favourite Biddy Parrish refused to settle down at the start, and Arctotis, after galloping a quarter was pulled up. Stanley T trotted solidly all the way after a good beginning, and appeared to have a chance with half a mile to go, but he stopped badly. Fifa was not dangerous at any stage. Winner trained by J Behrns, Ashburton.

Credit: THE PRESS 9 Nov 1932

HUON VOYAGE

While the race for the Dominion Handicap was disappointing in that before half the distance had been covered there were really only four horses with pretensions of winning, this shortcoming was compensated for by the winner, Huon Voyage.

The Australian-bred gelding who has a record of 4min 22 3/5sec, gave a very solid display of trotting and his fine stamina stood him in good stead over the concluding stages. It is no easy task for a horse to make up the ground he did in such a short distance and then to maintain his effort over the remaining distance of the two miles, but Huon Voyage did his part well and his success was well received.

Brought to New Zealand during the 1931-32 season from Melbourne, Huon Voyage a few months after his arrival established a new record for trotters over two miles when he finished second in 4min 22 3/5sec to Mountain Ore at Addington. Nearly a year ago he, with several others of Mr F B McFarlane's horses, was sumitted for auction, before Mr McFarlane's departure for Australia, but he failed to change hands and was left with R J Humphreys to train. Mr McFarlane in the meantime has relinquished all his other trotting interests and has a small team of gallopers which he trains with a fair measure of success at Flemington.

The news that his New Zealand representative has won the highest class trotters race in the Dominion, which carries a stake of 600 sovs, will no doubt be received with satisfaction by the Victorian owner.

R J Humphreys, by training Huon Voyage to win the Dominion Handicap, and Harold Logan to win a New Zealand Cup, has joined a small band of trainers who have trained the winners of the two most imprtant races in their respective spheres in New Zealand. Other trainers who have done so are J Bryce and J Tasker.


Credit: THE PRESS 8 November 1933

FRANK MacFARLANE

One of the biggest trainers in Victoria in the 1920's, the wealthy MacFarlane (From movie theatres) brought his top pace Nimble Direct here in 1927 with moderate results but returned with a six strong team in 1928 and stayed for a year.

Nimble Direct was still up to the best classes but the star was the trotter Huon Voyage who won the Dominion Handicap for local trainer, Dick Humphreys soon after MacFarlane's return. Frank was popular, if controversial figure in his home state. At one stage he triggered an owner's strike in his support when his nominations in Melbourne were refused after he criticised stake levels.

He was the first Australian owner to win a Dominion Handicap.

TRIVIA FACT: When auctioning his horses to return to Australia MacFarlane would only auction the lease on Nimble Direct ("like a member of the family") and Jack Shaw won the bidding at 21%. MacFarlane guaranteed payment for the horse's return trip to Australia whe she retired.

Credit: David McCarthy writing in Harnessed Jan 2017

1932 SPRING MEETING

The New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club's Spring Meeting was opened at Addington yesterday under ideal weather conditions and before a very big attendance.

The New Zealand Cup was the principal attraction, and the race itself caused the greatest excitement, Harold Logan winning after a stern tussle in 4min 16 2/5sec, time which stands as a world's winning race record. Harold Logan was set what seemed an impossible task, but, capably driven, he fairly buried the remainder for speed over the last three furlongs. It was one of the most popular wins in the history of the race, and horse and driver received a great reception on returning to scale.

The Dominion Handicap also provided a sterling performance by Wrackler, who had gained most of his success as a hoppled pacer, but now has proved himself amongst the best trotters the Dominion has known. Like Harold Logan he established a record for the race.

The track at Addington has seldom been in better order than it was yesterday, and as the weather was beautifully fine, it was only to be expected that fast times would be registered. Few however, were prepared for the great reductions in handicap times that were made during the day, and in the first race Todd Lonzia, handicapped to do a mile and a half in 3min 26sec, registered 3min 16 3/5sec, time that has seldom been beaten in New Zealand by an unhoppled trotter.

Later in the day Gold Country registered 4min 21sec from a 4min 30sec mark, a remarkably good performance, and Dilworth had to do 4min 19 4/5sec to gain third money. The times in other races were correspondingly fast, and never in the history of Addington have such performances been registered.

In winning the New Zealand Cup for the second year in succession, Harold Logan added his name to the elite few who have twice won this race, besides which he established a record for the race and a world's race-winning record. It was a remarkable performance, and the task he was set, to win off 4min 21sec, had been accomplished only once, and then by the mighty, Great Bingen.

With half the journey gone, Harold Logan was lying in behind the field, his young driver, Alan Holmes, saving all the ground possible. His chance looked a forlorn one, but half a mile from home he unwound a terrific burst of speed that carried him past one horse after another. Even when he was making this run it seemed that the strain must tell the tale, but the little champion stayed on better than anything else in the race and was one of the least distressed.

