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CANTERBURY PROGRESS

In the early 'eighties, coursing was a very popular sport in Canterbury, and for some time it flourished at the old Plumpton grounds, situated near Hornby. Subsequently, race meetings were held on the same property, but they never took on with the public. This led to a change of venue to Sockburn, where a body known as the Plumpton Park Racing and Trotting Club carried on for some years, with varying success. After some years the racing element dropped out, and then was formed the Plumpton Park Trotting Club, now known as the Canterbury Park Trotting Club.

Though its history is only a short one, no body in the Dominion did more to bring light-harness racing up to its present high standard than the Canterbury Trotting Club. In the year of its inception, 1888, meetings were held at Lancaster Park, Lower Heathcote, New Brighton and Plumpton Park. At that period totalisator permits could be had almost for the asking, and, indeed, there were more meetings then than there are at the present time. All these convincing-grounds, with the exception of Lancaster Park, were some distance from the city and not easy to access. Present-day racegoers who complain of the tedious transport to meetings do not know how well provided for they are. In the 'eighties the only public vehicles plying to the New Brighton course, for example, were drags, buses and carriers' carts most of which had seen better days. Packed in like sardines, the good-natured sportsmen made light of their troubles, even though these frequently included a breakdown in the treacherous bit of road leading from the Bower Hotel to the trotting ground.

To bring the sport nearer home a number of enthusiasts got together early in 1888 and resolved to utilise the Addington Showgrounds as a racing headquarters. That area was particularly well adapted for the purpose, as a small grandstand was available, and little trouble was experienced in laying out a half-mile track. So the Canterbury Trotting Club came into existence, and held its inaugural meeting on April 9, 1888.

A glance through the names of its officials should be instructive to those who retain the old idea that trotting had little standing in those times. That genuine sportsman Mr W Boag figured as president, with Mr J Deans and Mr J C H Grigg as vice-presidents. Prominent among the stewards were such well known men as Hon J T Peacock, Messrs George King, H Chatteris, A W Money, J T Ford, S Garforth, J Fergusson, and W Henderson. Most of these gentlemen were keenly interested in the welfare of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association, which owned the grounds. At that first meeting Mr George King acted as judge, and Mr F W Delamain as starter, and the handicapping was entrusted to Messrs A I Rattray and H Piper. Seven event constituted the day's bill-of-fare, and stakes of from £20 to £35, the total reaching only £160. What a difference the intervening years have made in prize money.

An auspicious start was made, for in the very first event the two handicappers had the satisfaction of seeing a dead-heat between J Baxter's Dexter and G Burke's Jane. As was customary, the dead-heat was run off later in the afternoon and Dexter made no race of it. The Akaroa-owned stallion Victor, driven by his owner, J Rodriques, scored an easy win in the three-mile saddle trot, from Oliff's Bluegown and W and C Kerr's Gipsy. The corresponding harness event, also run over three miles, went to E Young's The Rogue, who was followed home by W and C Kerr's Wait-a-While. It is estimated that over a thousand people were present at the gathering. Messrs Hobb's and Goodwin's totalisator handled £1484.

Bad weather mitigated against the Club's second venture, held a few months later, and as a result only about 400 patrons turned out, and £889 was the totalisator 'main.' Within the first year of its existence the new club held four meetings, which did much to establish it in popular favour. Its progressive officials were soon enabled to increase the stakes considerably, and eventually races confined to stallions and juveniles were instituted. So mixed were the competitors that enormous starts were necessary to bring the fields together. On one occasion Mr D Barnes's Richmond won the Association Grounds Cup from the 115sec mark, and such flyers as Victor and Young Irvington frequently were asked to concede up to 30sec in mile events.

The introduction of races for stallions in the early 'eighties did much to popularise the club's winter meetings. These brought out such well-known stallions as Specification, Brooklyn, Viking, Imperious, Electioneer, Kentucky, Wilkin, Berlin Abdallah, General Tracey and Emerson. Some years later the executive made another progressive movement by instituting a race for 2-year-olds, known as the Juvenile Stakes, with £200 attached to it. This was the first effort made by any club to introduce early speed, but results showed that it was a little in advance of the times. The first two of these races was won by Mr J A Buckland, with Valiant and The Heir, but it was quite apparent that few Canterbury trainers had sufficient knowledge to get their juveniles ready for 2-year-old racing.

