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DOUG MANGOS

One of the many pleasures of working within the trotting industry is meeting people. Such a meeting was that with dapper Doug Mangos. A proper little gentleman, Mangos is in the top flight of NZ reinsmen, and his services are now keenly in demand. Short and stocky with an affable character and a dry sense of humour, Mangos has worked at Roydon Lodge Stud since he left school some 18 years ago.

An ex-West Coaster, he was born in Reefton and came to live in Christchurch with his parents when aged 14. He spent a year at the Christchurch Technical College and then terminated his education to join the Roydon Lodge staff under the watchful eye of private trainer to Mr R A McKenzie, George Noble. It was in 1952 when he started work at 5am in the morning as a stablehand, and shortly after marrying a Christchurch girl in 1957, he received his probationary driver's licence.

His first win came behind the top class Highland Air at Forbury Park in the Winter Handicap. It was important in more ways than one because the second horse, La Mignon, was driven by 'the boss,' George Noble. With six wins the next season his career was taking shape, and he displayed the potential necessary to reach the top of his profession. But it was going to take time. his winning share in the next four seasons was not great and with seasonal winning totals of six, six, five, three, four and four progress appeared slow.

In the 1964-65 season he drove 10 winners, and then when George Noble retired from driving the next season on reaching the compulsory age limit of 65, Mangos came into his own with 21 successes. That was the turning point and from that stage on he has not looked back. The next season brought in 18 winners followed in the 1967-68 season by a record 22, which put him in ninth place in the drivers' premiership. Last season when fellow stable horseman John Noble scored well, Mangos's total dropped to 11.

However he is making amends this season and so far has reined 11 winners, including two in a row at the recent Canterbury Park meeting where he won with Robin Rose and Valencia. This pushed his total winning drives to 122. "Arania was a terrific horse for speed," he replied when I asked him the name of the best horses he had driven in his career. He added that he won a lot of races with her, but remarked that Jay Ar "was the best horse I got results with." Others to hold special memories for him were Danny's Pal and Julie Hanover. His greatest thrill came when he drove La Mignon to victory in the Louisson Handicap at the NZMTC's national meeting at Addington in 1958. Trainer George Noble was in America at the time, and the team was under the management of R H Bonnington. That day he defeated Invicta(R Morris), Light Nurse(C R Berkett) and Auditor(F E Newfield).

A proud possession in the Mangos home is the trophy he won by scoring the highest number of points in the drivers' championship at the Auckland Inter-Dominions two years ago. At the conclusion of the racing on the final night, Kevin Newman, Peter Wolfenden and Mangos all totalled the same number of points. So they decided to toss coins to see who would take the expnsive tea set. Reg Lewis, president of the Auckland Trotting Club loaned them a coin each, and on the first toss all three turned up heads. On the play-offs all three coins turned up tails, and it was not until the third flick that Mangos threw up an odd face. This meeting was the most successful one away from home recalled Mangos. With George Noble, he took seven horses north and all of them won races. Mangos has played no small part in the success of the Roydon Lodge Stud racing team. He has now taken out a trainers' licence in the absence of Noble in Australia and he will be in charge of the team until the end of June.

Mangos, a family man with three children, is a credit to the trotting industry. He has many good years ahead of him, and if and when he decides to branch out on his own accord, there will be no dearth of people anxious to assist him to become established. Meatime he will remain in his present capacity at Roydon Lodge Stud where over the years he has proved a tradesman of the highest order. Trotting would be well served by more persons of the calibre of Doug Mangos.

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 25Feb70

DOUG MANGOS

Doug Mangos, who started life in Buller, became a prominent figure in Canterbury and New Zealand harness racing over many years, chiefly through his long association with the famous George Noble stable at Roydon Lodge, Yaldhurst. He talks to David McCarthy.

I suppose with a name like yours you must have spent some time in Lyell. That is where the Mangos name came from?
I was there until I was seven. There are actually about three main branches of the Mangos family in the country, one of them from Timaru and they are distant relations. My parents were storekeepers and moved to Inangahua when I was just a youngster.