His victory was accomplished in convincing manner, and it was a much easier win than when he scored 12 months ago. On this performance Harold Logan must be regarded as the greatest horse New Zealand has known, and his trainer, R J Humphreys, and driver A Holmes, are entitled to high praise for the part they played in the victory.

Royal Silk and Red Shadow, who were the bracketed favourites for the race, had every chance, and both were in the running until the final stages were reached. It was a good clean race, and from start to finish there was a minimum of interference.

The winner, Harold Logan, has had a chequered career, for after winning his first race he broke down so badly that it was almost impossible to train him. He was always of a perfect racing temperament and was known to possess exceptional speed. Perseverence on the part of his trainer, aided by veterinary treatment, has overcome the unsoundness, and Harold Logan has done a good deal more racing - and certainly more winning - than the great majority.

Until the last half-mile was commenced the Dominion Handicap was not a good race, for the field was strung-out a long way, and the back-markers appeared to have no chance. The pace-makers however, began to feel the strain, and the real stayers took a hand, Wrackler, Huon Voyage, and Olive Nelson all trotted splendidly, and Wrackler, won in convincing style from Huon Voyage, while Olive Nelson, to gain third money, registered 4min 24 3/5sec, time that has been beaten only once by an unhoppled trotter.

Wrackler established a singular record in winning the highest-class trotters race in the New Zealand calendar, for he had previously won the New Zealand and Great Northern Derbies and the New Zealand Cup as a hoppled Pacer. He seems equally good at either gait. By Wrack, an unhoppled pacer, his dam is Trix Pointer, who also won the New Zealand Cup and other good races.

Biddy Parrish, a warm favourite for the race, refused to leave the mark, and her chance was hopeless from the start. Olive Nelson proved herself to be one of the greatest trotters ever produced in New Zealand by conceeding starts of up to 96 yards and finished a good third, while Huon Voyage, who has been under veterinary treatment for some time, surprised even his most ardent admirers by the manner of his trotting. The race may do him good, and success may yet come the way of his Australian owner.

The day's proceedings were got off without any unpleasantness, and the racing generally was clean and full of interest. The totaliator investments, which ammounted to £41,801 10s represented an increase of £10,281 10s over last year's figures for the corresponding day, but the comparison is hardly fair for this year the Cup was run in one race, while last year the divisions were decided on the opening day and the final on the second day of the Meeting.


Credit: THE PRESS 9Nov 1932

1933 DOMINION HANDICAP

Huon Voyage began well in the Dominion Handicap, and so fast did he trot over the first circuit that he was in third place to Louis Bingen and Biddy Parrish at the end of six furlongs, at this stage Todd Lonzia was the only other horse considered.

Huon Voyage joined Louis Bingen with six furlongs to go, and headed him shortly after the half mile had been passed. The only later occasion on which Huon Voyage was troubled was 100 yards from the post, where Todd Lonzia challenged strongly only to go into a break when practically on terms. Huon Voyage then went on to win by two lengths. Biddy Parrish, finishing very fast, beat Todd Lonzia into third place by three lengths, with Louis Bingen fourth. Stanley T was a very poor fifth.

This was a most disappointing contest, as early in the running it could be seen that half the field would not have any chance. Louis Bingen had every opportunity, but he was not equal to the occasion. Huon Voyage showed a high-class performance as he made up his handicap very quickly, and then had enough in reserve to stall off his sole challenger, Todd Lonzia. The last-named made an early mistake, and broke again when it looked as if he might head Huon Voyage in the straight, but the pressure told. Biddy Parrish performed well considering that she made her fist appearance yesterday after a spell of several months. Kempton did not complete the course.

The winner was ably driver by L O Thomas who thus recorded his first success as a reinsman in this event, while R J Humphreys, trainer of Huon Voyage, has not trained a winner of the event previously.

Credit: THE PRESS 8 November 1933

1934 DOMINION HANDICAP

The Dominion Handicap, of a mile and a half, proved one of the most popular betting races of the meeting and more than £5000 was invested on the totalisator. It was a race worthy of a meeting of the best trotters in the Dominion.

Writer went away smartly and had soon established a good lead from Nicoya. Biddy Parrish made her usual slow beginning, and Stanley Bingen broke up. Writer continued to make the pace, and he was not deposed from the lead until two furlongs from home when Trampfast shot past.

The latter led into the straight closely followed by Nicoya and Huon Voyage. Trampfast easily held his own and won handsomely from Nicoya and Huon Voyage, Worthy Queen, Writer, and Olive Nelson. The win was a very popular one for though Trampfast is a great trotter he has been off the winning list for a long time.

On this occasion he did not make a mistake at any stage of the race and his finishing effort was impressive. Nicoya was in a good position early in the race and had every chance, and half a mile from home it seemed likely that Huon Voyage would take a hand in the finish. Both lacked the necessary speed to catch the flying Trampfast and while Worthy Queen gave a good display she could only finish fourth. Writer failed to stay and Wrackler gave a mixed display of pacing and trotting.