After being in existence for 12 years the career of the Canterbury Trotting Club was brought to a conclusion in dramatic circumstances. Just before the present century opened, Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club decided to purchase a course at Addington, next door to the Showgrounds, and reconstituted itself as the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club. When it was pointed out to the Minister of Internal Affairs that the two clubs intended to race with only an iron fence between them, he stepped in and insisted on an amalgamation. The wisdom of this action, though it was resented by many at the time, has since become most apparent. Several of the Canterbury Trotting Club's officials were elected to similar positions with the new body, and any resentment originally engendered soon wore off. That the amalgamation was fully justified is evidenced by the phenomenal success that has attended the efforts of the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club. Its present headquarters are easily the best appointed in the Southern Hemisphere, and on its track most of the Dominion's time records have been established. Some years ago the course had another change of ownership, as a result of a deal between the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club and the Canterbury Park Trotting Club. Both these clubs now race on it, and are likely to do so for many a year.

Undoubtedly the biggest lift ever given trotting was the elimination of proprietary interests. Many of those who had the management of courses in the early days were thorough sportsmen, whose chief aim was the betterment of the sport. Unfortunately, others were not quite as scrupulous, and this, to some extent, may account for the decline of such clubs as those that raced originally at Plumpton Park, New Brighton and Lower Heathcote. Under proprietary conditions, stakes seldom amounted to much over a century, while it was not uncommon to find horses racing for £25 stakes. Naturally, this did not make for the cleanest racing, and many owners depended more on what could be made out of the totalisator than on the stake money. This unsatisfactory state of affairs gradually disappeared as a result of judicious legislation by the NZ Trotting Conference and the NZ Trotting Association, two bodies that must be given every credit for bringing the conduct of trotting up to its present high standard. In club management there has been a corresponding improvement, which is reflected in the conduct of all present-day meetings. Nowhere in the world has trotting made such swift advancement as in NZ during the past quarter of a century.



Credit: F C Thomas writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 28Mar51

PROUD RECORD OF METROPOLITAN CLUB IN ITS JUBILEE YEAR

The NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club, which celebrates its jubilee on Saturday next, like most sporting institutions, developed from small beginnings. Strangely enough, it was started by a body of cricketers who were endeavouring to finance their new ground, Lancaster Park, and needed more 'grist for the mill.'

On May 29, 1886, the first meeting of the Lancaster Park Trotting Club was held. The meeting had been fixed for May 15, but was adjourned owing to the heavy floods in Christchurch City. The usually peaceful Avon had risen four feet and at several points had overflowed its banks. Three feet of water prevailed at the Railway Station, and Ferry Road, near Lancaster Park, was one sheet of water.

The officers of the club for the first meeting were: Mr Justice Johnston (Judge), C A Culvert (Starter), A M Ollivier (Clerk of Course), C J Penfold (Secretary), and the stewards comprised Dr H H Prins, F Cotton, A E G Rhodes, A C Wilson, F Jones and C Hood-Williams.

There were 1100 persons present, £38 was taken at the gates, and £1512 was invested on the totalisator run by Hobbs and Goodwin. Prize money totalled £125 for five races, the principal event being the Lancaster Park Time Trot of three miles in saddle. The first prize was £40 and the result was as follows:-

FIDGET, B Edwards's, 50secs (ridden by owner) 1

ERIN, D O'Brien's, 45secs (ridden by owner) 2

MALVENA, P Howard's, 50secs (ridden by A J Keith) 3
Time: 9 min Dividend: £12/3/-

The other races were the Maiden Trot of three miles, Time Handicap, Time Handicap Pony Trot and Handicap Time Trot, each of two miles. The course was a third of a mile in length, and consequently the horses were in view of the public all the way.

The Lancaster Park Trotting Club had rather a varied history. Started by members of the Cricket Company, assisted by a few trotting enthusiasts, it struggled along for a few years, and the directors, satisfied with the £40 rental per meeting, were quite ready for any change that would relieve them of managing the trotting club. In due course, the shareholders of the Cricket Company, as such, ceased to have any say in the management, and in 1890 the club was controlled entirely by trotting enthusiasts. In that year (1890)the principal officials of the club were stewards: D Barnes, C Louisson, V Harris, G McClatchie, J Perkins, and L Wilson; secretary: A I Rattray; starter, C O'Connor.

Trotting continued at Lancaster Park util 1899, during which time at least four meetings a year were held. Those thirteen years at Lancaster Park had laid the foundation for something better. The meetings had progressed to a satisfactory degree, and it was realised by the committee that if they were still to go ahead something must be done to obtain their own grounds with better facilities for all concerned.

