| PEOPLE |
YEAR: 1981
 |
| Jack Grant & Diarac parade at Addington |
Show Day at Addington 1939...Jack Grant recalls it vividly. "I peeped over the fence and saw a wee cream horse. I suppose I took an interest in horses from that day." The horse was Icevus and he'd just won the free-for-all. But for Jack Grant, the side-shows on his side of the fence were more interesting at the time.
However, that 'wee cream horse' must have started something. About a year later, the same lad stuck his head through one of the local horse trainer's fences. Someone passed him a broom and told him to start cleaning. "I got a shilling that day and I've had a broom in my hand since," Grant, now 50, said last week. It was hard for a young man in the racing game in those days, but Grant 'stuck with it'. It wasn't too long before he was working with men like Bob Young and Maurice McTigue and horses like Aerial Scott, Victory Globe, Plunder Bar and Tactician.
In the 50s he started working for Derek Jones and through the sixties they formed one of the best training partnerships in the country. They parted company after 22 years in 1973 after 'never having a real argument' in all that time. Marriage and a nice, small property down the road from Jones was the inducment to leave. Breaking in and gaiting horses have been his living since. It wasn't bad going right from the start. Such was his reputation that a lot of Canterbury trainers were quick to make use of his services. "Jack Smolenski was especially good. He sent a lot of horses to me, horses like Columnist, Gina Marie, Lord Fernando." But just recently Grant returned to the training fray.
Chancalot's win at the recent Rangiora meeting saw him once again figure as a winning trainer. It had been eight years since he last saw his colours first past the post. The 14 odd horses around the Grant stables these days are a far cry from those he's been used to. Through the fifties and sixties he was associated, in one way or another, with just about every top horse in the country. The Grant story is a long one and full of good horses.
Born in Christchurch and raised near Addington, the headquarters of NZ trotting in those early years, it is not surprising that Grant took an interest in horses. So many top horses and horsemen were 'just down the road'. But it was far from easy for a young man just starting out. After all those menial little tasks around the stables, "it was a privilege to do fast work." But those early years gave him a solid grounding and it stood to him.
Grant first worked for Jim Young, learning to ride horses before heading off to school. There were about 18 yards waiting to be cleaned when he got home. "There were so many professionals in those days. It was so hard for a young fellow to get a go on raceday," Grant recalled. After the war Grant found himself in the stable of Bob Young and sitting behind horses like Auckland Cup winner Victory Globe and top class trotters like Aerial Scott and Gay Belwin. He then worked for Maurice McTigue, handling 'a lot of good horses," including Tactician. Maurice was a very astute horseman. I learned a lot off him. We used to do a lot of travelling in those days, quite often taking teams to Auckland," said Grant.
It was in those early years he achieved what he considers his first milestone. Driving Trueco at Forbury Park, Grant was suspended after guiding him to win by the length of the straight. I was the first probationer to be put out, you know. I only pushed a horse out, but they didn't see it quite the same way," he said.
A friendship with a youthful Derek Jones - "we'd both done a bit of boxing" - had begun by then and in the early fifties Grant started work with the Templeton horseman. It was a highly successful association. In 1965 the pair went into partnership. During the sixties Jones and Grant prepared numerous winners and they headed the trainers' premiership in the 1965-66 and 1969-70 seasons. "We took about nine horses through to Cup class," Grant recalled. He reeled them off easily - Trueco, Smokeaway, Doctor Dan, Disband, Lochgair, Snowline, Leading Light, Diarac and Boy Louw. There were also the fine trotters Our Own and Light View. Diarac, who won the last race at the Amberley track before it closed down, was one of Grant's own horses. He also won the first race on Timaru's clay track with Kimbell Duke.
If you ask Jack Grant about the best horse he ever sat behind, he'll probably say Cardigan Bay. "I paraded him at Chertsey one day. Even had his colours on." If you ask him about the best horse he's ever seen, he'll probably say Cardigan Bay again, or perhaps Highland Fling. "They were freaks." But the whole games different now. "Horses lasted longer in the old days. The public got to know them and they idolised them," said Grant who has seen every NZ Cup since 1944. "Every horse has his day and nothing's going to beat them on that day. I haven't seen a horse who could have beaten Lord Module the day he won his Cup."
Grant's seen a lot of good horsemen in his time as well. "There were no better trainer-drivers than men like Jack Pringle and Ces Donald. They were real professionals. Derek's a good horseman for that matter. He has a nice easy way of working horses and gets on with any type." And then he remembered another prominent horseman who had given him some advice he had never forgotten: "Always take time to talk to people around you when you are going up - that way you'll have someone to talk to in those times you're going down again."