Credit: THE PRESS 10 Nov 1934

Worthy Queen & J S Shaw

WORTHY QUEEN

"I am certain, if conditions had been ideal that day she would have trotted two minutes." J S Shaw was discussing his champion of 13 years standing, Worthy Queen, a trotter who made history on a windy, dusty day at Addington in April, 1934, by trotting a mile against time in 2.03 3/5. "It was partly my own fault. There was a gale blowing, and it was the first time she had ever had a horse galloping beside her. I was under the impression I could trail the pacemaker, but was told I couldn't. Over the first three furlongs she was trying to beat the galloper, trying to go faster than she could. She was pulling hard and trotting all in a heap. She was hitched to a short sulky and round the showgrounds bend her hock was hitting my leg. It wasn't until she reached the back straight that she flattened out to really trot. But the first half in 61 1/2 took as much out of her as 58 or 59 would have if she had been trotting kindly.

"She was a really wonderful mare. She didn't know what it was to do anything wrong. She never broke in a race unless something took the legs from under her, which happened on only one occasion to my knowledge. She had her funny little ways," continued Shaw. "On race day you had no chance of driving her on the roads or on to the tracks. She had to be led, and even then she insisted upon stopping now and again to gaze at things. Nothing would thwart her."

Worthy Queen's 2.03 3/5 is not her only record that remains unassailed after 13 years. Her 3.14 1/5 in a race was also established in 1934, and she was clocked from post to post on that occasion in 3.09 - and round the field.

Worthy Queen, by Worthy Bingen from Queen Chimes, a Coldstream Bells mare from Vanquish, was bred by the late J R Corrigan, of Hawera, and sold as a yearling to Mr T Agnew, of Hastings. "A mutual friend of both, the late Harry Jones, saw her trotting in the paddock and told Mr Corrigan what a wonderful filly she was," related Shaw, "with the result that Mr Corrigan leased her back. For him she won several races under the direction of Alex Corrigan and afterwards, when I shifted from Auckland to Christchurch he sent her down to me. That was in 1931. I won several races with her for Mr Corrigan. When he became ill and restricted his racing activities he sold the mare's racing rights to me, and she continued to win races."

"Although Worthy Queen was the best trotter up to a mile and a half ever seen in this country, she was not a top-notch two-miler. The best two-mile trotter I ever had was Peter Dean, by Petereta-Ivy Dean. Mrs Sweetapple and I bought him five minutes before a race on the third day of the Auckland Christmas meeting of 1932. He was 144yds behind in a mile and a half race, and although I had never driven him before, he won; and he also won a two mile race the same day. He cost us £1000, but in the first three months we owned him he won £1025. He won three times and was second in his first four starts for us. Shortly after I brought him to Christchurch he kicked at another horse in an adjoining paddock, injuring himself behind, and although he won races afterwards, he was never sound again. His action changed altogether. I consider he is easily the best two-mile trotter I have ever seen. In a trial before leaving Auckland he came the last half-mile in 61sec and the last quarter in 29sec. When I make this claim I am not forgetting Hardy Wilkes, Electrocute, Bellflower, Submarine, Muricata, Quincey, Whispering Willie, Sea Gift, Trampfast, Wrackler, Huon Voyage, Moneyspider and other great staying trotters."


Credit: 'Ribbonwood' writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 20Aug47

R J HUMPHREYS

R J Humphreys, whose death occurred last week, had a long and successful career as a trainer, rider and driver of pacers and trotters.

The best horse prepared by this popular and unassuming trainer, was the great Harold Logan, who was trained and driven by Humphreys to win the NZ Cup in 1931.

Humphreys was early associated with A Hendriksen. He rode that good saddle performer, Brutus, in several of his victories.

Humphreys also trained, among other winners, Walter Moore, Supertax, Blair Athol, Huon Voyage, Donald Dhu, Acuity, Special Edition and Tam o' Shanter. Huon Voyage won the Dominion Handicap in 1933; Walter Moore won the NZ Futurity Stakes in 1941 and All Aged Stakes 1941; and Tam o' Shanter won the Timaru Nursery Stakes in 1942.

Credit: 20Aug47

L O THOMAS

A well-known former trainer driver, Llewelyn Oliver Thomas, died in Christchurch recently.

Mr Thomas, 81, was the father of current successful horsemen, Trevor, who trains at Belfast, and Ivan who trains at Pukekohe. He himself prepared a team in the lower part of the North Island and later Addington.

Many of his horses reached the top company, among then Excelsa, County Antrim and Glenrossie. Excelsa was probably the best of them. She won 10 races, including the 1955 Easter Cup. County Antrim's two most important victories were a NZ Champion Stakes at Ashburton in 1946 and an All-Aged Stakes on the same course.

Earlier Mr Thomas had won the 1929 Derby Stakes with Purser, a Dominion Handicap with Huon Voyage in 1933 and a National Cup with Battle Colours. Glenrossie was a Consolation winner at the 1938 Inter-Dominions at Addington.

