| HORSES |
YEAR: 1961
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The death was reported recently of champion pacer Rupee who, in a racing career extending over six seasons, had 24 starts for 14 wins, five seconds, two thirds and one fourth for £14,880 in stakes. He was undefeated in his first nine starts.
A bay horse by a NZ Derby Stakes winner in Gold Chief from the Jack Potts mare, Canister, Rupee was bred by his owner, J Grice, who trained him throughout his career. He was driven in practically all of his races by D Townley.
Rupee first drew attention to his ability when he won the Timaru Nursery Stakes at his first race start from Tatsy Hall and Van Dyke. He had only two more starts that term, winning the NZ Welcome Stakes and the NZ Sapling Stakes.
As a 3-year-old the following season he won the NZ Derby Stakes, the NZ Champion Stakes and the NZ Futurity Stakes. They were his only appearances that term. Rupee chalked up three more wins as a 4-year-old before he met his first defeat which came in the Autumn Stakes at the Addington Easter meeting when he was narrowly beaten by Excelsa.
Throughout his career Rupee set a main for winning first up after being away from racing for several weeks. His first start as a 5-year-old was in the Louisson Handicap in August at Addington, a race he won comfortably by a length and a half. At the same meeting in the National Handicap, Rupee was beaten into third place. Denbry won from Our Roger.
Rupee did not appear again until he took his place in the field for the memorable NZ Cup on 1954. He was installed favourite over Johnny Globe who won in the world record time of 4.07 3/5. Young Charles was second and Rupee third. On the third day of the same meeting, Rupee made amends by winning the Ollivier Free-for-all from Tactician, Au Revoir and Johnny Globe. Ribands proved too good for Rupee on the concluding day of that meeting in the NZ Pacing Championship. Ribands paced the mile and five furlongs journey in the then world record time of 3.21 3/5, beating Rupee by four lengths. Rupee went 3.22 2/5. His last appearance for that season was in the Electric Stakes at Addington, in which he beat such pacers as Tactician, Thelma Globe and Petite Yvonne.
Rupee won only one race as a 6-year-old - the Farewell Handicap at the Addington National meeting. That season he made his second attempt to win the NZ Cup but had to be content with second place behind Our Roger. In only two starts as a 7-year-old, Rupee won the Lightning Handicap in August and was unplaced in the Ashburton Flying Stakes - his last race appearance.
In the NZ Cup of 1954, Rupee returned 4.12 for the two mile journey and registered 3.07 1/5 for the mile and a half in the Ollivier Free-for-all. When making his second attempt to win the Ollivier Free-for-all, Rupee paced the distance in 3.05 4/5 when second to Caduceus.
Credit: 'Irvington' writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 31May61
YEAR: 1954
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In 1954, Johnny Globe was a 7-year-old and making his fourth attempt at the New Zealand Cup. He had been a good and close second to Van Dieman as a 4-year-old; sensationally collapsed the following year when a hot favourite, and second from 60 yards to Adorian the year before.
He was off 48 yards this time, but such was the quality of the field before him, Johnny Globe was only given a sentimental chance of winning, particularly as Rupee was among those off the front. The record of first starters during the first half century of the Cup was overwhelming and Rupee was among those along with the tough and in-form Denbry and the Australian champion Ribands, who would be handled by Sydney's Jack Watts from 18 yards for trainer Charlie Muddle.
The stellar field also included previous winners Adorian and Mobile Globe and subsequent winner Our Roger along with Soangetaha, Tactician, Vedette and an evergreen and notoriously unsound 8-year-old Young Charles. But Rupee dominated the discussions and 'Ribbonwood' summed it up in the NZ Trotting Calendar a week earlier..."With the possible exception of Indianapolis and Highland Fling, no pacer has arrived in Cup class with more convincing credentials than those held by Rupee." A 5-year-old horse by the NZ Derby winner Gold Chief and bred from a line of unnamed mares by Ashburton's Jack Grice, Rupee had won 10 of 12 starts going into the Cup and been most unlucky to have been beaten in the other two.
His unbeaten run had been ended the previous Easter at Addington, going down by half a head to Excelsa after being three-wide without cover for the last mile and pushed four and five-wide on the home turn. At the traditional Cup lead-up meeting in August, Rupee had made his Cup class rivals "look like hacks" in the Louisson, although Johnny Globe gave him a 60-yard start and was third, beaten less than three lengths. In the National Handicap however, Ruree and Doody Townley ran into a "copper-fastened pocket" and didn't get clear until the race was over, finishing third to Denbry and Our Roger with Young Charles fourth from 24 yards. The New Zealand Cup would be his next race.
