| PEOPLE |
YEAR: 1979
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In 1908 a young lad watched his father's horse Durbar come home at the head of the NZ Cup Field at Addington. That was Arthur Nicoll's first recollection of a sport that dominated his life until his death in Ashburton last week. Mr Nicoll, in his 80th year, was an influential trotting owner, horseman and breeder and later was to head the NZ Trotting Conference for four years and be awarded an OBE for his services to trotting.
It was hardly surprising Arthur Nicoll pursued this career as his father, H F Nicoll, was one of the greats in the NZ harness world in this time. He initially ran the mighty Durbar Lodge Stud, from which some of the country's top horses hailed, among them Wrackler, Indianapolis and the champion trotter Ordeal. Arthur Nicolls always had a passion for speed. As a teen he would race at the local speedway under an assumed name because his parents did not approve of the sport. His liking for speed was channelled into horses and cars in later life and Arthur Nicoll, it's said, collected more speeding tickets that he cared to remember.
He worked for his father in the early years and bred a few horses which raced in his colours. He did some driving too, but with insufficient success to hit the top. He acquired his first broodmare, Nell Pointer, from his father in 1923 and she left his first winner, Nella Dillon, by Author Dillon. In 1926 he bred Grand Canyon, by Wrack, who he sold as a 2-year-old for 1200gns. In 1928 he bred Tempest who finished a length and a half behind the brilliant pony Silver De Oro in the 1931 Sapling Stakes.
In 1932 he purchased the famed Indianapolis from his father's dispersal sale and under his own colours Indianapolis won his first race at Ashburton and then went on to run second in the Sapling Stakes to Taxpayer. He sold Indianapolis to the late G J Burton, for whom he went on to win three NZ Cups.
In 1932 Arthur Nicoll and his brother Gerald went into partnership and formed Durbar Lodge Ltd. This combination raced with considerable success and among their winners were Wrackler (undoubtedly the country's greatest double gaited racehorse), Raclaim, Arethusa, Ciro, First Wrack, Flying Cloud, Bracken, Vanity Fair, Gerfalcon and others. The partnership was dissolved in 1937, when Arthur took over the operation by himself. In 1938 Arthur Nicoll finished second in the Sapling Stakes with Aldershot, the third time he had filled that position in the prestigious event. Aldershot was another product of Durbar Lodge, being by Wrack out of Trix Pointer. He was therefore a full brother to Wrackler, Raclaim and Arethusa. Aldershot went on to win the NZ Derby for Mr Nicoll but he was sold on the outbreak of war. He sold the Durbar Lodge property itself in 1960.
Arthur Nicoll had a distinguished career as a soldier. He was the commanding officer of the NZEF's Divisional Cavalry in the Middle East and held a Lieutenant Colonel ranking. He was to be awarded a rare Territorial honour, the ED for efficiency, in a long and loyal association with the Army. He later became a life member of the Returned Services Association and was president of that organisation from 1951 to 1955. But it was as an administrator of his favourite sport that most people will remember Arthur Nicoll.
He was first elected to the committee of the Ashburton Trotting Club in 1922 - a position he would hold until he stepped down 53 years later. In 1955 he was voted onto the executive of the NZ Trotting Conference. In the same year he was elected president of the Ashburton Trotting Club when his father passed away. His father had held that position for the previous 49 years. Arthur Nicoll was to be president for the next nine years. In January of 1965 Mr Nicoll was appointed South Island vice president of the NZ Trotting Conference and in May of that year he took over as president on the death of W E Desmond. He held that position until his retirement from the Conference in 1969. During that period Mr Nicoll served on the committee of the Totalisator Agency Board and had two twelve month periods as chairman. During this time TAB concession doubles and betting on overseas races were introduced. He was also prominent on the Inter-Dominion Trotting Council, a series his father helped to introduce.
Mr Nicoll always carried his stopwatch to the races and was renowned for his accuracy in this field. He had a vivid memory of horses and races and apart from those held during the war, had little difficulty in reeling of the winners of the NZ Cup back to 1920. His racing interest apart, Mr Nicoll was a keen amateur photographer, often judging in competitions.
Mr Nicoll, who lived all his life in Ashburton, is survived by his wife Christina and daughter Diana, Mrs Alan Wilks of Wellington.
Credit: Frank Marrion writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 18Sep79
YEAR: 2012
WRACKLER & HARRY NICOLL: CHAMPIONS BOTH
What a combination it was. On our left was Wrackler rated "on all evidence available the world's best double gaited horse" and still the only one to win both the New Zealand Cup pacing and the Dominion Handicap trotting. On the right was his owner Harry Nicoll, arguably the greatest administrator in the history of the harness sport. An autocrat, he was the president of the New Zealand Trotting Conference (HRNZ) for over 25 years and of his Ashburton club for a staggering 48 years. Without Harry Nicholl the Inter-Dominion Championships would never have got off the ground.