As well as his race-day activities, Mr Thomas was prominent as a committee member of the Canterbury Owners and Breeders Association for many years.



Credit: NZ Trotting Calendar 1May79

WES BUTT

Wes Butt didn't get an awful lot of pay when he first went to work in a stable. Nor did he get paid very much for training his first outside horse. In fact, he got nothing at all. The veteran trainer, "the last of the old brigade" as he puts it, recalled last week how he'd worked for Dick Humphreys at Templeton for six months before he plucked up enough courage to ask for wages.

And then, a few years later when he was on his own, he trained a horse called Walter Wrack for nothing. "His owner would bring all the feed over and pay me something when he won." Walter Wrack did win, luckily. And, significantly, he was the first horse Butt ever drove in a race. Now, having driven in his last race, at Addington at the weekend, he recalled it was nigh on impossible for a youngster to get drives back in the thirties. That is, unless he had his own horses. "I worked for Dick Humphreys for more than three years and in all that time never drove in a race. That was left to the older men, the top drivers who drove race after race. "The owners always went for the experienced men and the punters would never bet on a horse driven by a youngster."

Wesley Richard Butt turned 65 last Christmas but he's had no misgivings as his turn to retire has come closer. After those tough initial years, trotting, he readily admits, has been good to him. Very good. He regrets nothing. Horses have been part of Wes Butt's life as long as he can remember. Raised in Blenheim where his father had a farm, he used to ride five miles to school every morning and home again at night. It would have been around 1928 when Wes' father sold the farm and the family moved down to Hororata where he was engineer and county clerk. It was school for Wes until he finished standard six and went to work on a farm - "I always liked the land" - and then as a "carpenter's boy."

Once again the family moved, this time to Templeton, a few miles down the road from where Butt is now well established. Jobs at that time were diffucult to come by. Certainly, there was nothing around he wanted in the building line. "I went down with Dad to see Mr Humphreys but we didn't hear anything for a long time. Dad went down again. Mr Humphreys told him this time to send me down for a while to see how I liked it." That was all the encouragement Wes Butt needed. He rode his bike to the stables every day for the week, with only Saturday afternoon off. And got nothing in his pay packet each week. "I had been there six months before I said to him one day 'do you think I'm worth anything to you Mr Humphreys?' 'Yes,' he said, 'ten shillings a week.' which wasn't too bad at that time."

Wes wasn't too much worried about the money at the time anyway. He was sticking to his father's advice. "Never mind the pay: just work hard and learn all you can so that you can get out on your own." He stayed at Humphreys for three years without any rise in pay. "I remember when I said I was leaving he told me I was just getting useful...and then offered me fifteen shillings a week to stay. "And that still wasn't too bad considering you could go to a good dance or the pictures for anything from sixpence to one and six." But the extra five bob wasn't enough to entice him to stay on permanently although he did go back from time to time just to help Humphreys out.

It was a pretty significant piece of trotting country that he was leaving behind. Those twenty-two acres Humphreys had were, in Butt's words: "one of the greatest spots in the country for trotting." Well known tainer Albert Hendriksen had the property and Dick Humphreys worked for him before taking over himself. Humphreys later trained the mighty Harold Logan on the place. Butt recalled his first fast drive, behind the top trotter Huon Voyage who later won a Dominion Handicap. Jim Dalgety owned the property at one time while Snow Upton, Derek Jones, Doug Watts and Jack Pringle were among other top names Butt associated with the stable.

Once away from Humphreys, the young Butt took up a job at the local pipe works, working mainly in the pumice factory and carting concrete pipes. "It was a tough place to work, but it was work which left me time to do the horses," Butt recalled. By this time it was 1936 and Walter Wrack was in his care. Forty-five years ago, so it's understandable if Butt's recollection of the time is perhaps a little hazy. By his calculations he lined the trotter up at Greymouth to finish second - "Humphreys beat me, too" - in the first race before winning later in the day. In fact: the records show Walter Wrack finished third both times that day: but came out the second day of the meeting to win his first race and beat good mare Violet Wrack, driven by Dick Humphreys, into second place. Since then Wes Butt has driven 760 more winners and trained another 704. Violet Wrack later went on to win a number of races for top trotting trainer Bill Doyle. Walter Wrack returned to Greymouth a couple of months later to score again.

The West Coast has always been a happy hunting ground for Butt, especially in those earlier days. Having succeeded with Walter Wrack (he eventually finished up with Roy Berry), Butt concentrated on horses he could race himself. His policy was to lease them and then get them going for a Coast campaign. "It was often the way that if they could finish round about fourth or fifth in Canterbury, they were always good enough to win on the Coast." Native Ruler and Wee Pal were this first of his own he ventured away with, in December 1938. A trotter, Native Ruler won at Reefton ("I think that was his only win.") while Wee Pal really provided the goods at Hokitika. "I think she came second in her first race and then dead-heated for first later in the afternoon. She won again the next day." Which wasn't exactly how it happened. Wee Pal, in fact, dead-heated for first first time out and then won later. She finished second the next day. But what Wes does remember to this day is coming home with "a terrible lot of money." Wee Pal's wins contributed a large part of the £174/10/- she won that term and Native Ruler, with a fair number of placings before the win earned more than £200 for the season. The first thing Butt did on his return from Hokitika, though, was to buy himself a new sulky. "It was a brand new Bryant and it cost me £32/10/-." That sulky is still in use although there's not much of the original left in it.

