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R A (DICK) PRENDERGAST

There seem to be quite a few Prendergasts in southern racing. How did you all get into it?
Dad had a garage in Hyde with a bit of land attached and there were six boys in the family. Four of them had a go with racehorses. Dad raced Wildwood Chief out of Wes Butt's stable and he won the Sapling Stakes and nearly won the Derby. He drowned in a pool after he was sold to Australia, or that is what they said. We always had horses around and got up teams for the picnic meeting circuit back in the 1940s and 50s. I had a horse with Wes for a while called Top Tally as a two-year-old. I still have the bills. Four pounds ($8) a week fees, two pounds for shoeing and two pounds to float a horse to Kaikoura.

Were there trotters at the picnics?
Gallopers too. I rode the gallopers as well and Tony also later took up training them. Every little town like Naseby and Dunstan had their picnic meetings and their Cup races. We won all of them at one time or another. I actually won the last raceday saddle trot run at Oamaru on Roman Scott, who was by Highland Fling. He was trained by Davey Todd who had Cardigan Bay - he had got beaten in his only saddle trot. I took out an amateur trainer licence in 1956 and won my first race with Tessa, a Direct Heir mare. I moved to Palmerston and had a farm there which I ran in combination with shearing.

You were pretty good on the board?
I could shear around 340 in an eight-hour day. That was right up with the guns then.

Good money?
You used to get five pounds two and sixpence ($10.25) a 100 then. Now it is about $120 a 100 but of course everything has changed.

What made you give it up?
I got TB and had to. The trouble was the farm was not really viable without the shearing so I sold up and moved to Oamaru. I got more serious with the training then, though I had a lot of back trouble after a race accident.

What happened?
There had been a smash on the first round and a couple of drivers were still on the track. When we came around again the ambulance went right across in front of us thinking it was protecting those two, but three or four horses ran into it. I ended up landing on the shaft of another cart. They told me it was bruised and I drove home sore, but it was a lot worse than that. I got used to it, like you get used to the wife, and I could still shoe horses. But it always gave me trouble. Not like the wife.

When did the bigger world get to take notice of your horses?
We ended up setting up next to the Oamaru track and built a house there. I got to know Colin Campbell who has that Moccasin breed which did so well (stars like One Over Kenny, Leighton Hest, Springbank Richard, and earlier Stylish Major and Le Chant). It was funny because Moccasin herself was a pacer by Indianapolis, who had won three New Zealand Cups pacing. Anyway, Colin and I worked in together for 28 years and while down there I had Robbie Hest for him among others. I drove him to win the Trotting Stakes and he had a lot of speed. But he was a hard pulling horse and it found him out over a distance.

Of course some of the stars from that family are now with Phil Williamson. He worked for you?
Yes, and one season when I was out with my back, he drove nine winners in a season, which was tops for a junior driver then. Phil was a real natural with horses. We were standing Depreez at stud then, though he didn't do much good, and some of the mares were a handful. Phil had a special way with them. He could catch them when nobody else could. Later on, I had some really good boys like Mike Heenan, Greg Tait, Graham Ward and Carl Markham. Terry Chmiel started off with me, too, when he was at school.

What other horses were going well then?
Hajano was a very good pacer and so was his half-brother Johnny Baslbo. We sold him to America for something like $50,000, which was good money them. Israel did a good job for us at Addington in the early 80s. He was unbeaten at the Cup meeting (three wins)which was a very rare thing in the intermediate trots.

Why shift to Chertsey?
Partly family reasons. There didn't seem to be a big future for kids in Oamaru. So we bought Slim Dykeman's place which had a new barn, built another house and lckily we got away to a great start there.

Like?
The first three horses that went out the gate all won. Light Foyle won about nine for us pacing in the end. We took a truckload to Nelson and had a great innings there. The Simon Katz came along.