Where did the horses start?
There was a fellow at Inanguhua, Plugger(W E) Taylor who had the butcher's shop and had a few horses. I remember Battle Flight was one. I used to do a bit with them, lead them into the birdcage and that sort of stuff. The local publican bought a horse called Elation for one and sixpence about that time and won four races with it. I was 14 when I came over to Christchurch. I wasn't doing a lot at school - I didn't go often enough for that - and in the end they thought I was better off out of it. I went to Roydon Lodge soon after that. (Wife) Eileen had a brother working there and he got me a job.

You stayed a long time?
Nearly 35 years. It was actually the only job I ever had, working for George Noble. I loved every day of it. Wouldn't swap a day.

But you must have thought of going out on your own for bigger rewards?
No, I didn't, at least not seriously. With the travelling we did to Auckland I looked at those trips as three paid holidays a year for a start. No, I was quite happy and George was such a great horseman and boss you never got tired of learning from listening to him. He liked good listeners and I think he thought I was one.

You seem to have finished up all right anyway?
After I left Noble's I used to race a few, usually of my own, and look to sell them. We've done alright over the years. One of the first was a nice trotter called Isa Rangi which we raced with Bill Prendeville. She was pretty good. We beat Ilsa Voss twice. Anyway we agreed her price was $15,000. Then Les Purdon rang up and wanted to buy her. I was a bit cheeky, because I knew Les well, and reckoned we couldn't sell under $25,000. "I don't know about that but I could do $20,000," Les said. Anyway we got the 25 which was a big bonus. We bought this house with what we got from Isa Rangi. It won a few in America.

Was it hard work at Roydon Lodge?
We started at 6 o'clock and got £3 a week. There were 15 horses in full work then but it wasn't as simple as that. The boss used to double heat them all the time so actually it was just like working 30.

Double heat. What was that?
We would work them, not fast, over 2000m, bring them back, take the carts off and rub them down, then later on go out and work another heat brushing home the last bit. It made for a long day.

Was it long before you got a raceday drive?
A couple or three years I suppose. It was good to get a drive. Every one was a week's wages so the competition was keen. I drove Highland Air to win at Forbury Park when he qualified for the New Zealand Cup. I had run a second in a probationary race with Wha' Hae. But my first drive at Addington was on Royal Minstrel which had dead-heated in the New Zealand Derby (with Single Medoro in 1954). He all but fell going into the back straight. It wasn't a great start but we made up for it over the years.

You must have been a very young bloke then when you had your first New Zealand Cup drive?
Yes, on La Mignon the year Lookaway won (1957). She ran third. I think the first three were all by Light Brigade. The boss drove Highland Air (it was the first year of Cup runners for Roy McKenzie after his father's death). There was quite a go after the race.

What can you tell?
We got a nice run and got home well. I was quite pleased with myself. The next thing the chief stipe, Fred Beer, was calling me into the room and there was talk about us being put out.

What was that about?
They reckoned I had checked Roy Butterick on Roy Grattan and Beer gave me a speech. He said to me,"This is a very good race with a big stake that people spend a long time getting ready for. Every horse should have an equal chance of winning this race. I don't think you gave Mr Butterick an equal chance."

How did you get out of that?
I just said,"Well, I don't think Mr Butterick has done too badly out of it". Beer, an arrogant bloke, said pretty sharply,"What do you mean by that Mangos?" So I told him.

Which was?
Soon after the start General Sandy shot away to the front and Lookaway, which could be tricky at the start - Maurice Holmes could be a genius at getting them away - came up but Bob Young on General Sandy wasn't giving it away. Roy Butterick was in the trail and I heard Maurice call to him, "There's £500 for you to pull back". Butterick did and Lookaway got the run of the race. They just walked around and sprinted home and you couldn't have beaten him. The Cup was worth £7500 but £500 was a good payday in those days. I said that nobody was doing anything about that, while I didn't even know what I was supposed to have done.