Butt still savours the memories of those trips away with the horses. No floats in those days, it was trains all the way...or on foot. "It's seventeen miles from here to New Brighton but everyone used to jog their horses in, give them a couple of races and jog them home again." Getting the 50 or 100 miles to Ashburton or Timaru, too, was a bit of an event. A train would come out from Christchurch on the Friday, dropping off boxes all the way down the line with instructions to have the horses loaded by a certain time the next morning. Templeton was one of the main muster points. "We would leave here at four or five in the morning, stopping to pick up more horses along the way. We'd get to Timaru just before the following passenger train. After the races it was the same in reverse. The passenger train would set off first, the horses following to arrive home near midnight. Once back we'd unload the horses and jog home in the pitch dark carrying all out gear on our knees. Even if it rained we didn't worry about it. It was just something that had to be done."

Getting across to the Coast especially to the Wesport meetings, was something more of an event. That train would leave Christchurch early in the evening, arriving finally at Inangahua about eleven the following morning. In between there would be a stopover at Reefton where the local club "would put on a huge spread for nothing. They were great trips," Butt recalled. "The men would play cards all the way, drink, tell yarns, skite...a really good time." Then, once through to Inangahua, the work would start. The horses would have to be unloaded and then jogged through the Buller Gorge to Westport where they'd arrive round about tea-time. The Club would send trucks out to cart all the feed and gear back through for the visiting horsemen. "Most trainers took a team over for the circuit in those days. It wouldn't have been worth while with just one or two horses."

The circuit provided a lot of races in just a few weeks. After the two days at Westport, there was a trek back through the gorge for the Reefton meeting, The on for two days at Greymouth, four races then at the gallops at Omoto, two days at Hokitika, one at Kumara and the two day galloping meeting at Reefton on the way home. If the racing wasn't exactly memorable for everyone, there were good times to compensate. And the occasional buying and selling.

Wes Butt remembered he and a friend buying a horse called Plentiful in Canterbury for £25 and being able to get it going along reasonably well before taking it over the hill. "It wasn't much good but it did run two thirds at Hokitika and then a second and a win at Kumara. I sold it that night for £10...and saved myself the £4/10/- fare home for it," Butt recalled. He must have bet a few bob on it to be pleased with that deal? No, he had been pleased enough to get the stake money which was close enough to £100 in all. Besides, he'd given up betting even at that early stage. "I had more to do with my money than to lose it. Yes, I had a few good bets early on...and missed. I learned early after several misses. Even now I'm not interested. Wouldn't even know how to put a bet on."

Wes Butt has another reason to think kindly about the Coast. For it was a soft drink manufacturer from Greymouth, one Andy Grogan, who really put him on to the road to success. He was the owner of Mankind, the first of two horses Butt was to train with that name and the one he named his property 'Mankind Lodge' after. Mankind, the winner of a couple of races earlier, was trained at the time by E J Smith "just down the road." Grogan asked Butt to get him a horse and Wes thought Mankind was the one. The £250 asking price wasn't too much, even though it was a fair price at the time, so Mankind changed hands. He was five at the time and a gelding. "From the time he came here, he just got better and better," Butt recalled. "He was a great beginner but you just couldn't touch his mouth. And this is where others had gone wrong." There was the day at Addington when Cyril Yeatman rode Mankind for Butt in the last race of the day, a mile saddle event. "I had told him to leave the horse's head and just hang on to his mane. He shot away to a big lead and as they hit the straight Cyril looked around to see where the others were. They were miles away but as he turned he must have pulled on the inside rein. His front foot hit the slippery clay, the horse slipped and dropped his rider."

But even though he lost that one, Mankind was to win a lot of races for Mr Grogan and Butt, more than £4,000 between 1940 and 1944. He was "a lovely horse around the place" who went through to the top classes. 1941 was an especially good year for the team. Mankind won the August Free-For-All, leaving the champion Gold Bar down the track at Addington. Three days later he finished second and third in successive races, the first over a mile and a half with Wes in the sulky, the next time over a mile from 24 yards behind with Jack Carmichael in the saddle. In November, again with Carnichael in the saddle, Mankind ran second to Gold Bar when Allan Holmes' champion ran a world record 2:03.6 for a mile from a stand. This was on the same day as Gold Bar set his world race record of 3:27 for thirteen furlongs at Addington.

