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Lucky Jack & Roy Berry

1939 NEW ZEALAND TROTTING CUP

The ever-ready excuse book was well in evidence after the New Zealand Cup last week and it would seem that at least four horses should have ended up in Lucky Jack's position as the 1939 winner. Nevertheless, that horse achieved the distinction of winning his second Cup, and he had to overcome difficulties and prove himself a real horse to take that honour on the day.

Lucky Jack gave a really fine performance, running up handy to the leaders with half a mile to go and fighting on gamely in the run home. This was easily his best effort to date, and one which stamped him as being close to the champion that owner Bill Lowe claims he is.

To "Truth" Lucky Jack has always appeared to fall just short of championship class. Not that he is lacking in speed or stamina - he has those in abundance - but because his off days have been sufficiently numerous to suggest that he has to be caught in the humour to display his talents in full.

This trait was illustrated when he came out to contest the Free-For-All on Friday, his only other start at the meeting. On this occasion he failed to go off, and he only beat two horses home. He does not give the consistently solid and generous displays of "Truth's" idea of a true champion, but when he does set himself out to do his work in his best style, he impresses as having few superiors.

There is, by the way, an interesting sidelight to Lucky Jack's victory. Shortly after he won his first Cup there was a great outcry against the handicapping system because he was placed on a tight mark. It was claimed that as a racing proposition he was ruined, although only a five-year-old and his stake winnings stood close to the £2000 mark. Since then he has gone on to increase that total to almost £3000 and there is every reason to suppose that he will add considerably to that amount. The figures are an effective reply to those who attacked the handicapping system from that angle.

There is no more popular sportsman than owner Lowe, and his horse's victory was well received. He did everything asked of him and could not have won if he had not fought on gamely for the honour. Cantata and Blair Athol filled the second and third placings respectively, and both were unlucky. The former did not get the best of the running in the final quarter, and Blair Athol was giving most of his field a start with half a mile to go. There were only necks between the first three horses at the post and luck in the running made all the difference.

How Colonel Grattan would have fared but for losing his driver a little over four furlongs from home is a matter of conjecture. Whether or not he would have won can provide material for an unsatisfactory argument, but the manner in which he ran on after his accident suggested that he would at least have been in the money.

Plutus was a fair fourth, after being in the fight throughout, but Parisienne, Gallant Knight and Fine Art, the next to finish, were well out of sight of the judge. There was then a big gap to Lawn Derby, which broke soon after the start, Marsceres, Rocks Ahead and King's Play.

In "Truth's" opinion the really unlucky horse was Fine Art. He was never off the bit at any stage of the running, and he was handy turning for home, but the tiring Gallant King so far forgot his manners as to carry McTigue's gelding back through the field in the final quarter. Boxed in on the fence behind Gallant Knight, Fine Art was simply carried out the back door, and at no stage of the run home did he get an opportunity to show his worth, being a helpless victim of the backwash.

On Thursday he gave a taste of his ability by winning the Ollivier Handicap without any trouble, and it is the "Truth's" opinion that he would have treated the New Zealand Cup field in a similar manner with circumstances more in his favour.

-o0o-

TRAGEDY MARS CUP

One of the sport's keenest supporters, and one of thne most prominent and popular men connected with light-harness racing, Eugene McDermott died, with tragic suddenness, during the running of the New Zealand Cup, in which he drove Colonel Grattan.

With a little over half a mile to go, and while leading the field, Mac was seen to collapse and fall from the sulky, and he expired before the ambulance could get him back to the birdcage.

Eugene made his entry into the sport over 25 years ago, quickly coming to the fore as an amateur rider and driver, and he later took out a professional licence as a trainer and driver.

During his connection with the game he handled many good horses, and made a name for himself as a clever reinsman and a sportsman of the highest calibre. His good qualities earned for him the respect and admiration of all, and the sport is considerably poorer for his passing.

He will be missed, but remembered for many years to come.