For some years the Lancaster Park Club and the Canterbury Trotting Club which raced at the show grounds, had been accumulating funds, as a result of their meetings, for the purpose of jointly securing a property of their own, the idea being to form an up-to-date track, with buildings and general surroundings in keeping with the latest American style. To secure the object in view, a joint committee from the two clubs was set up, and a representative of the Canterbury Trotting Club was commissioned to secure a piece of land adjoining the show grounds. The trustees of the property, however, declined to sell for trotting purposes, but subsequently put it up for auction, and a lengthy lease was knocked down to the President of the Lancaster Park Trotting Club at a price below the amount to which the clubs were prepared to go.

But when the grounds had been secured the Canterbury Trotting Club refused to join ownership, their main grievance being that the land was not freehold. Nevertheless, the Lancaster Park Club lost no time in going ahead with the new grounds and in laying what were then paddocks, subdivided by straggling fences, into the finest trotting track in the Southern Hemisphere, with expansive grounds, beautiful gardens, lawns and drives and splendid grandstands.

On moving to the new grounds, the name of the club was changed to the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club, and thus was originated the organisation we know today. The first meeting on the new grounds was held on November 6th and 10th, 1899, the stakes for the two days being £2,140 and the totalisator investments £10,695. trotting immediately caught on at the new grounds and the committee tried all sorts of attractions to encourage people to attend.

In 1900, under pressure from the Colonial Secretary, and after a number of conferences with the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club, the Canterbury Trotting Club agreed to amalgamate, the arrangement being that each club was to have six of its number on the committee and six stewards. This move strengthened the club considerably besides providing further needed funds. The men who were in charge of affairs in those days were undoubtedly men of great vision. Their faith in the future of trotting was amazing and all their moves were actuated by this faith. With so many natural advantages in the way of flat country and excellent highways, Canterbury, from its infancy led the way in everything appertaining to the breeding and development of the trotting horse.

The NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club has been particularly fortunate in the men who have been at the head of affairs during the 50 years of its existence. It has had only six presidents, viz: V Harris, 1899 to 1903; G H McHaffie, 1903 to 1905; Hon C Louisson, 1906 to 1924; J H Williams, 1924 to 1940; A L Matson, 1940 to 1945, and C S Thomas, from 1945 to the present time.

Mr Victor Harris, the first president was a great enthusiast and worker for the club when the spadework was being done in transferring to Addington and forming the new grounds. He raced a number of horses which were trained by D J Price, and did a good deal to bring about and finance the Ribbonwood - Fritz match which did so much to place the club on a sound footing.

Mr G H McHaffie, the second president, was also a great enthusiast and one of the most far-seeing officials the club ever had. He was a wholesale merchant in Cashel Street, and bred trotting horses as a hobby, the most notable of his bred being the famous Ribbonwood.

The third president was the Hon Chas. Louisson who held office for 18 years. He was a steward of the Lancaster Park Club when it was taken over from the Cricket Company in 1890, so that he acted as an official of the club for 34 years. His term as president covered the period when great changes were made in erecting buildings and enlarging the Addington grounds and forming it into what we know it as today. One of his greatest services was to make a present of the Cup for the NZ Cup Handicap annually for many years. His name is perpetuated on the foundation stone of the inside public stand, which he laid.

On the death of the Hon C Louisson, Mr J H Williams was elected president and held office for 16 years, during that time he rendered yeoman service to the club. He was an able counsellor on all matters appertaining to the administration of the sport, and was president of the NZ Trotting Association for 14 years. He was also a member of the Racing Commission in 1921. He was one of nature's gentlemen and was held in high esteem by all. He did a lot of very useful work in a quiet unostentatious way and was a tower of strength during the dark days of the depression.

The fifth president was Mr Allan L Matson, who was elected in 1940. He brought to the office youth, energy, ability and enthusiasm, and put a tremendous amount of work into reorganising the club and bringing it to its present popular position. Probably no president has been so universally popular as Mr Matson.

Mr C S Thomas, who has been president since 1945, is a man of very high attainments in the legal profession. He brought outstanding ability, drive and dignity to the position and has done a great deal towards promoting the high reputation and position of the club. He was leading counsel for the trotting authorities before the Gaming Commission, and his work in this direction was freely acknowledged as a masterpiece.