Jack Carmichael did most of the riding for Wes Butt in those days and, when Wes was in the army, looked after the small war-years team. Wes remembered the day in September '41 that they took the two horses in the stable - Mankind and Brigadier - to New Brighton and won with them both. Mankind beat Gold Bar over a mile and a half that day, too. Jack had been working for some years with Butt. Originally he had come down from Wanganui for a holiday and he'd never gone back north. He was a cousin of the future Mrs Butt, Beryl Bennett. Wes, a neighbour, used to train on Mr Bennett's track in those early days, and that's how he became 'tangled up' with his wife. Mrs Butt recalled how Jack had lived with them for about thirteen years until he had branched out on his own. Wes was in the army at this time, stationed at Burnham. He was able to get home on Sundays to let Jack know what to do and occasionally at other times as well. "I was in pretty good with the lieutenant-colonel so I was able to get away now and again," he said. He remembered winning a race in 1940 with Mankind at Addington on the Saturdayand then being shipped up to Fiji for service in the Pacific on the Monday. The win was a good farewell present.

Butt used Mankind to illustrate how little young drivers were tolerated by the betting public in those days. Mankind wasn't at the top then but he was on the way up. It was on the old New Brighton track. He started in a mile saddle trot early in the day with Doug Watts aboard. Even from 24 yards behind, the combination won with ease in 2:10. Mankind was hot favourite. Later in the day he lined up in the last race and downed a top field of sprinters, beating the well-regarded Huguenot by a neck. Wes himself was in the cart. "I was just learning to drive then, but I still couldn't believe it. We were eleventh favourites and paid more than £36 to win. The public wouldn't tolerate any young drivers, no matter how good the horse was." Wes hardly ever got into the saddle himself. "I didn't like it. I just wasn't much good at it, I suppose," is his explanation.

But what he did like was a block of land adjacent to the blacksmith's shop further down the road from here he lived at Templeton. He'd had his eye on it for years. "There were 25 acres and it always appealed to me. But there was no way I could afford it at the time it was available." But Andy Grogan was at hand. "I asked him when I came out of the army if he would buy the place for me and I'd train for him until I had paid it off. He agreed straight away. It was he who got me started here." Those original acres have been increased to forty and there's the big covered barn and yards, five furlong track and house to complete the set up.

In the earlier days most trainers in the area worked their teams around the roads. "They were lovely roads then. Cars and trucks were no bother. Most of them belonged to horse people anyway so they did their best to make things easier for you. "Now, a lot of drivers see how close they can get to you," Butt said.

Wes and Beryl were married in July, 1942 and it was inevitable the Butt children would be interested in horses. The boys, Robin and Murray, have already made their mark on NZ trotting themselves as trainers, while the two girls, Christine and Margaret, are winning owners, having raced Right As Rain, a daughter of For Certain with whom Wes won the NZ Oaks. Wes remembered that Robin was especially keen, even helping out with the fast work while still going to primary school. It's Robin and Murray who'll carry on driving members of Wes' team in the seasons to come... and probably so will his seventeen-year-old grandson, Robin's son David, who will have a probationary licence in the new term. That's if he continues with his intent to knock off smoking. "I told him I wouldn't have any boy driving for me if he smoked; he said to me the other day he'd given up, so I'll have to let him drive, too," Wes said.

Wes has had a few men working for him over the years, and some of them have stayed a good long time. "We had the same gang for years and years," Mrs Butt said, while Wes recalled Jack Carmichael, Jim and Bill Smith, Snow Wright, 'Button' White - "he was with us for about 20 years" - Ralph Bonnington and Barry Hamilton. In the early days the team had built up slowly but once the wins started to come, Butt got more and more horses, up to thirty or so in the busier seasons. "We had to work pretty hard in the mornings but everyone was off the place by five. We had breakfast at seven and then got stuck in. He had his biggest teams in the period from the early fifties through to the mid-sixties. It was during this time he took six of his seven trainers premierships. The season immediately after the war gave him his first title with 36 winners. Butt took the crown again in 1952/3 (38 winners), '54/55(33), '55/56(46, his best season ever), '57/58(30), '58/59(23) and '61/62(33). He was also the country's leading reinsman twice, in 1945/46 when he tied with Fred Smith and Alan Holmes (28 wins each) and again in '52/53 when he drove 29 winners over the season.

Over the years Wes Butt has driven the winners of some of the most important events on the country's racing calendar, the Champion Stakes with Golden Oriole ( owned by Murray), three Sapling Stakes with Golden Oriole, Wildwood Chief and Spry Guy, two Rowe Cups with Battle Cry and more recently Even Speed, a Great Northern Derby, again with Golden Oriole, a Dominion Handicap with Johnny Gee, four NZ Trotting Stakes with Johnny Gee, Even Speed, Signal Light and Black Miller, a New Brighton Cup with Bright Highland, a NZ Oaks with For Certain, Timaru Nursery Stakes (Seafield Lad), a Wellington Cup with Anarca Direct, an Easter Cup with Wee Win and an Ashburton Cup with Van Rebeck. He also drove those last two to win heats of Inter-Dominion series.