Credit: NZ TRUTH 13 Nov 1939

Viscount Galway presents the Cup to Bill Lowe

1937 NEW ZEALAND TROTTING CUP

With Indianapolis back on 72 yards in a 16-horse field and given no chance the next year, particularly when his preparation was badly affected by a stone bruise, the Cup was a relatively tame affair as Lucky Jack won easily from fellow frontmarkers Gamble and Tempest.

Owned by his breeder Bill Lowe and driven by trainer Roy Berry, Lucky Jack was however a fine stayer in his own right and repeated two years later in a close and exciting finish over the stablemates Cantata and Blair Athol. He was unlucky not to match Indianapolis' feat, finishing a fine second in 1938 from 48 yards.

Roy Berry had ridden Sinapis to win the New Zealand Galloping Cup at Riccarton in 1913, equalling Free Holmes feat in that respect, and would win another Trotting Cup with Bronze Eagle in 1944, while the Lowe family had further success with Cairnbrae and Humphrey in the 60s.

Lucky Jack's second triumph was overshadowed though by the death of Eugene McDermott after leading with Colonel Grattan just two furlongs from home in the Cup. The popular horseman had shot clear in the backstraight, but fell from the sulky soon after and died on his way to hospital from the heart attack.

Credit: New Zealand HRWeekly 8Oct03

LAME CUP FAVOURITE WINS AND PUBLIC IS CRITICAL

"I know I am in the gun!"

This remarkable assertion was made to "Truth" by George Barton, owner of Indianapolis, the bst pacer this country has ever seen. Barton sensed, as did very many more, that his horse's success in the Trotting Cup was not popular. That usual outburst of enthusiasm was missing. It was only a half-hearted cheer that greeted Indianapolis and driver Eugene McDermott as they returned to the 'cage when, in point of merit, the multitude should have roared it's head off. A winner of the Trotting Cup run in world's record time, and hardly a cheer!

Why this frigid reception, this handing out of the icy dook? Did punters, in light of the successive sensational rumours as to the condition of Indianapolis reset unkindly when the result of the race showed he had been able to put up a wonderful performance? Owner Barton thinks that this was the reason for the artic tinge and in an exclusive interview with "Truth" explains everything. After hearing George we can well hear him exclaiming: Save me from my friends!

Taking the public completely into one's confidence does not always pay and it was for so acting that Barton has been pilloried. George knew that Indianapolis was going to be a hot favourite for the Cup, and in his zeal to keep the thousands of the big pacer's supporters on guard, he decreed, from the moment the burst hoof started to give trouble every inquiry as to his condition should be truthfully answered. There was to be no equivocation or camoflage. It was just the old case of forewarned being forearmed, but as ill report followed ill report punters became apprehensive, and started to look around for something else to bet on.

The culminating stage was reached on Cup morning. Rumour had it that Indianapolis was lame. Rumour became established fact when this information was given out over the air, along with the statement that the pacer would start. Lame horses do not win Trotting Cups, so reasoned many, and this final announcement caused hundreds who had been saving up for months to be with him,to desert.

Came the race. No horse has ever undergone such a critical examination as did Indianapolis. The rest of the field were merely glanced at - the Barton horse was scrutinised and figuratively X-rayed. Then he moved out to do his prelim. Was he lame? A thousand mouths asked that question. "No - Yes by jove he is!" Nearly all answered that way. There was no doubt that the Barton horse was tender, and, well, a horse has to be fighting fit to win a Cup.

To the totes moved the multitude, and for a good while the Indianapolis - Mountain Dell bracket was not so well supported as Harold Logan and Red Shadow. Finally the coupled pair hit the top rung, but even at the finish of betting the price was a great one: in fact about twice the odds most expected to obtain after his win on the track at National time.

Came the race. 'Tis now history. Indianapolis, beginning slowly as per usual, soon was striding out, and, tucked in behind his stable-mate Mountain Dell, was kept there just behind the leaders till the last round was entered on. There he and the mare took the lead. Over at the tanks McDermott let the big fellow's head loose, and in a flash he opened up a gap, which Blue Mountain reduced to a length at the post. The lame horse had won!