What did Beer say to that?
"You can go now, Mangos," was all he said.

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The Press 23Jan10

Roydon Lodge had some great horses over the years and you got the chance to drive a lot of them. Which ones do you remember most?
We had some terrific seasons, but we had some bad ones, too. I remember one season we only won one race with 15 horses, which was right out of character. It is hard to remember all the good ones. Sounds silly, but there were a lot of them. Roydon Roux was one I had a bit of luck with in Australia.

Roydon Roux? She was a champion young horse which had a sad end.
I think she won seven as a two-year-old and, at three, she won the Great Northern Derby for me, beating Bachelor Star and Van Glory. It was then that we took her to Autralia. She was out of La Mignon and so was Garcon Roux.

What happened there?
She won the Wraith Memorial Series, which was a big go then in Sydney. She was hot favourite in a leadup, but knuckled over at the start and I had to drive her back. She ran second. When the final came around, the winner of the leadup had drawn in and was the favourite. Before the race, I was taken into the stipes' room. They wanted to know how I was going to drive her.

And?
"The best I can." I said, but they wanteed to know more than that, so I said I would try to get to the lead and, if I couldn't, I would sit outside the leader and I'd beat him anyway. They seemed happy with that. I sat her out and she just bolted in and broke a record. I wasn't too popular on the lap of honour. A few empty cans came my way and they booed. Funny thing was that though she had won all those races, they dodn't count for handicapping and she wasn't actually eligible to run at Harold Park in the classes.

The news was not so good after that?
She broke a pastern bone; just shattered it, running around that little showgrounds track in Melbourne. She couldn't be saved.

Garcon Roux had a big reputation?
The old boss (Noble)thought he was one of the very best. I drove him in a time trial at Bankstown in Sydney and there was a bit of drama. When we started off, there was some bloke crouched under the inside rail taking a photo and the horse balked. He went his furlong(200m) in 16 seconds and ran the mile in 2:01.2. That was some performance.

Jay Ar was one of your favourites, I suppose?
He won a trial at Ashburton one day and even the old boss was amazed at the time. "He couldn't have done that," he kept saying. I can't remember now just what the time was, because the trial was over six furlongs(1200m), which was very unusual, even then. Whatever it was, it was a record.

He dead-heated in an InterDominion Final, of course.
I didn't drive him in that series - the boss did - but I won a lot of races with him, especially in Auckland. He just got beaten in the Auckland Cup by Lordship just before the Interdominion. He was a bit of a nervy horse whe he got out on the track...he wasn't quite as good from a stand because of that. But, gee, he was good. He was in a 3200m free-for-all one day and Garcon D'or had drawn out and we had drawn in. The boss said to me,"You might as well lead till the other one comes around." Jar Ar was off and gone. We haven't seen the other horse yet.

Wasn't there a story over his low heart score?
Taking heart scores had just come in here and a few were very keen on them. The experts seemed to think a horse had to have a high heart score to produce top runs in the best company and Jay Ar was a bit below average. But there's a few stories about those early scores.

Such as?
A lot of the top trainers were sceptical of them. The boss was one of them. Allen McKay came down from Wellington and did the heart scores over quite a few years. When he first came, we were under instructions not to identify the horses, and we mixed them up a bit in the queue. One horse came out at 123 and they were all excited about it. The next time he came, he kept asking when Jay Ar was coming, and when we told him, he couldn't believe his read, which was about 100 then. I think he thought he was the 123 one, originally. Jay Ar won about $100,000 and the horse which was 123 won a small race somewhere in the Central Districts. It was all quite experimental here then and scores could vary a lot. This one showed that judging a horse just on its heart score was a ticket to trouble.

Samantha was another good one you drove?
Yes, I won a Wellington Cup with her - she won two of them - and beat Lordship just. I learnt a big lesson from George over that.