Your best?
Not the fastest but he won over $300,000 and took me a lot of places I hadn't been. He just never went a bad race. Our Eftpos card, I call him. You took him along and he got you some money.

A natural?
Yes, but weak. I told the owners early on he would take a lot of time and thankfully they gave it to me. He had one start at four and maybe five of six at five. He won a Dominion and a Trotting Free-For-All and did what Israel had done, winning three at the Cup meeting. He ran second in a Rowe Cup and third in an Interdominion after getting skittled on the first lap.

Your son in law, Anthony Butt, took over the driving?
I did all the driving for a while, but the horse got a bit blase about it and used to have me on a bit. Someone fresh made the difference.

Did he take a lot of work?
No, he was good winded. We did a lot of road work with him. He was a lovely natural trotter, sound as a bell. He was by a pacer, Noble Lord, and from an Eagle Armbro mare and they weren't much. Just shows you. We used three-ounce galloping plates on him all round. Kerry O'Reilly did a lot of our shoeing. He was a legend at it. We never found out if Simon Katz could pace because he never had the hopples on him.

What became of him?
Funny, he died of cancer not long after he retired. He had what was diagnosed as a virus and we turned him out in the back of Hawarden. My son picked him up on Christmas Eve and as soon as he got him home told me he was a sick horse. He was gone in no time.

Yet not the fastest trotter you trained. Who was that?
Hickory Stick. He was a nine-year-old when we got him and he had been up in the hills for two years after breaking down in the tendon. Stuart Sutherland had had him and I was actually in the chapel at Stuart's funeral when I remembered he had told me it was the fastest horse he had had. When I got home I rang up the owner, Bruce McIlraith, to see what had happened to him and he was just about to go into work. We won five with him and some top races like the Banks Peninsula and Canterbury Park Cups.

Any horses which you rated highly we didn't get to see?
There was one called Skipper Dean. He was a trotter by Master Dean but was too unsound to go far with. He could have been anything.

You spent a lot of time in administration?
I was one of the founding members of the Oamaru Owners Trainers and Breeders back in the 1950s, which is still going, and it went from there. It could be tough in those days. If you had a licence you couldn't be a member of a club. When I first got a driving licence I was only allowed to drive in Central Otago and south of the Clutha. Waikouaiti was about half an hour away and I couldn't drive there! I put a lot of years into the Horseman's Association and am pleased to say it has a much greater standing with officialdom than it had when I started.

What was the best horse you have seen?
Highland Fling. They used to bring him down to Forbury when we were kids going to the races with Dad. If there had been hopple shorteners and ear plugs around in those days he could have been anything. I was a big Noodlum fan possibly because I bred one from him we sold on for $30,000. That helps your regard for any horse.

You trained mainly trotters. Was that by choice?
It didn't really matter to me. You do get identified as a trotting specialist when you have a few of them, bu we had some top pacers too.

Did good owners make the difference to you as a trainer?
I always say one third paid by return mail, one third paid on the 20th and one third didn't. It is tough on a professional trainer who has to carry that last third with his own money for another month.

Any regrets?
Possibly only that I never worked in a professional stable.It would have made things easier when I was picking it up. I was 42 before I had my first drive at Addington. That doesn't make it easy. But overall I would do nearly all the same things over again.

Credit: David McCarthy writing in The Press 16 June 09

Barney Tisdall, who died recently at the age of 83, bred, owned and trained Idolmite a grand pacing winner in the late 1970s and early '80s.

Tisdall was called Barney by the doctor who delivered him on the family farm, Ngapuna, at Middlemarch. The name stuck, although he was registered as Trevor by his parents.

Tisdall served in World War 2 in Italy and Japan from 1944 to 1946.

He married Audrey Matheson in 1948, which led to his interest in standardbreds. Her father, Alec, raced the useful pacer Colours Flying out of the Templeton stable of Derek Jones.