Wrote Ribbonwood..."Rupee is a perfect beginner, as smooth a mover in the thick of a race or anywhere else for that matter as we have seen, nothing upsets him, and with any sort of run his dazzling brilliance should carry him through."
Rupee was selected to beat Ribands, who came to New Zealand with a record of 1:58.7 at Harold Park, which was only a fraction outside the world record of 1:58 3/5 for a half-mile track set by Hi Lo's Forbes in America the previous year, and proven two-miler Denbry, a son of 1941 Cup winner Josedale Grattan and a close relation maternally to the 1953 winner, Adorian.
The pre-race hype was about the height of Rupee's career however. He was unsound and raced just once more that season, beating Tactician in the Electric Stakes at Addington over Easter, and while he won fresh-up in the next two seasons, that was about all.
Rupee had been the hottest favourite on record in the Cup, carrying £4719 to win on-course compared to £1783 for the public's second elect, but sentimental favourite Johnny Globe. But when the dust had settled, Johnny Globe's win had been the most popular ever witnessed at Addington, surpassing the scenes when the grand old trotter Monte Carlo won the first Cup in 1904. Roll upon roll of cheering broke out some time before he reached the winning post and continued as he returned to the birdcage. Hundreds of people swarmed over the rails from the inside of the track and massed along the bircage fence to pay homage to the most idolised horse in light-harness history.
Wrote Ribbonwood..."World's record pacing figures of 4:07 3/5 were returned by the indomitable dynamo of character and courage, Johnny Globe, in wrestling New Zealand Cup honours from Young Charles and Rupee after the most scorching and thrilling stayers' epic in harness racing the world over. And his trainer/driver, D G Nyhan, richly deserved all the compliments and congratulations showered upon him. Nyhan had come in for some trenchant criticism of his driving of Johnny Globe in some of his past races. Whether it was all merited is of no moment now. On Tuesday, Don's handling of 'Johnny' was in every sense a masterpiece: the perfect understanding and harmony between horse and driver was an inspiration."
To put Johnny Globe's performance in perspective, the world record had belonged to Highland Fling at 4:10 3/5, an adjusted time from 60 yards, meaning the pace off the front in 1948 had been around 4:16. That time bettered Haughty's race and world record of 4:13 2/5, achieved in 1943 from 36 yards. The gross time in 1954 was 4:11 3/5, from which four seconds was deducted for Johnny Globe's 48-yard handicap.
Johnny Globe actually took six seconds to make up his handicap and was timed post-to-post in the "incredible" time of 4:05 3/5 - the fastest two miles ever recorded at that time was Greyhound's time-trial of 4:06 at the Indianapolis 'speedway' in 1939, when two-mile races for pacers and trotters were not actually uncommon in North America. Johnny Globe's time of 4:07 3/5 would remain the New Zealand Cup record for 26 years, until Hands Down recorded 4:07.2 in 1980, and the national two-mile record until metrics were introduced and then Young Quinn paced 4:06.7 for 3200m during the 1975 Inter-Dominions in Auckland.
Denbry and Ribands broke badly at the start and were soon out of it, while Rupee also tangled away, but soon recovered and took up the running from Star Rosa after half a mile, followed by Tactician, Young Charles, Our Roger, Laureldale, Petite Yvonne, Soangetaha, Thelma Globe, Adorian, Au Revoir and Johnny Globe. Tactician then took over down the back to maintain the pace and positions remained the same until Johnny Globe commenced a three-wide run with a lap to go.
He was sixth and wide at the half and fourth into line as Tactician swung for home from Young Charles and Rupee on the fence. Tactician soon caved in and Young Charles took over and momentarily looked like winning, as Rupee was denied a gap and had to swing to the outside of Johnny Globe. It made no difference though - Johnny Globe would not be denied and won by half a length over the brave Young Charles, with Rupee finishing on for third a half a length away, perhaps a little unlucky but having had his chance all the same, with a space back to Our Roger and the rest filing in with some difficulty. All the honours were however with Johnny Globe, who was decorated with a garland of flowers and paraded down the straight before "hundreds of his enthusiastic admirers who flocked round him, clapping and cheering him on his way."