Which was?
Well, I won the race and when I got home everyone was very happy and the boss congratulated me on my drive. A couple of days later, though, I got a call to go up to the house. When I got there, George, who had a special way of telling you things, started talking about the Wellington Cup and how Samantha was the best-gaited horse in the race. It was just as well, he said, otherwise she wouldn't have beaten Lordship.

What was that about?
Well, there was no video or anything in those days. But during the week, in the paper, they published a photo of the finish. I had my left hand high in the air holding the reins and I was weilding the whip with the other one. George wasn't impressed. He didn't think he could go on putting me on top horses if I was going to throw everything at them like that. I knew without him actually saying it that I was getting a good dressing down. I never forgot it. There was no more of that.

You didn't do so much driving later on, but it wasn't because of things like that?
The main reason was that John(George Noble's son) decided to work full time with the horses. In those earlier years, John was a mechanic in town and wasn't able to drive them much of the time. When he came into it, naturally, I was going to miss out, but it didn't persuade me to leave. I was quite happy.

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The Press 6Feb2010

General Frost was a brilliant young horse you drove?
Gee, he was good. He won the first Juvenile Championship in Auckland. It was a great effort because he was hopeless right-handed. We had a problem about what to do going into the race.

What did you do?
The old boss (George Noble) gave me unusual instructions. He said not to drive the horse around final bends no matter where he was. He wanted me to just let him find his own way; that even if he lost a lot of ground he would still be too good. Well, he lost a good bit of ground on the bends all right but he picked them up and dropped them in the straight. Won easy. He had incredible speed, General Frost. It was a shame he went in the wind. They couldn't do anything about it.

You had a lot of big moments at Alexandra Park?
I won my biggest trophy there - the one I value the most. it is the only one I have really kept. I was the leading driver at the 1968 Interdominion Championship at Auckland. I actually tied with Peter Wolfenden and Kevin Newnam(Sydney) so I was in pretty good company. They decided there would be a toss and George stood in for me. I reckoned I had always had a bit of luck with the toss and George did the right thing. It was an odd man out toss. The first two came up heads all round and then one head and two tails. It was quite an honour when you consider the opposition.

Julie Hanover. I think Andrew Cunningham and their wives raced her. Did you handle her much?
I should have won an Auckland Cup with her. A really top mare. She was usually foolproof but that night she missed away. She ran fourth to Allakasam. John (Noble) usually drove he but he was on a holiday. However, I still blamed myself. It was a terrific effort. She raced for Martin Tannenbaum who organised all the international races at Yonkers at the time when she went up to America. She raced well there and left some good stock. Vista Abbey was another one and I won with Arania (New Zealand's first mare to beat two minutes in a race) off 36 yards up in Auckland on day. She was phenomenal when she was right.

You drove quite a few outside horses at that time too. I hadn't realised you handled Holy Hal. He had been a terrific young horse?
He was older when I first came across him. They had brought him up from Southland for the Auckland Cup. They said he could break down at any time and Kenny Balloch wanted to come up and drive him in the cup so,"Would I be happy to drive him in the lead-ups under those conditions?" I knew he was a smart horse and leapt at the chance. They were hard-case blokes those Southlanders.

How?
They came to me after we'd done the final feeds one night and asked if I minded giving him an extra feed before I left. I said,"why, you have given him his tea? Yes, they said but they wanted to give him a bit of his breakfast in case they were late in the morning! I think they were going out for a big night. Anyway, the horse dodn't mind.

He had had problems as I remember it. What was his form like then?
Sensational. He was a moral beaten in the Auckland Cup. I couldn't believe it. He won both nights I drove him and I thought he was a good thing in the cup.

What happened?
They had reintroduced lap times. Every time they came round Holy Hal was not just in front but well clear. He was six lengths in front one round. He still ran third. I could have cried.

Did you get another chance with him?
Yes, and we proved a point. We had a chat about the Cambridge Flying Mile and I was to drive him in that. They didn't like it when he drew out but I told them he would still win. Sure enough, outside draw and all, he bolted in. Many people never realised how good Haly Hal was.