An oarsman of international standard in his youth, it was said that Harry had never been to a trotting meeting until 1906 when the Ashburton club invited him to its meeting. It was not quite true. But the club was almost broke and Nicoll, a local business who successfully raced gallopers as "Mr J Case" and ran the local Racing Club was seen as a possible saviour.
Within two years Nicoll had embraced trotting and won the New Zealand Cup with Durbar, a 12-year-old he had bought here from an Australian and who raced on until he was 18. Nicoll was soon the leading owner and leading the code into class racing and handicapping by yards instead of clocks. After being thwarted by politics from heading the NZ Trotting Association he upset the famed Aucklander James Rowe for the chairmanship of the Conference in 1922 and won every election held from then until retiring in 1947.
By 1931 he was an honorary life member of every trotting club in New Zealand, joint president of the NZ Metropolitan club and later Predident of the Australasian Trotting Association. It was his offer to bankroll New Zealand horses going to Perth for the first Inter-Dominion which made the concept feasible. His Ashburton club was offering £3000 for three classic races in the 1920's making it the most successful in Australasia regardless of size.
Nicoll's Durbar Lodge near Ashburton was the leading stable with the renowned Andy Pringle as his private trainer. Nicoll bought from the United States the free-legged pacer, Wrack, by the world's leading sire Peter The Great, and the first genuine Grand Circuit horse to come to this country. He had paced 2.02.4 in Ohio shortly before his arrival - faster than later pacing supersire Hal Dale. Nicoll charged 40 guineas a service, a fee not matched for over 25 years and one Wrack could not sustain. History records he was a great success but for a time he was rejected by breeders until trainers like Bill Tomkinson, Don Warren and Roy Berry realised they did not handle high speed work and the tide was turned.
Nicoll was no sentimentalist. He sold up a lot of his horses during the Depression including Wrackler, and filly freak Arethusa, both retained by his son, Arthur. He sold his boom youngster, Indianapolis, Wrack's greatest son, knowing what he might become. In 1938 after the stallion had served 72 mares Nicoll sold Wrack to Tasmania. He died in Sydney in virtual exile the following year. It was a finale which did not sit well with many sportsmen here.
Nicoll was also controversial when Maurice Holmes, having knocked down half the field in the New Zealand Derby driving Nicoll's Arethusa, was given a suspension which ended the day before he was to drive her in the Northern Derby. "The judicial decision" raged the Truth newspaper, "could not have been more ridiculous had it decreed that in future Holmes was allowed to carry a sawn off shotgun to assist him bringing down what he desired."
Wrackler was all American-bred and his dam Trix Pointer the only Cup winning mare to leave a Cup winner. He was the champion 3-year-old and at four won the New Zealand Trotting Gold Cup in Wellington, a unique achievement for one that age. Wrackler was prepared by Don Warren to win the 1930 NZ Cup easily. It was a vintage pacing era so the Cup was run in divisions and Wrack horses thrived on hard racing. The day produced an amazing double because the Derby was the same day and won by Wrackler's sister, Arethusa, also driven by Maurice Holmes. Both horses wre typical Wracks - plain as pikestaffs, lean as whippets but with great stamina.
Warren was an expert and popular horseman with heart and personal problems. In August 1931 he was demoted by Nicoll as the Durbar Lodge trainer in favour of his assistant Jackie Behrns. A few weeks later Warren made a cup of tea for his wife and Behrns, chatted for a while and then went behind the barn and blew his head off with a shotgun. His health and demotion had devastared him. He was only 43.
At a War Relief meeting at Addington in July 1932 Behrns, having persuaded Arthur Nicoll who now owned him to try Wrackler as a trotter, won a feature at Addington at 8/8 in the betting which qualified him for the Dominion Handicap which he won four months later. At Addington about the same time he finished second in the big trot and in the very next race took on the "cream of the Dominion's pacers" in a high class race. His mixing of gaits could confuse him. In the 1934 Dominion he slid into a pace and lost his chance.
Wrackler was retired in 1935 but later returned to racing under Lester Maidens and won top trotting races at Addington as a 10-year-old. He lived a long and contented retirement carrying children to school on his back daily for many years before dying at the age of 27 in 1951.
It is virtually impossible his feat can be repeated in the modern era. Nor will any of Nicoll's successors be permitted to hold office for a quarter of a century. Wrackler and Harry Nicoll certainly like setting records.
Credit: David McCarthy writing in HRWeekly 8Aug2012