Tisdall secured an owner/trainer licence in the 1970/71 season when he won with Petermite at Wyndham. The Hundred Proof gelding had won a race at Greymouth the previous season when trained by Pat O'Reilly and driven by Kerry O'Reilly. Tisdall stepped up his training activities when he shifted to Dunback in 1976. Idolmite was the star. Others he prepared included Dannymite (seven wins), Tom Pepper (8), Willie Mite (4) and Skip Master (4). Tom Pepper won the 1979 Waikouaiti Cup at Oamaru from a 30m handicap.

Tisdall bred Idolmite from a mating of Local Light and Lady Maling, who was loaned to him by Bob Cleave, of Oamaru, in return for grazing stock on his Dunback property. Lady Maling died in 1975, the year after she foaled Idolmite. Her cold foal by Armbro Del also died.

Tisdall, in a generous gesture, leased Idolmite back to Cleave and Bill Carling, of Waikouaiti. She won three races as a 4-year-old when trained by Cleave, who was forced to relinquish the lease when he injured his back. Tisdall took over training Idolmite and she won her next four starts. She wound up the season (1977/78) with eight wins. Colin De Filippi drove Idolmite in her last win that season, beginning an association that netted nine wins. Her record, on retirement, was 17 wins and 32 placings from 81 starts for $110,495 in stakes.

Credit: HR Weekly 31Jan07

As a trainer of Dominion Handicap winner Simon Katz, Dick Prendergast is remembered more for his talents with a trotter. He had so many of them. In a 10-year period, between 1985/6 and 1994/5, his horses won more than $1 million. For someone who did not turn to training as a career until he was 42, it's a proud record.

Now he's 76. He has two artificial knees. He has three vertebrae fused together in his spine. He has a stent in his heart. He says the rest of his body is nearly "knackered." So his decision the other week to retire from training "was easily made."

For me, I had the good fortune to deal with a mind that was in better shape than the body. When Dick said he would make a few notes, I did not expect a neatly handwritten script that would save countless hours of research. So many good horses would have gone without mention had his memory not been as sharp as it is.

His official start is 1956 when he became licenced, but historically its earlier than that because his father, Bill, who had a carrying business, won the Sapling Stakes with Wildwood Chief for Wes Butt. Dick was 28 when he trained and drove his first winner. From Hyde, he took his Direct Heir mare Tessa to the Cromwell meeting in March 1959, where she beat Spree, driven by his brother, Mick.

In 1963, he moved to Palmerston, where he worked as shearer, truck driver, contract fencer and farmer, and held an amateur trainer's and driver's licence. When health problems became an issue, he sold the farm, brought 60 acres opposite the Oamaru Racecourse, built a house and stables and started breaking-in horses.

The next step was to a racing team, and he soon had one, with Israel an early star. By Crockett, and owned by Dave Cuttance, Israel won seven races, went through the 1981 NZ Cup meeting unbeaten in the intermediate grade, and won a prize for doing that. At the same time, he had the good pacer Hajano, by Jersey Hanover, who won eight, and his half-brother Johnny Balbo, who won four. "Johnny Balbo was sold to the US for $50,000 - big money thirty years ago," he said.

By this stage, Prendergast was in the game for keeps and, deciding there was too much travelling from Oamaru and aware of work opportunities needed for the family, moved to Chertsey where he bought Slim Dykman's stable. "We did so with some trepidation about breaking into the ranks of Canterbury trainers, but our first three out of the gate - Bay Sun, Major Hest and Johnny Balbo - all won."

This, he said, was the start of a "golden era". He worked 25, and had three on the staff. The pin-up boy was undoubtedly Simon Katz, a handsome son of Noble Lord and the Eagle Armbro mare, Carly Tryax, who rose above his pedigree. Prendergast drove him to win the first 12 of his 18 wins, then son-in-law Anthony Butt took over and won the NZ Trotting Free-For-All and the Domnion Handicap in 1987, and Simon Katz won the same prize Israel did six years earlier. His placings included a second in the Rowe Cup, third in the Inter-Dominion Grand Final at Moonee Valley, and his stakes topped $300,000. Within a year Simon Katz was dead from cancer.