Came the usual summeries attached to the Cup, but an indifferent crowd wasn't interested. Barton took the trophy, expressed his sorrow in not having the late Bill Tomkinson on his right on that day of days, and another Cup was over.

At least it should have been over, but tongues went on wagging - at both ends and the middle. All manner of accusations were hurled, the main allegation being that the stories were put into circulation for the purpose of "blowing" Indianapolis in the market. So wild, not to mention cruel, were the gossipers that "Truth" approached Barton and asked him to explain, an opportunity he spontaneously accepted.

"Yes, I know I'm in the gun. You can tell 'Truth' readers, however, that the rumour that Indianapolis was lame on Cup morning was no eyewash to lengthen the late price. It was only too true," emphatically said George. "Right up to the last hour there could be no certainty that he would be able to start, and even when he did line up with the others, both his trainer and myself were shivering with fear that the best horse in the world would go 'bung' in a race that I have been trying for years to win, and that those who stuck to their guns, and backed him, would lose their money on a lame horse. That's the reason both my friends, and the public, were warned of what was likely to happen. I considered it my duty to tell everbody. Had the horse gone wrong in the race, without any warning from me, it was on the cards I would never have forgiven myself. How he won is now history, but I do not think those doing the blaming have been quite fair. I only did what I thought to be best in a very awkward predicament."

George then went on to explain the trials and tribulations of both himself and trainer, Claude Dunleavy, during that morning of anxiety. "When I arrived at the stable, about 8.30, Claude met me with a face a yard long and told me that Indianapolis had taken a turn for the worse and was decidedly lame. He was then waiting for the vet. When the surgeon the horse was taken out and was so sore he could not pace at all. Up to then he had been wearing a shoe with a piece under the crack cut out to relieve the pressure. We decided that it might be better to have that shoe taken off and a full shoe put on. When that was done he was a lot better, though he was still walking with a limp. From then on he was constantly in hot fermentations until about an hour and a-half before the race, when the vet used a 'deadener' - cocaine, I think - and the treatment was kept up right to the time he went to the course.

"The committee sent one of their number to ask that unless Indianapolis was all right I should not start him, and then I went to Chief Stipe, Mr Beer to ask permission to scratch him if he should be lame in the preliminary. As far as I am concerned Indianapolis has never been a big betting horse for me. The horse has always been in the boom and the odds to be got about him in any of his races did not make wagering of big sums worth the risk attendant to all gambling on racecourses.

"He is the kind of horse I have been longing for ever since I broke into the game, and had he not been able to take his place and make a dream come true, I would have finished with trotting for good and all, as I realise only too well that it is very seldom an owner has the luck to get a second opportunity in a lifetime.
I am wonderfully pleased to have won the Cup, and if anybody blames me for what happened I can only say that I'm sorry, but I honestly thought it was for the best," concluded Barton.

"Truth," who has cheered for Indianapolis right through his career, knows only too well that the owner's statement is studded with fact. As Barton says he thought he was doing everything for the best. He did, only for his motives to be grossly and outrageously misinterperated. The insults and slanders heaped upon George's shoulder since Trotting Cup day may drive him out of ther game. We hope he will realise that the section of the game which counts appreciated his efforts.

That Barton knew what he was talking about when he said "the best horse in the world" was proved on the last day of the meeting when Indianapolis staged what must have been the most wonderful performance ever put up anywhere in the world. Giving away 36yds in the big race he broke the offside hopple before he had gone a furlong. With the loose strap tangling round his hind leg at every stride - with occasional slathers underneath for good measure - home he came, going 4.16.

"Truth" made him go his last mile under these difficulties in 2.4 with the last half-mile just on minute flat. Over that last half the hopple that was not broken was hanging below his hock and tripping him up at every stride.

ONLY A CHAMPION WITH THE STUFF THAT REAL RACEHORSES ARE MADE OF COULD HAVE MADE THE GRADE.