Perhaps the outstanding personality throughout all the years of the club's history was the late Mr A I Rattray, who was secretary of the club from 1890 to 1941. His great experience in all branches of the sport made him an authority on all matters pertaining to it. At various times he acted as handicapper, starter and timekeeper, and he was also the first secretary of the NZ Trotting Association. He did great service in framing the Rules of Trotting and in obtaining Government recognition of the NZ Trotting Association. He was intensly loyal to his club and was always out to create such a standard for it in integrity and prestige that anything which did not measure up 100% in his opinion was scorned. He was an indefatiguable worker and put in long hours when it was required. During the 54 years he was associated with trotting as a secretary, he won great respect and was well known throughout NZ. Undoubtedly his foresight, resolution and faith in the sport placed his club and trotting in Canterbury in the strong position it is in today.


Credit: H E Goggin writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 26Oct49

TROTTING ANCIENT AND MODERN

How many of the thousands of people who will assemble at Addington on Saturday to witness the 43rd contest for the NZ Trotting Cup have any idea what trotting was like when first established in this province? In the coming race will be found horses which are the acme of physical fitness and grace. Sixty years ago at any meeting you would have been confronted with the clumsy efforts of horses that, only a few days previously, had been earning their oats between the shafts of a butcher's, baker's or grocer's cart.

Yes, the progress of this humbler racing sport has been as meteoric as to make one wonder where its limitations will cease. For instance, when Bert Edwards drove that grand old trotter, Monte Carlo, to victory in the first contest, the stake was only £300, and on a good track the winner took 4.44 2/5 to cover the two miles. In 1910 the value of the Cup had jumped to £1000; in 1913 it was £2000, and in 1929 it had gone up to £4000. Last season it reached £7500, thereby making it the richest stake ever given for a single light-harness race in the world. There has been a corresponding improvement in the times also. Monte Carlo's feat of going the journey in 4.44 2/5 was hailed as a great one at the time, but it looks insignificant when compared with Haughty's 4.13 3/5.

Away back in the seventies, on almost any general holiday and sometimes on Saturdays a band of sporting enthusiasts would meet on the New Brighton beach, near the present township. During the day about half-a-dozen events would be decided, some for trotters and some for gallopers. They were rough and ready meetings, and the prizes were usually of the utility order, such as a saddle, a bridle or even a whip. When the New Brighton Racing Club was formed these informal gatherings ceased. Mixed racing and trotting meetings were held on a new course for some years, but after a while the galloping element faded out and it was left to the New Brighton Trotting Club to carry on, which it has done successfully to this day.

It was the Lower Heathcote Racing Club, however, that did most to establish the light-harness sport. I wish that you enthusiasts who know trotting only as it is conducted at Addington today could journey with me to the Heathcote course as it was in the eighties. What a contrast you would notice. The old course was situated on the Sumner Road, just before you came to the bridge. All the arrangements were primitive.

My present concern, however, is more with those old-time trotters which, in their humble way, helped to lay the foundation as it is now. To a few present-day racegoers the names of such ancient celebrities as Fidget, Shakespeare, Sapphire, Bobby Burns, Maid of Munster, Narrow Gauge, Cock Robin, Wait A While, Chanticleer, Victor, Young Irvington and Long Roper will conjure up memories of the so-called 'Good old days.' Mention of Cock Robin brings to mind the fact that even Gloaming's trainer was an active participant in the trotting sport. Before becoming associated with Yaldhurst, Dick Mason owned Cock Robin and on one occasion rode him to victory in a race at Oamaru. The versatile Dick was just as finished an artist on the back of a trotter as in a galloper's saddle, and this particular win gave the ring a nasty jolt.

Amonst the regular competitors at Heathcote was a pony called Jimmy Brown, who, though blind, generally knew the shortest way to the winning post. Once Jimmy would not answer the helm and, swerving off the course, landed up in the Heathcote River. Both he and his rider had cause to remember that mishap. Perhaps the cheekiest ramp ever attempted at Heathcote was engineered by a then well-known bookmaker with a mare, originally grey. She won several races at country meetings, but a coat of brown paint transformed her into an unknown quantity when she stepped out at Heathcote. She won alright but, unfortunately, it was a hot day. When she pulled up the brown paint had run and she looked more like a zebra than a racehorse. So the fat was in the fire and there was weeping and wailing in the camp of the wrong-doers.