Good trotters followed a top one, among them Zola's Pride(8 wins), Robbie Hest(8, including the NZ Trotting Stakes), Springfield Yankee(8), Whizzing By(8, including the NZ Trotting Stakes and Dunedin Cup), and Worthy Adios. Double Stitch won six, and he says Hickory Stick was the fastest he had. "This horse came from Stuart Sutherland as an open class trotter who had broken down and had not raced in eighteen months. In the space of twelve months for me, he won five races, including the Banks Peninsula Cup, the Ordeal Cup and the Canterbury Park Trotting Cup."

Although trotters were always the stable flavour, smart pacers were there, too. Light Foyle won nine before being sold to the US where he won another 30, General McArthur won four before breaking down, free-legged Bay Loch won four, and Eddie Ray won four. A special project was The Coaster, a son of Soky's Atom who was a good pacer for Brian Kerr and won six. Starting off as a maiden trotter, The Coaster won another six at that gait. Others of note were Weston Gee, Weston Bo, Light Buffy and Geena Hest.

"I made a profession from a hobby, and because I got a lot of trotters, it was a brand that stuck. There will always be horses that disappoint you, but others will give you great memories. I think I drove alright. If it was spasmodic, it was not so much me driving a bad race but driving a bad horse." As a driver, he especially treasures winning the Ordeal Cup and the Canterbury Park Cup with Simon Katz, the Trotting Stakes with Robbie Hest and Whizzing By, finishing second in the Dullard Cup with Simon Katz, and winning one of the last saddle races in NZ on Roman Scot for Davey Todd.

He had an excellent strike-rate with developing young horsemen, with Phil Williamson, Graham Ward, Michael Heenan, Greg Tait, and Carl Markham training under his wing, and Kerry O'Reilly, Anthony Butt and his wife Leonie invaluable in other areas. He was a keen and able administrator, serving more than 40 years on various OTB committees, and horsemen's associations.

With no more feed-ups to do, yards to clean and boxes to muck out, 'noms' to think of, track to grade and truck to run, Prendergast has time to do things a man of his vintage should happily retire to. "It's time to watch progress of our many friends, and particularly of my grandson Chris Butt" - who is working for Tim Butt and Phil Anderson - "who will soon have his trials licence, and his sister Kimberley who is doing very well in the pony club."

-o0o-

Hard knocks are part of being a driver, and Prendergast had his share.

The worst was at Invercargill about 30 years ago when he was driving Kimrock. There was trouble at the start and a couple of drivers were tipped out. The rest set off. In the meantime, the ambulance went to th rescue and was parked in the middle of the track. It was there when Kimrock came round and hit it. Prendergast was tossed into the air, and landed heavily.

He drove his float home afterwards, and Leonie recalls she had to carry him inside. That was in January, but it was not until November that he had surgery on his back, and it was another six months before he was near right again. "It had an affect on his life," she said. "He's never really been a hundred percent free of pain since."




Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HRWeekly 31Oct07

Stable Foreman Hamish Molloy with Inky Lord

1989 DB DRAUGHT NZ TROTTING CUP

A small handful of grit might have been the key to Inky Lord's dynamite performance to win the $400,000 DB Draught NZ Cup at Addington Raceway on Tuesday. Driver Ricky May arranged for a starters assistant to place the tiny stones in Inky Lord's mouth just before the start. He thought the grit would be a distraction while he was at the barrier and could make the difference between a good start and a poor one. "I've got Jimmy Curtin to thank for that wee secret," said May later.

It was national news on Friday that Inky Lord had failed to begin cleanly at the pre-cup trials on Thursday and any show Inky Lord had in the Cup depended on a safe start. This information was enough to put the breeze up the best of Inky Lord's admirers.