Credit: NZ Truth 14 Nov 1934

FELIX NEWFIELD

Part of the reason for Felix Newfield's consistent success in the trotting game is clear even before you reach his well laid out stables and yards. The gravel driveway is raked and neat, the facilities tidy and cared for. To quote the old saying there is a place for everything and everthing has it's place. While he doesn't actually say so it is obvious that he and his assistants place great emphasis on the finer points of running a racing stable. That attitude carried through to other areas probably explains why Felix has trained 315 winners in 25 years, making him one of the most enduringly successful horsemen of his generation. Newfield is a genial, sometimes controversial, personality but behind the quick quips there is another Felix Newfield; one who obviously puts a good deal of thought and planning into his establishment and the horses in his care.

Born in Lyttelton 49 years ago, Felix got involved with trotters when his family lived in Domain Terrace in Addington, close to the stables occupied by the late Jack Pringle. On leaving school Felix worked for Pringle for two years and when that trainer moved to Templeton the youngster joined Howie Smith in the same stable and stayed with him for eight years. His first driving experience was at the age of 16 in 1941, when he and Smith went to the Coast with Lord Brent and Blackdale. Newfield drove both without success and on his return the authorities took away his licence, there being a minor problem regarding age. Felix got his licence back when he reached 18 and his first success came shortly afterwards behind Grattan Bell at Greymouth. He won the next race, too with Sir Walter who was closely related to the Cup class pacer Cantata, the winning dividend being $288. At Westport he won three on end with Victory Boy.

Felix can tell stories about those early Coast trips which would appear almost bizarre to the modern stablehand. Jogging to the railway station in the afternoon to catch the train, clanking across to Greymouth or Reefton etc all night, jogging to the track for races, and then back to the train for another long ride home. The boys rode in the boxes with the horses with only a hurricane lamp to light up the card games or the stories of what had happened or what was going to. The trips to Dunedin, he recalls, were the worst. Sometimes the teams would be based on the Coast for weeks. Other times there would be just the day trips. Road transport in the war years was very difficult because of petrol restrictions which limited floats to being used in a 30 mile radius only. Newfield recalls on one occasion walking a team of horses with Addington trainer Joe Purdon (father of Alex) as far as Bankside where a float would be stategically placed to load the horses. You drove the thirty miles - further if you had the nerve - and then walked some more to the next float. Even meetings like Ashburton could be no cakewalk in those days.

In the early 50's Felix took up a private training position with Donald 'Sandy' Green at Methven. Success was almost immediate and in 22 months Felix trained 18 winners for Green, the mainstays being Gallant Satin, Fearless Peter, Quite Obvious (later a successful broodmare), Lothario and Robert Junior. In December 1952 at Waimate the young trainer won three races out of four for the owner with different horses. It was while at Methven that Felix got to know Colin McLaughlin and their association was to be mutually profitable for years to come.

A few months later Felix returned to Addington and set up on his own and on May 1, 1953, at the Reefton winter meeting came his first success on his own account. The horse was Marathon, owned by Mrs C Pateman, and he won an intermediate event by five lengths at odds of five to one. Not long afterwards Felix married Joan Harris fron Central Otago and moved to his present property at Templeton. It was a far cry from what it is now, having been used as a chicken farm. Felix built the stables and yards and milked cows as well to help him through the difficult early times of professional training.

His initial team was small. Main stake winners were Sedate, who was leased from Colin McLaughlin and who won four races before starting a breeding line which has proved highly successful including as it does Allakasam, Royal Ascot, Morsel and Flying Mile among its produce. Sedate was raced by Felix in partnership with Christchurch businessman Frank Kirkpatrick and Newfield's regard for his first stable patron is obvious. At the same time Frank raced Suzendy and she was a top mare winning 10 races and putting the stable well on the way to success. Frank Kirkpatrick still races horses from the stable and has remained a constant patron through the years - a trait of owners associated with Newfield.