"Not even in the United States, the acknowledged home and stronghold of the harness racehorse, has there ever been a distance race to compare with the sizzling marathon so bravely sealed by the dapper little personality horse from Templeton," wrote Ribbonwood.
Johnny Globe was by little Logan Derby, a champion son of Globe Derby, and he was his third consecutive grandson to score, following Springfield Globe's sons Mobile Globe and Adorian. He was from Sandfast, by Sandydale from the American pacing mare Slapfast, a yearling record-holder imported by Sir John McKenzie. Slapfast had been sent up for auction at Tattersalls in 1935 and brought only 12gns. She was eventually passed on to F E Ward of Pahiatua, who bred Sandfast and Johnny Globe.
Nyhan bought Johnny Globe as a 10-month-old colt for £50, and the Cup was his 26th win and took his earnings to £32,395 and close to Highland Fling's record of £32,920. Johnny Globe was far from finished though of course. Three-days later he toyed with the same field in the NZ Free-For-All, racing clear of Ribands, Laureldale, Petite Yvonne and Au Revoir, who finished almost in line but some distance from Johnny Globe. His 2:33 3/5 for the mile and a half from a stand broke his own national record of 2:34 and was one of just six such records he held at that point in time.
Later that season, Johnny Globe was a desperately unlucky second in the Inter-Dominion in Auckland, beaten a head by Tactician from the back mark of 48 yards. A star 4-year-old in Caduceus and Doug Watts had taken the field through the first mile and a half in a pedestrian 3:20 3/5, and Tactician's time of 4:19 3/5 from 18 yards reflected what had merely been a sprint for home. Johnny Globe, back on the fence at the half and checked by the galloping Our Roger soon after, went very wide for a run on the home turn and almost overcame the herculean task before him.
Johnny Globe would retire as a 9-year-old as the winner of 34 races (including a record 15 Free-For-Alls) from 99 starts and £42,887, a record for a standardbred of thoroughbred raced solely in New Zealand and only exceeded marginally by Captain Sandy. And he would sire from his first crop for the Nyhans the two-time New Zealand Cup winner and champion, Lordship, who would be the horse to rewrite most of his achievements and records.
Credit: Frank Marrion writing in HRWeekly 8Jun06
YEAR: 1954
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| Don & Doris Nyhan hold the 1954 NZ Cup |
World's record pacing figures of 4:07 3-5 were returned by the indomitable dynamo of character and courage, Johnny Globe, in wresting New Zealand Cup honours from Young Charles and Rupee in the NZ Cup at Addington on Tuesday after the most scorching and thrilling stayer's epic in harness history the world over.
Not even in the United States, the acknowledged home and stronghold of the harness racehorse, has there ever been a distance race to compare with the sizzling marathon so bravely sealed by the dapper little personality horse from Templeton.
And his trainer-driver, D G Nyhan, richly deserved all the compliments and congratulations showered upon him. Nyhan had come in for some trenchant criticism of his driving of Johnny Globe in some of his past races. Whether it was all merited was of no moment now. On Tuesday Don's handling of Johnny was in every sense a masterpiece: the perfect understanding and harmony between horse and driver was an inspiration.
Johnny Globe took 6sec to do his 48yds handicap, so from post to post he put up the incredible time of 4:05 3-5, which was 2-5 of a second faster than Greyhound's 4:06, the world's harness record, put up against time from a flying start. Greyhound, the greatest trotter of all time, put up his record on a mile track in 1939. It is only fair to add that no champion American pacer has been sent against time over two miles for more than a quarter of a century; on the other side of the medal, there are now quite a number of two-mile races in America, but nothing to compare with Johnny Globe's performance has yet been recorded.
Official sectional times were: first quarter 32 2-5secs; half-mile 64 2-5secs; six furlongs 1:35; mile 2:04 4-5; mile and a quarter 2:37; mile and a half 3:10; mile and three-quarters 3:40 4-5; full journey 4:11 3-5 (gross). From this is deducted 4sec for Johnny Globe, making his official time 4:07 3-5secs. The previous record was Highland Fling's 4:10 3-5, put up in the New Zealand Cup of 1948. Johnny Globe, when only a four-year-old, ran a close second to Van Dieman in the 1951 NZ Cup. In the 1952 race he collapsed early. Last year he lost 60 yds at the start and finished second to Adorian.