Did your success at Alexandra Park bring many extra drives?
Yes, quite a few. One of the more unusual was Merv Dean whose wife, Audrey, owned Cardigan Bay. Merv ran a billiard saloon. He was a big guy and y the standards of those days a huge punter but a really top bloke with it. He started flying me up to Auckland just to drive one horse and it was a lucrative operation for a while there. One time I drove down here during the day and caught the plane to Auckland to drive one for him. Merv met me at the airport and gave me five hundred and he had the colours for me to put on on the way. The horse won. It was Great Return which won a few down here. He gave me another five hundred after that and paid all the expenses. We had a great strike rate for a while there.

You probably liked a bet youself. Any huge collects?
I learned after a while it was quite hard. A lot of people have learned that. I did put 100 each way on La Mignan as a four year old. She had been working so well and she won. I remember going to Forbury one night with Ohio which George trained. It was pouring early in the night and Jimmy Walsh had a horse in earlier in the nightthat we knew loved it like that and it won. The rain stopped and the track improved so it wouldn't bother Ohio with his problem, and he won.

Ohio. He was a top horse?
He would had been but he was tubed. Horses that couldn't breathe properly then, they opened up a breathing passage through the chest - they called it tubing - and put a stopper in it which they took out for the race. It was not uncommon then though I think he might have been one of the last allowed to race. The trouble was you had to be very careful on the wet grit and sand tracks because of the danger of the tube getting blocked and the poor buggers would run out of breath. The boss tried ever sort of gauze over the tube to make sure it was kept clear but we weren't going to risk any tragedies and he had to be retired because of it.

Credit: David McCarthy writing in The Press 16Jan2010

DOUG MANGOS

Doug Mangos, who drove major winners in the 1960s and 70s, died in Christchurch on Friday (6 Jan)at the age of 76.

Constantine Ronald Douglas Mangos (licenced as D R Mangos) was employed at Roydon Lodge, Yaldhurst for some 35 years. The establishment was operated by Sir John and later Sir Roy McKenzie with George Noble the trainer during the time Mangos was there.

Mangos was licenced to drive at trials in 1954 and he was granted a probationary drivers licence two years later. He was an open horseman from the 1957-58 season when he drove Highland Air to win the Winter Handicap at Forbury Park. He drove La Mignon to win the main race, the C F Mark Memorial Handicap and the Farewell Handicap on the second night of the Auckland winter meeting in 1958.

La Mignon became the dam of Roydon Roux, whom Mangos drove in her seven wins, including the NZ Golden Slipper Stakes at Waimate, Princess Stakes in Auckland and the NZ Futurity Stakes at Rotorua, at two. She won the 1971 Great Northern Derby and the Wraith Memorial in Sydney the following season. She had to be destroyed after she shattered a pastern in Melbourne in March of her 3-year-old season.

Mangos drove Scottish Laddie to win the 1963 Great Northern Derby. Scottish Laddie was trained at Trentham by Jack Hunter for Roy McKenzie. Mangos drove General Frost to win the inaugural NZ Juvenile Championship in Auckland in 1968. The Noble-trained General Frost also won the Golden Slipper Stakes and the NZ Futurity Stakes at Rotorua with Mangos in the sulky. Mangos drove Vista Abbey to win a heat of the Inter-Dominion in Auckland in 1968.

Mangos was granted a professional training licence in 1969 to prepare the Roydon Lodge horses in the absence of Noble. He drove Jay Ar in three wins in top company, the season after the gelding had dead-heated for first with Robin Dundee in the Inter-Dominion Final at Forbury Park in 1965 with Noble in the sulky.

Brent Mangos, a son of Doug, is the Pukekohe trainer of Bettor Cover Lover, who made a notable retun to racing to win the Group 1 Queen Of Hearts at Alexandra Park on December 16 after a life-threatening injury to a foot eight months earlier.

Doug Mangos had his last driving win with Initial Thought at Addington in July, 2004. He trained Talaspring to win at a Franklin meeting in March, 2010.