By the end of the 1957 season Felix had reached sixth position on the trainers' table, Suzendy and Captain Free being the leading lights at that time. But it must have been hard work. With the assistance of Murray Hessey, now a trainer at Yaldhurst, Felix worked a big stable of horses and milked about 30 cows as well, which is a pretty daunting timetable even from this distance in time. His highest place on the table was third in 1962-3 when the stable produced 25 winners, only two behind the leading trainer that season, Ces Donald. Great Credit, that speedy but unruly horse was the leading stake winner. There have been any number of top horses through the stable. Johnny Guitar won a Wellington Cup and 10 other races. Queen Ngaio won 10 for the stable and ran fifth in the Cup, the closest Felix has been to achieving his great ambition of winning the big race. "There's not another race like the Cup is there?" he says, and one gets the feeling that nothing is going to be better fitted for the race than Nimble Yankee come November and all going well. Pancho Boy won nine including the Louisson Handicap and Queen Ngaio became dam of the outstanding but unsound pacer Waratah, raced by Joan Newfield and her father Jack Harris. Waratah won the Dunedin Cup and is now fashioning a creditable stud record against great odds in terms of attracting class mares.

There were other horses to recall from earlier days. Semloh was a Welcome Stakes winner, but unsound, and First Belle was a good winner for Felix which persuaded him to buy her first foal. Named John Craig, after the trainer's sons, he was sold to Australia where he was a champion three year old winning two Sires Produce Stakes and two Derbies, and he later did well in America. Earlier there had been Dilossa, Chiffon, Dacron, Seafield Hanover, Sirretta, Sirrah (Harris in reverse for the anagram pundits) and numerous others.

Felix had won his first Addington race in the late 40s with Elation, who splashed through the mud to score at long odds. Elation was later sold by his owner for two shillings and won two in a day for Colin Berkett at Addington, the first time paying a big dividend. Newfield has compiled a fine record in provincial Cup races, winning five at Greymouth for example and three Geraldine Cups, including American Chief's this season. He set some sort of record some years ago when lining five horses up in the New Brighton Cup, finishing first, second, fourth and fifth. He, of course, drove Royal Ascot in the dramatic Auckland Cup of 1973 and relates that he "didn't especially go looking for anyone" until it was announced the dividends were going to be paid out so that the Cup was safe following a controversial incident in the middle stages.

With Tronso he won a Dominion Handicap, and nearly brought off a unique finish to the Derby of 1973 when New Law beat Royal Ascot by a nose. Royal Ascot, driven by Alan Harrison, was called in first by the judge and Felix, with half shares in both horses, thought a dead-heat would have produced a most unusual Derby result.

This season has been another good one, the stable having 18 successes. Ambridge, now in the US won five and Warragamba, by Waratah from Laughlin's Lass who were both trained by Felix, won three, but the star has probably been Nimble Yankee who has risen from being a strong but unreliable pacer to a Cup prospect. American Chief has been another good winner.

Like all professional trainers, especially those who do well, Newfield no doubt has his critics. But a feature of his career has been the way his prominent owners have stuck with him through thick and thin. Frank Kirkpatrick and Colin McLaughlin have been mentioned. Another is Eugene McDermott who has been associated with the stable for more than 20 years through horses like Guinness, Black Label, Holmfield and now Americamn Chief and Gladarm. Few other trainers can match this sort of record over such a long period and it is one that Felix is rightly proud of. He doesn't expect to train so many winners in coming years as he has done in the past because things have changed in trotting. "Working them up and winning races and then selling them is the thing today and horses which might have won eight or nine in past years are now sold like Ambridge after four or five wins, or even earlier," he said.

He works about 20 to 25 now with help from Fraser Kirk, who has developed into an outstanding reinsman under Newfield, and his son Craig, who is 17 and with a good trials record behind him, is set for a probationary career next season. Bob Cole helps out in return for using Felix's track. Elder son John was more interested in machinery than horses but Felix's 15-year-old daughter Dianne is keeping the family name to the fore in pony circles. Most 15-year-old girls have their bedroom walls covered with pin-ups of pop stars. Dianne has so many show ribbons won on Bacardi Rum she doesn't have space for pop stars!