Most of the races were run under the saddle, and it was no unusual thing to find a good horse giving away up to 60sec to 90sec start, and even that concession failed to put the cracks out of court. For a long time the handicappers never made less than 5secs between any division of horses, for which there was probably a good reason. Under the rules when a horse broke, its rider was compelled to pull it up and turn round before going on with the business. When, as often happened, there were several that could not trot a furlong without getting in the air, the race savoured more of an equine circus or a Waltzing Matilda contest than a trial of speed. Just fancy a race at Addington with similar conditions. The Lower Heathcote Trotting Club died a natural death in 1893, but its memory lingers on.

When Lancaster Park was brought into being as a sports and cricket ground, difficulty was experienced in financing it. To help in this way a club known as the Lancaster Park Trotting Club was formed and held meetings on a three-laps-to-the-mile course, the same as that on which the bicycle races were run. The venture did not serve its purpose and its operations were subsequently taken over by a more practical body known as the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club. Its meetings were well conducted and did much to popularise the sport. Another club that had a rather meteoric career was the Canterbury Trotting Club, with headquarters at the Addington Show Grounds. In the meantime the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club, finding its headquarters all too small to accommodate the ever-increasing crowds, formed a course on the Twiggers Estate at Addington. This meant that two clubs were racing side by side, separated only by a tin fence. Naturally such a state of affairs could not go on, so eventually the Government forced the two bodies to amalgamate.

It was a fortunate move, for out of the amalgamation grew what is today the best-conducted and most influential club in all Australasia - the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club.

Credit: F C Thomas writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 30Oct46

The New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club conducted its inaugural meeting at the Addington Racecourse, now known as Addington Raceway, on Monday 6th November, 1899.

On Tuesday 22nd June of that year a resolution by the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club that the name of the newly formed Club be changed from the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club to the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club to mark the beginning of a new era in Trotting.

A newspaper report of 16th April, 1886 stated that several leading sportsmen, Mr H P Lance prominent amongst them, agreed to band together to conduct Trotting Meetings at Lancaster Park in an endeavour to finance their new ground, that is Lancaster Park, for cricket. The locality was handy to town and supplied an attraction for sporting men who were at a loss on Saturday afternoons. The first Meeting was advertised to be held on Saturday 15th May, 1886 and the programme contained five races, three in saddle and two in harness, with added stakes totaling 125 sovereigns. A journalist, who inspected the grounds and facilities stated “a good course has been staked off round the grass, and with a little alteration in the fencing to the west of the grandstand a tolerably commodious saddling paddock will be adequate for the comfort of officials, jockeys, etc and altogether the facilities for the comfort of visitors will be up to the average.”

The track was a third of a mile in length or under three furlongs (600 Metres).

The inaugural meeting was not held on the day set down as there were two postponements. The first postponement was due to heavy floods in Christchurch, the Avon River having risen four feet and Ferry Road, near Lancaster Park, being one sheet of water. The second postponement was due to the death of Mr H P Lance who was a devotee of racing, one of the founders and a Steward of Lancaster Park Trotting Club. The Meeting was finally held on Saturday 29th May, 1886 when there was an attendance of over 1,100 and reports state that the arrangements made for the Meeting were excellent. £38 was taken at the gate. £1,512 was invested on the Totalisator run by Hobbs & Goodwin. The advertised Officers of the Club for the first Meeting were: Judge, Mr H P Lance, but he was replaced following his death by Mr Justice Johnson; Starter, C A Calvert; Clerk of the Course, A M Ollivier; Handicapper, B J Hale; Secretary, C J Penfold; and the Stewards, Dr H H Prins, F Cotton, J B Gresson, F Jones, H P Lance, A E G Rhodes, A Cracroft-Wilson and C H Williams.

The principal event was the Lancaster Park Time Trot of three miles in saddle. The first prize was 40 sovereigns and the result was:

1st: B Edwards “Fidget” 50 seconds Rider: Owner

2nd: D O’Brien’s “Erin” 45 second Rider: Owner

3rd: P Howard’s “Malvena” 50 seconds Rider: A J Keith

Time was 9 minutes and the dividend paid on the Totalisator was £12/3/-. The Addington Workshops Band provided a musical programme.

The Lancaster Park Trotting Club conducted seven Meetings in its first season between 29th May 1886 and 27th June 1887.

In January 1888 the Canterbury Trotting Club was formed and conducted its Meetings at the new A & P Showground at Addington. This Club later amalgamated with the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club. The original Metropolitan Secretary, Mr A I Rattray, was also Secretary of the Canterbury Trotting Club.

Most Clubs racing at this time were proprietary Clubs with the operating profits going to the promoters.