Credit: HRWeekly 11Jan2012

DOUG MANGOS

Doug Mangos, who died in Christchurch recently aged 76 had the unusual distinction of being widely known harness horseman in Canterbury over a long period without ever operating a professional stable of his own.

He was an employee for 35 years of the famous Roydon Lodge establishment at Yaldhurst presided over by George Noble and, later, with his son, John, on behalf first of Sir John McKenzie, then his son Sir Roy, and finally Wayne Francis. Mangos did manage Roydon Lodge for a period in 1969 while George Noble was in the United States but his public profile was as a race driver.

"It was really the only job I ever had and I wouldn't have swapped one day of it," he recalled in retirement. "My wife Eileen and I had a family to bring up and it was too great a risk financially to set up our own stable."

Born in Lyell, he was christened in honour of his grandfather, Constantin, a gold assayer in the area where the Mangos family were prominent. He preferred his third given name, Douglas. The son of Lyell storekeepers who moved to Inangahua in the 1940s, he helped a local trainer "Plugger" Taylor after school, before shifting to Christchurch in 1950. He found a junior position at Roydon Lodge largely thanks to the brother of his future wife, Eileen. "We were paid three pounds a week and we had 15 horses in work but it wasn't what it seemed. The boss [Noble] used to work each horse twice and ungear and wash them down after each heat so it was like having a team of 30."

Mangos, a talented sportsman in his younger days, had his first winning drive behind Highland Air in Dunedin in the mid 1950s. "You had to wait your turn then. Young drivers didn't get much of a go. The driving fee was equal to a week's wages so it was a thrill to get one."

Roydon Lodge was the leading stable in the country in that era, noted for its brilliant younger horses. Noble, an Australian, took a shine to his young employee giving him greater driving opportunities than was normal for senior professionals at the time. "The boss was a qualified architect and applied his education to training like few others. He loved talking about horses and appreciated good listeners. I was a good listener and I never stopped learning." Mangos recalled.

He found out how thorough Noble was after he had beaten the champion Lordship in a Wellington Cup with Samantha in the early 1960s. Showered with congratulations at the time, the young driver was summoned to the Noble residence a few days later for a chat, which he gradually realised was actually a severe dressing down. "There were no videos then but the boss had seen a photo of the finish somewhere published a few days after the race, which showed me holding the reins in one hand ans weilding the whip in the other. He quietly said he couldn't be giving drives on good horses to people who did that. I never did it again."

Mangos had his first New Zealand Cup drive for the stable in 1957, aged just 22, behind the Roydon Lodge mare, La Mignon, which finished third, and he later won major races behind her two best foals - the ill-fated Roydon Roux, a filly Noble rated as the best he trained but which had to be destroyed after it fractured a pastern in Melbourne at the height of its career; and Garcon Roux, the first New Zealand three-year-old to beat the then hallowed mark of two minutes for a mile.

Jay Ar, a later Inter-Dominion champion, General Frost, Julie Hanover and Garcon Dór were just some of the headline horses Mangos drove for Roydon Lodge, while Holy Hal, Sapling, Rain Again, Master Alan, Danny's Pal and Garry Logan were top outside horses he was associated with. "I won a New Brighton Cup with Garry Logan when it was on the old grass track there. He was part of a four-horse bracket Felix Newfield had in the race. Felix was away and Maurice Holmes was on the best of them, Great Credit. Doug Watts, a terrific horseman, was driving another one, Guinness, and said to me at the start at least he had not been engaged for the worst one. Garry Logan shot straight to the front and was never headed." Mangos recalled.

Doug Mangos enjoyed a rewarding period as a freelance driver in Auckland in later years and then trained a few horses at a time in Canterbury on his own account, chiefly for sale overseas. Isa Rangi and his last winner, Talaspring, were among the best known.

Combined with his acknowledged skills with horses and his loyalty to family and employers it made Mangos a widely popular figure in the racing fraternity.

Credit: David McCarthy writing in the Press