As Newfield shows you round the 36-acre complex you are soon aware that a lot of thought has gone into it's construction though there are some things he would now change. His basic training philosophy could be summed up as: "Keep them working, keep them warm and keep them well." He relates the horse's position to humans. How would you like to be shut up in one little room all day or get a cold shower in the middle of winter or run on concrete roads in steel boots? The answer is plenty of room for the horses during the day, warm water for hosing and plenty of attention to feeding and shoeing. Unlike a growing number of trainers Newfield still sets store by chaff which he uses constantly.

Newfield's training programmes have naturally been formed on what he observed as a young man. He names Ces Donald, F J Smith, Ces Devine and Jack Pringle as the best trainers he has seen. "I noticed that they always produced their horses on the big side," he says. "I try to do the same and this is partly why I race very few two year olds. They need time." He deplores the tendancy to drift away from 3200m races. "They made a lot of our horses because they didn't have to be worked up early. We could do with more of them."

Reinsmanship? Freeman and Maurice Holmes, Wes Butt, Jack Pringle and Bob Young are his tops and he also admires the driving of his good friend Jack Carmichael, who won a lot of races for the stable. "That was when Jack was younger of course," Felix adds with a grin. Newfield admits to being a collector of odds and ends. "We've three tractors on the property and never plough a paddock." He does however make a lot of his own hay, and fowls, ducks and peahens outnumber the horses on the property. His latest pride and joy are three peacocks brought from the North Island and there is the odd turkey as well.

Felix Newfield, as I said, has sometimes been a controversial figure but I found him candid answering the awkward questions. He will tell you what happened the day a Greymouth crowd gave him one of the noisiest receptions even that colourful area has witnessed. He says frankly that his own experience caused the public to miss seeing the best of Auditor, the finest horse he has ever trained. "He was phenomenal," Felix recalls, "and beat all the top horses of his day. But I was anxious to get him ready for the Cup and brought him back too soon after an attack of strangles. He was never the same again and had I known then what I know now he would have won a Cup." Auditor was owned by another long time patron in Jack Brosnan.

How does he react to the sometimes heard allegation that he is a tough cookie out on the track? "When Derek (Jones), Jack (Carmichael) and I started out years ago we were boys among men," he says, "and you had to quickly learn to look after yourself if you wanted to make it, because there were some great drivers about then. We did what we had to do and those days formed our driving patterns. These days it's easier and the old methods look worse than they are." He points out that young drivers have a much easier row to hoe today even though it is apparent that he feels the standards have slipped over the years. People in stands, he maintains, cannot properly read what is happening on a track particularly in a big race at Addington where you have to be in the race to experience what's going on. Newfield's ability in the cart was clearly evident in the Driving Championship held at Addington in March, which he won. Some of the horses he drove went a lot better that night than they had before and, in some cases, since.

He regards False Step as the finest horse he has seen and is adamant that today's horses would be hard put to match old time horses when it came to hardiness. "Jogging to the station, all night on a train, jogging to the track, having two races and jogging back to the train and so on was pretty testing," says Felix, "but they seemed to stand up to it." Returning to the topic of driving, he can recall the day he drove Swingalong in a race at Ashburton in which 40 horses started. Addington, by a mile, is the finest track he has driven on or seen.

Like I said at the start, Felix Newfield is a more complex character than he perhaps likes to appear. He has no doubt had his bouts of luck, good and bad, but there is also no doubt that he is a worker and the success he has had has not been lightly earned. Young men wanting to be top trainers should take careful note for it is consistently a hallmark of all top horsemen.



Credit: NZ Trotguide 6Jul77

Cecil Devine adjusts Lord Module's headgear

C C DEVINE

"You know, I should have made it 1917, not 1915," says a somewhat rueful Cecil Devine. No doubt he is thinking of the date of birth on his licence application, the date which decreed that as from August 1 he was no longer able to drive a standardbred racehorse in either NZ or Australia. And no doubt, too, he is thinking that those two extra years might mean he would be able to continue driving his pride and joy, champion Lord Module, until he went to stud at the end of his racing career.