Of course, he regards Johnny Gee one of the best of all the horses he's had anything to do with in recent years. He won the most money about $60,000, including $20,000 in place money. He won a dozen free-for-alls and went 2:01. He was a top horse. Wes Butt will always remember the 1970 Dominion Handicap when he trained both Johnny Gee, the winner, and Tony Bear (driven by Robin) who took second only half a neck back. These two made a formidable bracket in the big trots around that time, one which the punters could not often resist. The bracket was strengthened now and again with the addition of yet a third top trotter in the stable, Briganelli. Johnny Gee won a lot of races for Butt, including four races at Manawatu from his only four starts on the track.

Golden Oriole was "a nice mare" and Van Rebeck "a good old horse." And then the names of the top liners start running freely...Campbell King, Lucky Law, Jimmy Scott, Liberty Bond, Axis, Admit, Benghazi, Moss Hall, Courageous, Margaret Hall, Captain Sandy - "although he was just about finished here then" - and, about ten years ago, Partisan, who won nine of his seventeen starts for Butt. "If he hadn't been unsound, he could have been the best I ever had," Butt surmises. Easter Cup winner Wee Win would have been one of the toughest horses Butt ever drove, even though he didn't have a sprint, while Even Speed was a good horse, too.

Butt won races on most of the South Island tracks and on many of the northern ones too, even at Trentham. He won a race with good mare Zona Grattan by half the length of the straight there once. The same horse started from 96 yards behind at Forbury soon after the war and beat a top quality field into the bargain. White Angel was another mare he still has a lot of time for. "She gave me my only real chance to win the NZ Cup, but her chances were ruined by a wet track. She did win the Hannon Memorial in 1953." Earlier on, in the 1951 Cup Carnival, Butt started her three times and won each day. There's an asphalt tennis court alongside the Butt home now. It used to be White Angel's yard. The Butt children used to pay her a lot of attention and she'd be as gentle as a lamb with them. Put her around other horses, though, and "she could be a sour old thing." Wes remembers the day she provided the second leg of an £8,000 double at Ashburton. Piccolo, the rank outsider paying something like £96, won the first leg. And White Angel, about eighth favourite, won the second from 12 yards behind. "And she had to go around 39 others to do it."

And that's not the only long price he's been associated with. Two races after he had won the 1964 Sapling Stakes with Golden Oriole he came out and drove Mrs Butt's own horse Stormy Lad to victory. He paid £101/-/6 to win and more than £22 for the place. The next year at Hutt Park he drove Super Glow to win and pay more than £73. Back in April, 1947, for instance, there were two races for trotters on each day of the Nelson Trotting Club's meeting and Wes scooped the pool with Tu Rangi and Statesman. A few years later, he won four of the eight races at Canterbury Park, coming out on the second day to win two more.

So what makes a good driver? Wes Butt has his own ideas on that..."For a start he must be able to get his horse away and then he must be patient. He shouldn't burn a horse out by trying to rush around the world. A top horseman will always have his horse for another day." As for race tactics,"you can only go the way the horse goes best. Some need nursing until well into the straight, so you sit on the fence and take your chances as they come. And then there are the other types, like Wee Win, who like the pace to be on all the way. Then you get out there and battle and make it tough for the rest to keep up." Butt has no preference for either pacers or trotters. "I don't mind what they are if they are good. But I do get a lot of satisfaction from a good trotter."

He also thinks the younger drivers have an easier time these days than they did when he started. Probationary driver's races and series had helped a lot and many of the up and comers were getting a lot of experience even though they are young. "By the time they come out of their time, many are top men." The trend today was for owners to give the drives to the younger men, exactly the opposite situation as Butt encountered early on in his career. "It's not unusual these days to see Doody Townley, Derek Jones or Felix Newfield, all top men, left in the stands race after race."

He regards himself and Cecil Devine, who had to retire at the end of last season as "the last of the old-timers. We're probably the last to have raced against Jimmy Bryce and Free Holmes, for instance. They're a new lot now." Butt couldn't sort out the best he drove against but he had to mention Maurice Holmes, Doody Townley, Derek Jones, Bob Young and Doug Watts..."tough, hard-headed drivers." Himself, he had always done his best and "you can't do better than that." And now that his driving career is over, he had no regrets he'd had a great time all through.

He was just thankful he had come this far relatively unscathed. "I think you're pretty lucky if you can go till your 65 and still be okay. "It wasn't so bad in the old days when tracks were soft. These days the tracks are like shingle roads. If you hit them at 30 miles an hour and get dragged along, you feel it if you are getting on. It's nothing to the youngsters though. They're tough. He had been in hospital a couple of times and still had a little bother with an old injury to his back. But, he had been lucky.