Curtin and May are good friends and as they walked around before the start of the first race on Cup Day, Curtin said to his mate: "Put some grit in his mouth just before the start. Nine out of ten have gone away when I've used it." May had tried the bribe on other horses, but had never before thought of using it with Inky Lord. "It gave him something to do at the barrier, but he was so settled and relaxed that I'm sure he would have begun well in any case. Brian spent about two hours with him on Saturday; he was just such a relaxed horse this time," he said.

May confessed that he was still in two minds after his Hannon Memorial success whether it was right to start such a young horse in the Cup, but he was also aware the horse was improving so much with each race.

At a "rough count", May puts his number of wins at 260. He has driven Inky Lord in every trial and every race - bar one, and that was in the Sapling Stakes when Kerry O'Reilly stood in during a term of suspension.

Had it not been for a dreadful check 450 metres from the finish, Inky Lord may not have won the Cup. Buried back in the pack, 12 lengths away from pacemaker Kylie's Hero, Inky Lord appeared to lose all chance when Debbie's Boy broke ahead of him after interference, and drifted back. Driver Ricky May saw the benefit of a brilliant beginning and a chance of winning the Cup fall apart. The situation appeared hopeless. "It just took me out of the race. I didn't have a dog's show when that happened," he said.

To Inky Lord's advantage, the gaps ahead had opened, but it was a matter of whether the little black grenade would have time to muster his usual explosive finish. Moving to the outside of the track, following the bold challenges being made by Bold Shavid and Dillon Dean, Inky Lord used speed and competitive spirit to join in the chase after Kylie's Hero.

By this stage, the second favourite was finding the last 50 metres uncomfortable, and Bold Sharvid passed him bravely. Dillon Dean, driven a treat by Colin De Filippi, then took over. But Inky Lord was still in full cry and five metres from the finish, the four-year-old had his head in front.

"When I started to catch Luxury Liner I thought there might be some of the money in it for us. And, then as we got closer to the finish I knew there was a chance we just might get up. It was a phenomenal sprint. I really thought Colin had it until those last 10 metres," said May.

Tony Herlihy, who drove the favourite Luxury Liner, said the backmarker went good and tried hard. "He just couldn't get a breather at any part."

"I thought to myself 'where'd the black fellow come from',"said James Stormont, who drove the third placegetter Bold Sharvid.

"I was confident he would see it out and he fought well. It was only in the last stride or two that he lost it, said Colin De Filippi, the driver of Dillon Dean. "I was pretty confident I had everything covered. I had forgotten about Inky Lord, because I knew he was behind me, and I didn't think anything would come from behind Dillon Dean and beat him."

Credit: Mike Grainger writing in HR Weekly

Tussle and her constant companion Sally Marks

1986 TAUBMANS DOMINION TROTTING HANDICAP

The theory of wind resistance played an important part in Tussle's courageous Dominion Handicap win. Moments before "Shorty" moved away from the shelter of the birdcage and into the uncompromising 14 knot easterly on the track, her owner-trainer Dr Cliff Irvine untied the dust sheet on the sulky and tucked it under his arm.

Irvine successfully tried the tactic at Addington 25 years ago when Light Mood took third in the President's Hadicap at long odds. "It was blowing a gale that day, and Doug Watts said to me in the birdcage 'why don't you pull the mud sheet off?'," Irvine recalled.
the 65-year-old Lincoln College veterinary professor "hasn't had occasion" to use the ploy in the last quarter of a century, but after consulting Tussle's driver Peter Jones, and his old cobber Derek Jones, he had no hesitation. "Derek told me he had done it when Soangetaha won one of his Auckland Cups, and Peter said he didn't mind getting gravel in his face, so we took it off as quickly as we could in the birdcage. On a very windy day it acts like a sail and it would have a retarding effect - it is tough enough for her with Peter in the cart, being a little horse, let alone having a spinnaker out there."