The big stables and the travelling are all behind Grant now. Breaking in and gaiting and playing around with his own horses on his 11 acre property in Prebbleton is enough. He is breeding from the Hi Lo's Forbes mare Hi Madam, a half sister to the useful Crow Bar, and has a 2-year-old filly by Armbro Del out of her. A yearling by Honest Master from her is another going through his paces at present. Most of the others in the team are just being broken in. Chancalot is the only one sporting his colours on the track these days. "He has been a bit of a handful and he still has a bit to learn," said Grant of the Armbro Hurricane 5-year-old.
The horse is going to have to be a bit more than just a handful to get the better of him and his experience though. Jack Grant is still one of the most respected men in his business.
-o0o-
Article by Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 10Mar04
Jack Grant, who died last week at the age of 73, formed a successful training partnership at Templeton with Derek Jones. They headed the trainers' premiership twice - in 1965/66 with 37 wins and in 1969/70 with 38 wins.
Grant's best horse was Diarac, a rangy son of Morano and Concerto who won 12 races over four seasons, though he was sparingly raced. Grant drove him often, and won the Ashburton Flying Stakes from Selwyn Hanover and Stella Frost and four other races. Jones drove him to beat Meadow Bank and Holy Hal in the Hannon Memorial, and handled him when he beat Curragh Dan and Seafield Countess when he was on the verge of Cup class. Doug Watts drove him in his one NZ Cup start. Grant also won four races with Kimbell Duke, a nuggety son of Hancove bred by Jack McDonald, and drove Ardleigh to win a 2:14 trot at Alexandra Park.
In recent years, he trained on a small scale at Prebbleton, winning races with Besse Scott, Sheer Distinction - his latest winner - and OK Skippi, and he bred regularly from the Hi Lo's Forbes mare Hi Madam, who was a half-sister to the partnership's big winner, Crow Bar.
Grant's love for horses and racing began when he was at Addington Primary School. It meant an early start for he 7-year-old, cooling out Jim 'Pop' Young's horses before school started, and helping feed-up on the way home. He stayed with Young until they had a row. His great friend Maurice Flaws recalls that Grant was sacked after he broke a yard broom over 'Pop's' head. "What happened," said Maurice, "was that Jack was sitting down doing up a wheel. Kevin Murray, who was also working there, was poking the borax at Jack, and then Kevin threw a punch. Jack lifted a wheel and Kevin put his fist though the spokes, hurt his hand, and then ran off to tell 'Pop'. Somehow Jack hit him on the head. He got sacked over that."
Jim's son Bob, a legendary horseman, was sad to see him go. "Bob always insisted that Jack went away with the horses on the long trips," recalled Maurice. "He cared for horses like Aerial Scott, Victory Globe, Single Task and Gay Belwin, and you knew he would be totally dedicated to them. He was also strapper for Croughton when he won the NZ Derby," he said.
His other passion at this age was boxing, and he was good at it. Jones says he had 80 fights and fought the best of them in the light and welter-weight divisions, and was runner-up in a bout for a NZ title. "He won Canterbury titles," said Maurice. "He was not quite tall enough, but won when he could get in close. Wally Ireland said he could never recall Jack taking a step backwards, and that was Jack in life - he took everthing on the chin."
From Young's, Grant went to work for Maurice McTigue, when the team included Tactician, Ghenghis Khan and Kubla Khan. They had a great association, and in later years Grant trained a horse for McTigue, obviously forgiven when told to leave after throwing one of the McTigue kids into the family swimmimng pool. Grant then joined Derek Jones, and later became a training partner. "He was with me for twenty-two years and was a good servant. He helped make horses like Disband, Powerful Light, Smokeaway and Doctor Dan," he said.
Erin Crawford, a member of the HRNZ Executive, considers Grant gave him a thorough grounding in the industry during his time working for the partners. "He was very dedicated, and he was a traditionalist. He loved talking about history and the old timers. Old 'Donald' did this and old 'so and so' did that. He never took a day off, and he was mad keen on rugby and gangsters and he enjoyed a big fat cigar. The wild west was another favourite, and a Colt 45 hung on a wall in his home."
From the money he got selling Diarac, Grant purchased a property in Prebbleton, and later on trained a small team, and with Andy Tilson did some breaking in and gaiting. His last horse was Sheer Distinction, who won a race on the first day at Waterlea in January, and followed that up by running a shocker on the second. "I know what was wrong with him," he told Maurice..."they expected too much of him."
"That was the knowledge the man had," said Maurice.
Grant was given a private funeral at his home last week.
Credit: Frank Marrion writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 9June81