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NANCY EDWARDS

Nancy Edwards, who died in Auckland earlier this month aged 91, was a daughter of a great handler of trotters at the turn of the century, Bert Edwards.

The outstanding horseman of his era, Bert won races at the inaugural trotting meetings at Lancaster Park in Christchurch and Potter's Paddock (now Alexandra Park) in Auckland. He owned the first horse in New Zealand to get within American standard time of 2:30 for the mile - Yum Yum, who won by 15 lengths pulling up in 2:27½ at the Canterbury Park Trotting Club's meeting of May 24, 1894.

He owned the first pneumatic-tyred sulky produced in New Zealand, lowered NZ trotting records on five occasions, and held trainer's, driver's and rider's licences from the time they were first issued to the time of his death with a completely clean sheet.

In a stint of several years in Auckland in the early 1890s, Bert and his brother Manny made their mark in no uncertain terms, and, on returning to Canterbury, Bert capped his brilliant career winning the first NZ Cup at Addington in 1904 with the 14-year-old straightout trotter Monte Carlo.

Manny, who also enjoyed a very successful career as a trotting horseman, became the father of two fine harness exponents in Dil and Stan Edwards, while Stan's son Murray also became a proficient trainer-driver.

Nancy Edwards and her sister Marjorie made their mark in thoroughbred breeding, establishing in Otahuhu the plush "Mardella Stud," where they successfully stood such noted sires as Vaals, Dink, Treasure Hunt and Probation. The Edwards sisters all but became involved in standardbred breeding, changing their minds when they had the Italian-bred stallion Medoro on the water and selling him for 7000 guineas to their neighbour Noel Simpson.

Noel made the purchase as his first move in transforming his "Yendarra" property from a cattle farm to a standardbred breeding operation. Medoro became an immediate success as a sire of pacers and trotters in New Zealand, giving Simpson a fine start on his way to becoming Australasia's outstanding standardbred breeder.

Credit: Ron Bisman writing in HRWeekly 25Jan89