In 1888 there was a move by the Lancaster Park Cricket Company for the Trotting Club to assume a separate identity from the Cricket Company, to pay a rental for the use of the grounds and become a Club whose sole aim was the promotion of Trotting. The shareholders of the Cricket Company ceased to have any say in the management and in 1890 the Club was controlled entirely by Trotting enthusiasts. In that year (1890) the principal Officials of the Club were: Stewards, D Barnes, C Louisson, V Harris, G McHaffie, J Perkins and L Wilson; the Starter was C O’Connor and the Secretary, A I Rattray.

The new regime operated as a proprietary Club until March 1892 when the Cricket Company decided not to allow a proprietary Club the use of Lancaster Park for Trotting after the expiry of the existing arrangements. If Trotting was to continue at the Park the Company ruled it must be conducted by an amateur Club that would direct the profit towards stakes rather than towards the income of a few shareholders.

In October 1892 it was reported that the following proprietary Clubs were operating:

Lancaster Park Trotting Club racing at Lancaster Park

Plumpton Park Trotting Club racing at Sockburn

Lower Heathcote Racing and Trotting Club racing at Heathcote

New Brighton Racing Club racing at New Brighton

Matters came to a head in July 1893 when a strong new Club was formed and an application made to the Lancaster Park Ground Company for the use of the Park for four days per year at a rental of £40 per day. The Committee of the old Lancaster Park Trotting Club was very upset at being ousted and obtained a lease of Sydenham Park. To add to the confusion both Clubs applied to race on Friday, 10th November 1893. After much lobbying, approaches to the Colonial Secretary and the presentation of a petition to him the new Club was granted a Totalisator Permit by the Government just prior to the inaugural meeting on Friday, 10th November, 1893. The Club adopted the title of “Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club”. A newspaper report dated 28th December, 1893 stated that the old Lancaster Park Trotting Club had ceased to race. This was the beginning of the end of the proprietary Clubs. In August 1894 there was a protest meeting held to block the old Club racing four days a year at Sydenham Park. This protest was upheld and the old Club then approached the Lancaster Park Sports Committee and, it appeared, without success as the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club was credited with racing at the Park.

In February 1898 it was reported that the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club and the Canterbury Trotting Club had each appointed sub-committees to meet and discuss the purchase of suitable land adjacent to Christchurch for the establishment of a Trotting track with facilities but the joint committee did not meet with any success. In July1898 the Lancaster Park Ground Company acquired more land and signified it was agreeable to the track being extended to a half mile if the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club would take up a five year tenancy. At the Annual General Meeting of the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club held on 15th August, 1898, a Committeeman stated that more effort should be made by the joint sub-committee to find a new ground and that if they continued to be unsuccessful then the Club should enter into an agreement with the Lancaster Park Ground Committee. The Deans property at Riccarton had been explored as a possibility. It was advocated at the time that Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club and Canterbury Trotting Club should join forces provided there was no reduction in total permits now held by the two Clubs (Lancaster Park 4, Canterbury 6).

At a meeting of the Committee of the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club held on 9th May, 1899 consideration was given to the purchase of 35 acres of the Twigger’s estate adjoining the Canterbury A & P Association Showgrounds at Addington for the purpose of preparing a Trotting track with facilities. The Trustees of the property, however, declined to sell for Trotting purposes but subsequently put it up to auction and a 21 year lease was knocked down to the President of the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club at a price below the amount that the Clubs were prepared to go. At a meeting of the Club held on 19th May, 1899 the President’s action in purchasing the lease was confirmed. This resolution inaugurated the major step which established Trotting at Addington on a sound basis.



Credit: NZMTC Historical Notes compiled by D C Parker

At a meeting of the Committee of the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club held on 9th May, 1899 consideration was given to the purchase of 35 acres of the Twigger’s estate adjoining the Canterbury A & P Association Showgrounds at Addington for the purpose of preparing a Trotting track with facilities. The Trustees of the property, however, declined to sell for Trotting purposes but subsequently put it up to auction and a 21 year lease was knocked down to the President of the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club at a price below the amount that the Clubs were prepared to go. At a meeting of the Club held on 19th May, 1899 the President’s action in purchasing the lease was confirmed. This resolution inaugurated the major step which established Trotting at Addington on a sound basis.


