| HORSES |
YEAR: 1951
PLUNDER BAR
Plunder Bar, winner of £16,554 in stakes, and twice runner-up in the NZ Cup, has been retired by his owner-trainer, M C McTigue. Foaled in 1940, Plunder Bar has compiled an excellent record and he is one of the best stake-winners of recent years. He raced for nine seasons.
Plunder Bar commenced racing as a 2-year-old in the 1942-3 season and after four unplaced performances he ran second in the NZ Sapling Stakes, going under by a neck to Acropolis. The following term he started five times, running third in the Wellington Stakes, second in the Riccarton Stakes and fourth in the NZ Derby, won that year by Bonny Bridge. Plunder Bar throughout his career as a 4-year-old started 13 times for seven minor placings, including three seconds, and in his first six outings during the 1945-6 season he was four times second and once third. Plunder Bar was not destined to win a maiden race, his first success being registered in the Forbury Handicap, a 3.33 class race of one mile and a half, at Dunedin, when he won from 24yds behind in a big field. He continued to show to marked advantage and he completed the 1945-6 season with four wins and seven placings in 14 starts.
In the following term Plunder Bar maintained his progress towards the best classes, winning four races and running unplaced six times in 15 outings. His most important win to this stage was in the Smithson Handicap, of two miles, at Addington, in which Dundee Sandy and In The Mood finished second and third respectively from a strong field.
Plunder Bar won his way to NZ Cup company in August of 1947 when he won the National Handicap of two miles. He started from 24yds behind and covered the distance in 4.17 4/5 to beat Aberhall and Cameronian. However, sent out 2/2 in the betting, he failed badly in the NZ Cup, won that year for the first time by Highland Fling. Plunder Bar's only other win in that season came to him in the Final Handicap at New Brighton, but he also gained five minor placings during that period.
In 1948, after a third placing in the Louisson Handicap, won by Sprayman from Ingle Belmer, Plunder Bar made a second attempt on NZ Cup honours, and on this occasion he registered a notable contribution to light-harness history by carrying the field along at a solid pace, forcing the brilliant Highland Fling to return 4.10 3/5 - a world's pacing record for two miles - to beat him home. At a later meeting the same season Highland Fling again beat Plunder Bar at Addington, in the Canterbury Handicap, but Plunder Bar turned the tables on Highland Fling when on a heavy track he won the Mason Handicap, of one mile and five furlongs. At the same meeting, Canterbury Park, Plunder Bar also won the principal sprint event, the Farewell Handicap, from Checkmate and Globe Direct.
Last season, Plunder Bar started nine times, including an unplaced performance in the NZ Cup, and his only placings at that period came in the Au Revoir Handicap, in which he was second, and in the Auckland Cup when he finished third behind Captain Sandy and Dundee Sandy. This season Plunder Bar has been in action on 10 occasions. He has not been a winner, but he was again second in the NZ Cup. In this event he was prominent early and he took over the role of pacemaker with little more than a mile still to go. However, he found Chamfer his master and he was beaten by three lengths, Single Direct and Lady Averil being third and fourth.
Throughout a career extending over nine seasons, Plunder Bar started in 95 races, winning 12 and being placed on 37 occasions, to work his way to marks of 2.08, 2.42, 3.12, 3.29 and 4.19 over the various distances. His best times were 4.15 4/5 for two miles, 3.28 for one mile and five furlongs, and 2.39 for one mile and a quarter.
Plunder Bar, bred by his owner, is by Jack Potts from Waress, by Man o' War from Ivy Mac, by General Mac from Manuka, a full-sister to the famous Ribbonwood. This family has produced a number of winners, and Waress is also the dam of Vimy Ridge, Indigo, and West Point, all winning Jack Potts progeny, but Plunder Bar is easily the best of this line.
Credit: NZ Trotting Calendar 20Jun51
YEAR: 1992
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Maurice McTigue, who died at Ashburton aged 85, was, in his heyday, NZ trotting's leading owner-trainer, with a remarkable strike-rate for a one-man band.
An electrician early in life, McTigue in the early 1930s bred Waress, a filly by dual Auckland Cup winner Man o' War from Ivy Mac, a little mare whose dam Manuka (a straightout trotter) was a sister to champion pacer of the turn of the century, Ribbonwood. A staying type, Waress won five races, and, with her and other good performers in Fine Art, Morello and the dual-gaited Dark Hazard, McTigue burst into trotting's headlines in the '30s. Morello in 1938 gave McTigue a winning debut in the NZ Cup.
Waress produced a line of winners for McTigue, all by Jack Potts. The best of these, Plunder Bar, won 12 races and was twice second in the NZ Cup. Other good performers from Waress were Indigo and Vimy Ridge. Putting unraced Jack Potts mare Berengaria, the first foal of Waress, to Springfield Globe, McTigue bred Tactician.
Racing until he was 13, Tactician won 20 races, highlighted by his victory over Johnny Globe in the 1955 Inter-Dominion Final in Auckland. In beating False Step and Local Light in the Rattray Stakes at Addington in 1957 in 1:59 4/5, Tactician recorded the first sub-2:00 race mile outside America.
The first president of the Mid-Canterbury OTB Association and a past-president of the Methven Trotting Club, McTigue was survived by five children, including National Government Minister Maurice McTigue.
-1993 TAB Harness Racing Annual-
-o0o-
M C(Maurice)McTigue, a prominent Methven harness racing identity, the first President of the Mid-Canterbury OTB Association, and a past President of the Methven Trotting Club, died last week, aged 85.
Mr McTigue, a former electrician and the father of the present Minister of State-owned Enterprises, gained his biggest triumph in 1955 when he won the Inter-Dominion Grand Final with Tactician. He bred Tactician from Springfield Globe, winner of the 1939 Inter-Dominion Grand Final and Berengaria, the first foal from his good Man O'War mare, Waress (9 wins).
Tactician did not race until he was four, and won his first two, at Hawera. Mr McTigue was against racing horses at two, after he saw Plunder Bar beaten on a heavy track in the Sapling Stakes at Ashburton. Plunder Bar, which he bred from Waress, later became a top horse and won 12 races, but it took him 12 months before he was properly right again.
Long before Tactician came along, Mr McTigue had struck in the big races, winning the 1938 NZ Cup driving Morello. Tactician raced until he was 13, won 20 races, became the first outside the US to better 2:00 for a mile in a race and earned more than £25,000.
Among the other fine horses he raced were Loyal Rey (12wins), Great Divide (11), Precious Metal, Maharaj, Black Surprise, Indigo (8), King's Play, Messala, Kubla Khan (8), Golden Fleece (9), Grand Canal, Genghis Khan, Fine Art (14), Dark Hazard (11), Play On, West Point, Peter Polo, Royal Worthy and Loyal Friend.
Always active around his farm, Mr McTigue enjoyed a game of billiards and a beer at the 'local' until a year ago when he was hurt in a car accident.
Credit: NZ HRWeekly 2Sep92