Ribands and Denbry broke badly at the start and were soon in hopeless positions. Rupee also went away at a tangle, but lost little ground before correcting his gait. Star Rosa was the early leader, giving way to Rupee with a little less than half a mile covered, where Tactician was next, ahead of Young Charles, Our Roger, Laureldale, Petite Yvonne, Soangetaha, Thelma Globe, Adorian, Au Revoir and Johnny Globe, who was fairly handy, racing on the rails.
Tactician took over from Rupee going into the back, and with a mile covered he was being trailed by Rupee, with Petite Yvonne and Young Charles next. Tactician and Petite Yvonne were closely attended by Rupee and Young Charles with a round to go, and by this time Johnny Globe had commenced his run on the outer. He was sixth approaching the half-mile, and when Tactician swung for home attended by Young Charles and Rupee, Johnny Globe was next, travelling better than anything. Young Charles headed Tactician, and momentarily looked like winning. Then Johnny Globe challenged and soon had the upper hand to beat Young Charles by half a length, with Rupee travelling strongly on the outside the same margin back. Our Roger was fourth, Au Revoir fifth, then Vedette, with a gap to Laureldale, Tactician and Thelma Globe, another gap to Soangetaha, Petite Yvonne and Star Rosa, with Denbry and Ribands bringing up the rear.
Rupee received none of the breaks in the run home. He tried to make a run between Young Charles, on the rails, and Johnny Globe, further out, inside the distance, but there was insufficient room, and he had to change course and come to the outer at a very late stage. He ran a great race for third, because the difficulties he encountered in the final furlong must have set him back a couple of lengths.
Mr C E Hoy, president of the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club, said this was the first visit of the Governor-General (Sir Willoughby Norrie) to the Addington course, and he extended His Excellency and Lady Norrie a warm welcome, expressing the hope that this would be the forerunner of many more visits. Sir Willoughby Norrie, in presenting the gold cup to D G Nyhan, congratulated the club on it's "extremely fine meeting and the particularly good field" for the Cup. "I hope one day to own a trotter myself," said His Excellency. He understood that, between them, the horses in the Cup race had won more than £200,000 in stakes. He recalled that he had the honour of presenting the trophy and a cheque for £10,000 to Mr Bruce Elliot when Single Direct won the Grand Final of the Inter-Dominion Championship at Adelaide.
His Excellency then congratulated D G Nyhan on his "most popular win with a wonderful horse," and Lady Norrie decorated Johnny Globe with a garland of flowers. Johnny Globe was paraded down the straight, and hundreds of his enthusiastic admirers flocked round him, clapping and cheering him on his way. Old-timers declared it was the most popular win ever seen at Addington, and one veteran has seen every Cup race since Monte Carlo won the first contest in 1904. Roll upon roll of cheering broke out some yards before he reached the post and continued as he returned to the birdcage. Hundreds of people swarmed over the rails from the inside of the track and massed along the birdcage fence to pay homage to the most idolised horse in light-harness history.
The on-course totalisator turnover for the race was £28,427, compared with £28,331 last year. The off-course figures were £29,826 10s, against £29,815 10s last year. This year the sum of £51,524 15s was invested on the double, of which £35,244 came from off-course investments and £16,280 15s on the course. The off-course double figures last year were £49,031, and the on-course figures £14,592 5s, a total of £63,623 5s, the record to date. This year's on-course total was £182,056 10s, compared with £179,170 15s last year. The off-course figures this year were £140,435 5s (a record for Cup day) against £134,707 last year.
For the third year in succession the winner was sired by a son of the immortal Australian sire Globe Derby. Mobile Globe (1952) and Adorian (1953) are both sons of Springfield Globe, and Johnny Globe is by Logan Derby, himself a champion. Johnny Globe is out of Sandfast, by Sandydale (imp) from the American pacing mare Slapfast, a yearling record-holder in the States in her day, and who was imported to the Dominion by Sir John McKenzie. Slapfast was sent up for auction at Tattersalls in 1935 and brought only 12gns. She was eventually passed on to the late Mr F E Ward, of Pahiatua, who bred Sandfast and Johnny Globe. Nyhan bought Johnny Globe as a 10-month-old foal for £50, and he has now won 26 races and £32,395 in stakes, which brings him very close to Highland Fling's Dominion record of £32,920.