Credit: NZMTC: Historical Notes compiled by D C Parker

In February 1898 it was reported that the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club and the Canterbury Trotting Club had each appointed sub-committees to meet and discuss the purchase of suitable land adjacent to Christchurch for the establishment of a Trotting track with facilities but the joint committee did not meet with any success. In July 1898 the Lancaster Park Ground Company acquired more land and signified it was agreeable to the track being extended to a half mile if the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club would take up a five year tenancy. At the Annual General Meeting of the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club held on 15th August, 1898, a Committeeman stated that more effort should be made by the joint sub-committee to find a new ground and that if they continued to be unsuccessful then the Club should enter into an agreement with the Lancaster Park Ground Committee. The Deans property at Riccarton had been explored as a possibility. It was advocated at the time that Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club and Canterbury Trotting Club should join forces provided there was no reduction in total permits now held by the two Clubs (Lancaster Park 4, Canterbury 6).


Credit: NZMTC: Historical Notes compiled by D C Parker

Matters came to a head in July 1893 when a strong new Club was formed and an application made to the Lancaster Park Ground Company for the use of the Park for four days per year at a rental of £40 per day. The Committee of the old Lancaster Park Trotting Club was very upset at being ousted and obtained a lease of Sydenham Park. To add to the confusion both Clubs applied to race on Friday, 10th November 1893. After much lobbying, approaches to the Colonial Secretary and the presentation of a petition to him the new Club was granted a Totalisator Permit by the Government just prior to the inaugural meeting on Friday, 10th November, 1893. The Club adopted the title of “Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club”. A newspaper report dated 28th December, 1893 stated that the old Lancaster Park Trotting Club had ceased to race. This was the beginning of the end of the proprietary Clubs. In August 1894 there was a protest meeting held to block the old Club racing four days a year at Sydenham Park. This protest was upheld and the old Club then approached the Lancaster Park Sports Committee and, it appeared, without success as the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club was credited with racing at the Park.


Credit: NZMTC: Historical Notes compiled by D C Parker

TROTTING AT LANCASTER PARK

How many of the thousands of people who pack the stands and the embankment of Lancaster Park to watch football matches realise that there was a trotting course there many years ago?

It was in 1887 that the Lancaster Park Amatuer Trotting Club was formed. For 22 years it carried on. Then in 1899 the Lancaster Park, Heathcote and Canterbury Trotting Clubs amalgamated, and became the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club.

One of the earliest competitors in trotting races on the ground now given over to football, cricket, hockey and other athletic sports was the late Bert Edwards, noted trainer and driver. A story which he once told of a race at Heathcote may be mentioned. Those were the 'break and turn' days of trotting in Canterbury, when every horse that 'broke' had to be turned round before it was allowed to trot on. The first horse that Bert Edwards owned was Fidget. This was his story:-

"I nominated my new purchase for a trotting race that was to be run on the Heathcote Racecourse. The race was won by a horse called Conger, ridden by Alf Keith, a grey horse, Erin, ridden by George Burke, being second, and the stallion, Victor, ridden by Johnnie Rodriques, was third, with Fidget fourth. The race was a regular fiasco. The first horse, Conger, was disqualified for having won a race at the head of the Bays, which was not put on his entry form. Erin was disqualified for turning the wrong way when he broke and Victor was disqualified for galloping along the back of the course and failing to pull up and turn. I finished fourth on Fidget, and had the only ticket on my horse on the totalisator. As there was only first and second money, I did not weigh in and so the race was declared null and void, all moneys being returned, less 10% to the investors. One of the Stewards, the late Mr Barney Hale, came to me, and said,'Well my boy if you had weighed in you would have got the lot.' That was not a very good experience for a kick-off, was it?"

Edwards continued:-"Somewhere about this time the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club was formed, and came out with a programme. It's track was a very small one, being three laps and 40 yards to the mile. I entered Fidget for the principal race, which was a three-mile one. This race he won, going the three miles without a break, the time being 9mins dead. The grey horse, Erin, ridden by the late Dan O'Brien, finished second. Alf Keith, who at that time was considered the champion rider of trotters, was third on a bay mare called Malvina. Fidget, by winning the big race at the Lancaster Park Amateur Club's inaugural meeting, can I think, claim to be the first winner of an open race this club held. The club's first race was a maiden event, all off the one mark, and was won by the late David Barnes, with a bay mare called Winnie. Later, I sold Fidget to George Burke, now of Melbourne. Some years later Burke rode him three miles on the Show Grounds, Christchurch, winning the race in 8mins, which was a NZ record for that distance for some years.