And Irvine's snap decision was vindicated when Tussle, after her familiar beginning to land in fourth place, was left straining into the wind with still 1800 of the 3200m heartbreaker left. By then comeback hero and 1984 Dominion winner Basil Dean had his rivals struggling to stay in touch with his eager front-running, which reminded some of his awesome 2600m world record two years ago. "When he was attacked by Admiral Soanai down the back he got fired up and on the bit, so I thought it best to let him bowl along," driver Kerry O'Reilly said. "I could see Basil Dean was serious," Jones said, "and she's just as good parked as anywhere else in the field...but she was struggling to keep up with him."

Sally Marks, Tussle's faithful companion and strapper, watched dejectedly as the pack bounced down the stretch with a lap to travel. "She's hanging badly - I think she's had enough," Marks said, pulling in another lungful of Pall Mall and walking aimlessly towards the outside rail. Tussle did look beaten as the 800m peg came and went, her trotting action unusually scratchy and her head bobbing from side to side.

With a fierce tail wind down the back straight for the final time, Basil Dean punched three lengths clear and the murmurings of the crowd sensed an emotional upset. "But he wasn't quite up to it," O'Reilly said. "I knew half-way down the back he was struggling. He's still got the speed, and he's sound, but he didn't quite have the race fitness." Basil Dean's ground-devouring stride began to shorten on the last bend, and tiny Tussle quickly gathered him in and scooted two lengths ahead. And as first the sturdy warrior Jenner, who had followed Tussle throughout, and handsome favourite Melvander (who had tracked Jenner) balanced themselves before attacking, she lowered her head, flattened her ears and cut through the wind to the post. With 100m left, both Jenner and Melvander seemed poised to gun down 'Shorty', but with her new found strength this season she determinedly held the pair outto score by a long neck.

Veteran Christchurch horseman Jack Carmichael could not quite cap his successful Cup carnival, settling for second and $20,000 with Jenner. "I thought half-way down the straight he might get to her, but she was just too good," he said. Melvander finished a further long neck behind after almost exploding into a gallop 50m off the line. "I was smiling around the corner, but then he started to trot roughly and I had to take hold of him," driver Jack Smolenski said. South Auckland mare Landora's Pride rattled into fourth ahead of Simon Katz, while the others struggled home victims of a punishing last 2400m of around 3.04. "She simply outstayed them all," Jones said of Tussle later. "She can really fight them off now, and had them covered all the way down the straight."

When asked if he considered removing Tussle's dust sheet made the vital difference between winning and losing, he replied: "It was blowing quite hard and I suppose it's got to make a difference. She was battling into the wind from the 1800m, she had the worst run of all the horses that figured in the finish, but she kept going right to the line."

Irvine described Tussle's Dominion Handicap win as one of her two greatest performances, the other being her dazzling 2:31.9 national record for a flying 2000m which she set fresh-up in September. "She always surprises me how well she goes and how she keeps on improving, even this year as a ten-year-old," he said.

There are few mountains now left for the champion daughter of Tuft to climb. She has captured the two most prized trotting crowns in New Zealand: the Dominion Handicap and the Rowe Cup (1985). Her 3200m time, despite the ravaging gale, was 4:13.81, which lowered Indette's national record for a trotting mare. And the $65,000 winner's cheque bumped Tussle's earnings to $268,055 in New Zealand, making her the greatest stakewinning trotter in history.


Credit: Matt Conway writing in HR Weekly

1985 NEVELE R STUD NZ OAKS

Southland filly Chipaluck looks to have a mortgage on the DB Export Flying Fillies Final at Alexandra Park after her runaway victory in the Nevele R Stud NZ Oaks.