Credit: 'Ribbonwood' writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 10Nov54
YEAR: 1952
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Rupee, magnificent New Zealand Derby winner of 1952, is a son of Gold Chief, winner of the event in 1940 and whose dam Dusolina, was a daughter of Doraldina, winner of the 1920 Derby; and Doraldina was the dam of Daphne de Oro, the 1927 winner. It is a classic chain probably without parallel in Dominion light-harness history.
All the trouble that was going seemed to pile up against Rupee on Saturday: he drew No.12 marble and had to start from the second row; he went away in a tangle and was at least 36yds behind the leaders with a furlong covered. He had made some progress with the race half over but at that stage he nearly came to grief when Peter Again, the pacemaker, broke and came back through the field. Rupee had to change his course abruptly and must have missed a collision by the proverbial whisker.
From that point Rupee had to travel three and four out to get within striking range of the leaders at the home turn; but it made not a bit of difference to this superb colt. He came on in his effortless style - he has one of the most perfect actions seen in a Derby colt for many years - to win without the whip and with apparently something in reserve.
To say he outclassed his opposition is putting it mildly. He was timed the last mile and a quarter in 2:36 3-5, phenominal speed for a three-year-old when it is considered that the mile and a quarter Australasian record is Gold Bar's 2:35. Rupee is undefeated in his only four starts to date, all classics - the Timaru Nursery Stakes, the New Zealand Welcome Stakes and the New Zealand Sapling Stakes, all at two years, and the New Zealand Derby Stakes.
Jaunty, Distant Star, Black Douglas and Sandman broke at the start, and all were near the rear early. Jaunty made a smart move round the field to get near the pacemaker, Peter Again, with a little more than six furlongs to go but he could not sustain the run and was beaten out of sight. Magellan went away surprisingly well and the race was made to order for him. He came through with credit in getting as close as he did to Rupee. Heroism, third, was also prominent from the start. Moss Hall, the leader in the middle stages was a close fourth. Distant Star made up some ground after his poor beginning and was fifth.
Gold Chief, sire of Rupee, was a high-class pacer. At his first start he ran second to Walter Moore in a division of the Timary Nursery, 1940, then run over a mile, in 2:11. Walter Moore's time, 2:10 4-5, was a new two-year-old race record, and it still stands as the winning record - the only better time in a race is Highland Fling's 2:10 when he finished second from 24 yards to Sprayman, scr, in the Welcome Handicap at Addington in 1945. At three years Gold Chief raced consistently in the leading classics, finishing second in the Riccarton Stakes, NZ Champion Stakes and NZ Futurity Stakes, and winning the NZ Derby, besides two races over two miles. Gold Chief was the leading money-winning three-year-old of the 1940-41 season - a vintage year for three-year-olds.
For Gold Chief's class to be fully realised it has to be known that he met with an accident early in his racing career - another horse kicked him - and the injured leg never became sound again. He had to race on short, cautious preparations, and he was really a marvel to go as far as he did. His form was of a very high order indeed, and the gameness he showed to retire from the racetrack a winner of his last two starts was typical of the courageous breed he came from. "He did most of his racing on three legs," was the way his trainer, L Davidson, of New Brighton, put it.
Gold Chief's sire, Rey de Oro, left many great pacers, notably Roi l'Or, Parisienne, Silver de Oro, Morello, Turco, Graham Direct, Blair Athol, De Soto and Cantata and probably Daphne de Oro, who was by 'Rey de Oro or Logan Pointer.' Rey de Oro was leading sire in the 1931-32, 1935-36 and 1936-37 seasons and left 226 individual winners of nearly £220,000.
Gold Chief, on the dams side, belonged to the famous Jeanie Tracey (imp) family, one of the best sources of winners in the Dominion for close on 70 years. Jeanie Tracey was imported to NZ in 1882, when a five-year-old, by Mr Robert Wilkin who, after breeding three foals from her, including a champion trotter in Kentucky (sire of Thelma) sold her to Mr John Grigg, of Longbeach, who bred many more winners from over a long period by the late Mr J B Westerman, of New Brighton, produced Doraldina (NZ Sapling Stakes and NZ Derby), Daphne de Oro (NZ Derby and Great Northern Derby), Special Edition (NZ Futurity Stakes), Great News (Wellington Stakes) and Gold Chief (NZ Derby). From Jeanie Tracey also descended the champion trotters Waikaha and Gay Belwin, and high-class pacers in Oruarangi, Peter Pirate, Recess and others - altogether close on 70 winners in NZ alone. Gold Chief's dam, Dusolina, 2:08 1-5 was a good sprinter. She was by Drusus (imp) from Doraldina, by OYM from Dollar Princess, by Rothschild-The Manageress. An interesting link in this pedigree is OYM, who was a son of imported Owyhee, grandsire of the mighty Globe Derby, the greatest sire Australia has ever known. Gold Chief, on limited opportunities in the Dominion, sired a good percentage of winners, and it was a stroke of very bad luck when he died soon after arriving in Australia to take up stud duty there last year.