"Shortly after the start of the Lancaster Park Amateur Trotting Club, a new club was formed at Addington, called the Canterbury Trotting Club - that used to race on the Show Grounds. Of this club I was one of the first members. Three of the stewards were appointed to frame the handicaps: W Kerr, Tom Walker and myself. We made such a good job of it that none of us won a race, whereupon we all decided that we would not take it on again. At the next meeting of the club, two of the stewards were appointed: Mr Alex Duncan and Mr H Brinkman. Later, Mr Duncan fell out of it for business reasons, but Mr Brinkman continued to become a leading handicapper.

"A year or two later, the Lancaster Park Club put on a free-for-all - it was not so designated in those days - of two miles off the one mark. The three best horses in Christchurch then were Wait-a-While, Daisy and Plunger. Wait-a-While was trained by the late C Kerr, Daisy was owned by Alf Dunn, and Plunger by myself. The conditions of the race were for three horses to start or only half of the stake to be paid. On entry night C Kerr and I met Alf Dunn. He said that he had no chance and did not intend to enter. Kerr and I each thought we could beat Daisy, and as we wanted the full stake, we tried hard to get Dunn to nominate. At last he said,'Well, if you like to pay up for her, I will put her in.' We did so. The track was three laps and 40 yards to the mile, and was very heavy because of recent rains. Alf Dunn with Daisy, drew the inside position, and Wait-a-While second, Plunger being on the outside. The inside going was much the best. The outside, which recently had been banked up with soil, on account of the small turns, was very heavy; my horse was going in almost to his fetlocks. Well, Daisy went to the front and, although tiring badly, won by half-a-length from Plunger, and got the race. It is needless to say we did not pay up any more for other peoples horses. This Daisy was a great trotting mare and later went to Melbourne. Wait-a-While and Plunger were both by thoroughbred horses. Wait-a-While being by Albany, and Plunger by Wrangler. Wait-a-While was a speedy horse and a great stayer.

"Somewhere about this time there was in Christchurch a crack bike rider - I think his name was Webb - hailing from Australia, and a discussion arose as to which would win a match: Trotting horses against a bicycle. The match was duly fixed up to take place on Lancaster Park over 10 miles; the trotting horseman to have two horses. The race eventuated, the two horses being ridden by Alf Keith, who was considered on of the crack riders in those days. His horses were Wait-a-While and a bay mare called Malvina. He rode the horses five miles each and beat the bike by over a lap. The 'bike' was one of the old-fashioned high-wheelers.

"The Lancaster Park track being so small, was very confusing, as in some of the three-mile races the limits were as much as 75sec from the scratch horse. The horse on the limit would often be once around before the back-marker started; so you can just imagine how confusing it was. A bell would ring when the leading horse entered on his last lap. Some of the old-time trotters that were running in those days were the late F Mulholland's grey gelding, Doctor, R Sutherland's Cock Robin, and Kirkwood's Our Pony, later named Betsy. This pony, which came from Wanganui, was a champion and could hold her own with all comers. A little previous to the time I am talking about, this little mare was matched, for a good sum, to trot Native Cat, which was the best horse they had down south in those days. Our Pony, ridden by W Thompson, won the match."

Credit: NZ Trotting Calendar 8Nov44

In 1888 there was a move by the Lancaster Park Cricket Company for the Trotting Club to assume a separate identity from the Cricket Company, to pay a rental for the use of the grounds and become a Club whose sole aim was the promotion of Trotting. The shareholders of the Cricket Company ceased to have any say in the management and in 1890 the Club was controlled entirely by Trotting enthusiasts. In that year (1890) the principal Officials of the Club were: Stewards, D Barnes, C Louisson, V Harris, G McHaffie, J Perkins and L Wilson; the Starter was C O’Connor and the Secretary, A I Rattray.


Credit: NZMTC: Historical Notes compile by D C Parker

TROTTING AT LANCASTER PARK

After two postponements the inaugural meeting was finally held on Saturday 29th May, 1886. For the first meeting, on a course three laps to the mile, five races - one at three miles and four at two miles - were held before an attendance of 1100. The tote handled £1,512 ($3024)while total prize money was £125 ($250). The main event of the day was won by Fidget, ridden by Bert Edwards from Dan O'Brien's Erin in a time of nine minutes for the three mile journey.

The Lancaster Park Trotting Club conducted seven Meetings in its first season between 29th May 1886 and 27th June 1887. This Club was formed to help boost the finances of the Lancaster Park Cricket & Athletic Sports Company which was formed in 1880 and wanted to acquire Lancaster Park.