Wes Butt can still remember, however, an aching arm after winning a race at Methven some thirty years ago. It was with the trotter Ascot, a good sort owned by Frank Woolley. Ascot was a 'highly strung' horse who, while a pacer, looked as though he could trot when Butt got him. And so it proved. He could trot very well as long as nothing else came up beside him. And then came the Methven race, September 27, 1952. Ascot started off 36 yards behind, sufficiently far back to avoid a mix-up soon after the tape went up. "We passed that okay and were going forward when Super Claim charged up to us without a driver and started to go round us. I remember thinking to myself 'this is lovely, he'll break my horse up if he comes any closer' so I grabbed him and held him in behind us. Old Ascot kept trotting and we hit the front with a round to go and stayed there. My arm was aching so much when we hit the post I had to let him go. The only reason I held on was to keep him away from my horse. He would have broken for sure." The feat of fine horsemanship was well written up at the time and the Methven Club itself recognised it for what it was with a fine trophy. It was another to add to the many which decorate the Butt home today, momentoes of those good days and some good horses.

So what will Wes Butt do now? Make more use of the tennis court? He has the cups to prove his prowess in that field too. No, Probably not. He will perhaps spend a little more time in the garden. And get his scrap-books and photographs up to date. But really, the horses will remain a seven day-a-week job. No, retirement won't mean much slowing down for Wes Butt. If any.

-o0o-

Article appearing in HRWeekly 15Sep99

The name Butt has flourished since Wes made his start in harness racing more than 60 years ago. After a career as a trainer and driver that few could match and fewer could beat, Wes keenly followed the fortunes of the succeeding Butt generations. Robin, Murray, David, Anthony, Tim and Roddy kept the founding father with continuing interest in racing. News of his daughter Chris's ill health nine months ago took the edge off him, according to his eldest son, Robin. He slipped quickly, and died on Tuesday, aged 83.

He was champion trainer seven times and champion driver twice.

Although he did not win a NZ Cup in 14 attempts, there weren't many other races of note that he failed to account for. He finished third with Wee Win and fifth with Mayneen, who strung together seven successive wins, but he always said his best show was with White Angel. "She struck a wet track the year Mobile Globe won. She was no good in that. She had won three out of three at the Cup meeting the previous year," he recalled.

In more recent times, the trotting triumvirate of Johnny Gee, Tony Bear and Briganelli were his notable colour bearers. They had a field day at the 1970 NZ Cup carnival when open class trots were held on all four days. Johnny Gee won the Dominion Handicap on Show Day. He finished second on the other days to Light View in the Worthy Queen, Inferno in the Free-For-All, and Tony Bear in the Greyhound. Johnny Gee and Tony Bear won 36 races between them.

The first job Wes got was working for trainer Dick Humphreys - no pay for the first six months, then six shillings a week - and his first winner was Walter Wrack at Greymouth in 1936. As a young fellow making his way against some hard heads, Wes developed his own style as a driver. "I would drive on the fence a lot; if you didn't get a go, there was always another day. The boys tell me if they used my style they wouldn't win a race today. We would be embarrassed to sit three wide in my day. I liked to sit and sprint," he said later.

Wes was good at it. He drove 762 winners including his very last drive behind Brow Raiser. He recalled getting lucky that night, hoping onto the back of a horse being driven up three wide by his son Robin, and Brow Raiser brought off a happy ending.

Another moment he cherished was competing in the Wes Butt Trotting Stakes at Addington in 1981 against his sons Robin and Murray and Robin's son David, who was having his first raceday drive.

He recalled jogging a horse from Templeton to the Port Hills, walking it over the Bridal Path, catching the ferry to Wellington, and then jogging the horse to Hutt Park. Wes had the same accommodation as the horse, a bed on the straw in the box next door.

And he would tell the story when times were tough, of racing Margaret Hall and Acropolis in an event at Auckland. Acropolis was the only threat to Margaret Hall, and Wes was driving him. Making his way from the back and chasing Margaret Hall, Acropolis was gradually taken off the track by a rival as he was closing in. The driver apologised to Wes and said he couldn't keep the horse straight. "I sort of believed him," Wes said. "Much later I found out that he had been paid to make sure Acropolis didn't beat Margaret Hall."

His major wins as a included the Louisson Handicap (Golden Oriole), National Handicap (Wee Win, Te Koi), Champion Stakes (Golden Oriole), Wellington Cup (Mayneen, Anarca Direct), New Brighton (Bright Highland), NZ Trotting Stakes (Signal Light, Johnny Gee, Black Miller, Even Speed), Easter Cup (Wee Win), NZ Oaks (For Certain), Sapling Stakes (Golden Oriole, Wildwood Chief, Spry Guy), Great Northern Derby (Golden Oriole), Rowe Cup (Battle Cry, Even Speed), Inter-Dominion heats (Wee Win (three) Van Rebeck, Johnny Gem).

He trained 710 winners, the best of them being Johnny Gee, Tony Bear, Mankind, Jimmy Scott, Stadium chief, Golden Oriole, Partisan, Te Koi, Liberty Bond, Axis, Margaret Hall, Trade Fair, Van Rebeck and Benghazi


Credit: Graham Ingram writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 21Jul81