Rupee's anticedents on the dam's side are not nearly so distinguished as those of his sire. Canister, dam of Rupee, won two races and was several times placed. Canister was got by Jack Potts from a mare by Logan Pointer from a Kerwood mare which was out of a Prince Imperial mare. Apart from Rupee, there are no winners of distinction from this family. Canister's first two foals did not come to anything on the racecourse. According to Rupee's owner-breeder, Mr J Grice, the dam of Canister, the Logan Pointer mare, produced other winners. The sire's in Canister's pedigree, Jack Potts (imp), Logan Pointer (imp), Kerwood (through his sire, Wildwood (imp)) and Prince Imperial are all great names in Dominion breeding. Jack Potts and Logan Pointer were both leading sires for many years and the number of champions who carry the strains of Logan Pointer, Wildwood and Prince Imperial is remarkable. Just a few: Highland Fling, 1:57 4-5, carries the blood of Logan Pointer and Wildwood; Gold Bar, 1:59 3-5 (Prince Imperial and Logan Pointer); and Haughty 1:59 3-5 (Prince Imperial and Logan Pointer). These are our only Dominion-bred two-minute pacers.
Credit: 'Ribbonwood' writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 26Nov52
YEAR: 2010
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| Keith & Bevan Grice |
Keith and Bevan Grice have been breeding from the family of Captain Peacock for 51 years.
Captain Peacock (Live Or Die-Enchanting) won the NZ Derby in April and is engaged in the 3-Year-Old Emerald at Cambridge on Saturday. The Grices also bred Ima Gold Digger (Sundon-Janetta's Pride), a leading contender for the 4-Year-Old trotters section.
Phil Kennard, a Christchurch part-owner of Captain Peacock, is also in the ownership of Major Mark, a contender for the 2-Year-Old Emerald. Kennard is in the GAPMAD Syndicat who race Captain Peacock in partnership with the brothers Grant Ball, of Christchurch and Darren Ball, of Sydney, and Warren Wyllie and Richard Boon, of Christchurch, from the Ladbrooks stable of Dean Taylor. Mark Jones is the driver of Captain Peacock. Others in the GAPMAD Syndicate are Michael and Gerard Dawson, of Oamaru, Alister Strachan, of Oamaru, Angela Mowbray of Methven and Des Aitcheson, of Oamaru.
Captain Peacock is the first foal of Enchanting who won her first start when trained by Taylor and driven by Jones. That was a race for 3-Year-Olds at Motukarara in December 2003. Grant Ball was in the ownership of Enchanting (Sands A Flyin-Go Anna), who was put to stud after being unplaced in a further five starts. "She was badly conformed," recalled Taylor.
He had become involved with the family when he trained her dam, Go Anna, to win four races in the mid-1990s. Go Anna died in 2003 after leaving four foals. She left another filly, Lancashire Witch (by Tinted Cloud), the winner of three races. Go Anna was by Dancing Master from Kerry Khan, by Noodlum from Lady Barbara, by Lordship from Barbara Del, by Armbro Del from Coo Doo, by Morano from Lady Dimp, a Nelson Derby mare the Grice brothers began breeding from in 1959.
They bought her from their cousin, Len Grice. Their uncle, Jack Grice, owned and trained the 1952 NZ Derby winner, Rupee. Another uncle, Ben, owned and trained Haughty, winner of the NZ Cup in 1942 and 43. Lordship won the NZ Derby in 1961 and Noodlum won the race in 1974.
Coo Doo won the 1971 Welcome Stakes, and other big winners from this equine family include Palestine and Derby, who won nine races in succession in the early 1980s. "Winning the Derby is our finest hour," Keith (84) said. Bevan is 79. "We have always felt that with good stallions and good trainers this family would reach the top. We cannot speak too highly of Dean Taylor," he said. "Breeding horses is our hobby, and we have been at it ince we left school."
Credit: Taylor Strong writing in HRWeekly 2June2010