Chipaluck was having her 15th start for the season and she has come through a campaign, which has seldom seen her enjoy an easy run, in peak condition. Driver Kerry O'Reilly took her to the front at the 1800 metres and from then on, she had her rivals well covered. Jack Smolenski took Adios Trick forward to sit in the open at the 1200 metres, pulling a punctured tire from there, but she was beaten soon after turning from home and finished ninth. Chipaluck established a winning break at that stage and maintained a three length advantage to the line, posting 3:21.1 for the mobile 2600 metres. It was left to Maddie to battle gamely into second nearly four lengths clear of Springfield Countess, conqueror of Chipaluck in the Southland Oaks.
Southland fillies have enjoyed a successful couple of seasons in the NZ Oaks, Josephine Bret running out an impressive winner last term.

Springfield Countess enjoyed a good run behind Passover early, improved on the home turn, and fought on well to take third b a length from Bonover, who also ran on well without threatening. Lunar Dawn, who lead early then trailed Chipaluck, had little left in the straight, finishing fifth, while Golden Rolex just battled into sixth ahead of Folie Bergere who did not get the best of runs.

Trained by Ron MacDonald at Myross Bush, and raced by him in partnership with his son Charles, Chipaluck is out of the unraced Majestic Chance mare Native Chance. She has earned $39,505, the result of five wins, three seconds and four thirds from her 15 races, all this season.

Credit: Tony Williams writing in NZ Trotting Calendar

1984 TAUBMANS DOMINION TROTTING HANDICAP

Six hundred metres after the start of the $60,000 Taubmans Dominion Trotting Handicap the race was as good as over. It was at that point that Basil Dean took control and the point at which the remaining 11 drivers appeared to settle for fighting out the minor placings.

At the finish of the 3200 metres Basil Dean was two and three-quarter lengths clear. His time for the distance, 4:12.9, was the second fastest recorded in the race - only Alias Armbro's 4:12.3 being faster but that being set on a fine sunny day. Cal Brydon, after being very late clearing a pocket, charged home to snatch second from a gallant Jenner in the shadows of the post, with Tussle close up fourth.

Basil Dean is owned by trainer Bob Jamison of Ashburton and Tim Newton. He has now won 22 of 54 starts and over $154,000 in stakes. Basil Dean opened up a warm favourite, eventually returning $1.60 for a win and even money for a place. After taking control, Kerry O'Reilly took hold of Basil Dean and set only a steady pace for the remainder of the first mile. After that O'Reilly quickened the tempo, sprinting sharply from the 1000 metres and giving those at the back little chance to make headway. The Great Evander gelding turned for home with a handy lead and O'Reilly didn't even have to flick the whip at the eight-year-old as he coasted over his last 800 metres in 59.4 and final 400 in 30.

The race was certainly not an exciting spectacle. The only real race was that for the minor placings. Cal Brydon, back four places on the inside for much of the way, managed to clear a pocket inside the 200 metres and Peter Wolfenden sent him out after the leaders. He came quickly, taking second from Jenner, but had no chance of overhauling Basil Dean. Jenner's run was eye catching. Driver Jack Carmichael was left parked on the outside when Basil Bean assumed control. He eased Jenner back to sit on the outside of the third line for the first 2200 metres of the race. He gradually moved Jenner up going down the back for the last time and the horse fought on exceptionally well for third. "A good run," said Carmichael after. "He was doing his best without the whip. It was a good run after being left in the open."

Second favourite Sir Castleton was sixth. He bounded away from the start and added 30 metres to his ten metre handicap before Doody Townley could settle him into a trot. After catching the field with half the race completed, Townley got on to the back of Adiantum going down the back, but this proved more of a hinderence than a help. Brought wide turning for home, it was clear that he had no chance of returning a dividend, but the Game Pride eight-year-old finished on resolutely to deadheat with a tiring Game Command for sixth place.

The only real disappointment in the race was Noble Advice. A proven stayer, the gelding was backed into fifth favouritism but only battled into eigth place after enjoying a trouble free run.

Credit: Brian Carson writing in NZ Trotting Calendar