But rules are rules. In the trotting world as well as anywhere else. Cecil Charles Devine, born March 23, 1915, is openly critical of Rule of Trotting 90: "A professional horseman's licence shall not be granted to any person who, though not disqualified under Rule 84 hereof (a) is under the age of 16 years; or (b) is 65 years of age or over; or..." and so on. That's the bit that got at Cecil. "I have always been against the retiring rule. I firmly believe a driver should have to give up on a strictly medical basis; It wouldn't be so bad if a man could continue driving his own horses after reaching the age of 65 as long as he was fit."

Yes, it is an argument that has cropped up previously. Just about every time that one of the more prominent drivers has turned 65. Cecil presses home the point. "Morrie Holmes, Doug Watts, 'Gladdy' McKendry, Bob Young, Maurice McTigue, they all could have kept on driving long after they had to go. They were pushed out miles before their time. They were all fit men and trotting was the loser in more ways than one when they retired. "Their expertise was lost for a start; and name drivers encourage betting. Certainly, there is no lack of drivers today and there are some top young drivers, the likes of Peter Jones and the De Filippis. But there are others who could benefit through watching a top man. When I first got into trotting, I had to get out and drive against the top men."

And when did Cecil Devine first get into trotting? Back in the days of the depression. If it weren't for the depression who knows where he might have been now? He might even have been still practising at the bar. Legal men don't have to retire at 65. "I had the idea I might like to be a lawyer when I was at school. But after two and a half years at high school the depression hit and I had to give that idea away." It was just as tough in Cecil's native Tasmania (his father was a farmer at Collinsville, "up in the hills near Hobart") as it was anywhere else. Finding work was just about impossible. Cecil couldn't get a job. A lot of others managed to exist by "chipping the grass in the domain". And it was about this time Cecil first developed an interest in horses. He got a job with his older brother Eric, a prominent trotting trainer in Hobart at the time. He's still successful with horses, but has more recently had some top gallopers through his hands.

It was only because Eric could not afford to take the time off to bring a small team over for a month at NZ Cup time that Cecil ever came to NZ. "The horses belonged to a fellow named Rudd who bred a successful family of pacers, 13 of them in fact, from a mare called Milky Way. Among them were Evicus (he topped the points list at the 1936 Inter-Dominions at Perth), open class performer Cevius and Icevus (also placed at Inter-Dominion level and later stood here at stud). They were all good horses," Cecil recalls.

"I suppose I was about 20 at the time; I took on the job and was supposed to go back when the horses returned. But Wellington looked so good - they had a beautiful six furlong grass track at Hutt Park in those days - I decided to stay on to see if the rest of the country lived up to that early promise." Live up to it's promise NZ must have done; Cecil Devine is still here even though he does return regularly to his former homeland and is known as "Tas" by closer associates.

It wasn't long before he was offered a job with Vic Leeming who was training just out of Christchurch. Colonel Grattan was his top horse about that time; E C McDermott his number one driver. Cecil had driven a winner or two in Tasmania (he'd driven close to 400 when he had to retire) but can't recall with any certainty his first winner here. "Tonioro I think it was, probably at Omoto," is his initial recollection. But a check through the records of the time show that on December 31, 1938 Tonioro, driven by C C Devine , was beaten into second by a neck.

Still Cecil is more certain about the horse that got him started on the path that led him to his current situation. "It would have to be Teddy Gregg, a Quite Sure horse I leased and named after an Australian naval officer." Cecil had also leased a 20 acre property at Prebbleton some time earlier (the stables are still there, the track is gone) and spent most of his time breaking in horses for others, as well as doing a little training. Teddy Gregg was plagued with unsoundness and when tried as a pacer he couldn't stay. "I converted him to trotting and from then on he never looked back. He was in the money about 19 times from 21 starts. And he won four or five. I'd have to say he got me started. He must have won close on £2000. And about the time of the war, that was a fortune. Cecil never went to the war - "I was unfit they said" - but gradually gathered a small but useful team about him. "I got the odd good one or two and just went on and on from there."

Cecil has never had a large team to train. "I think the most I've ever had is twelve." But right from those early days there has been a good horse in the Devine team. Cecil screws up his face in the afternoon sun and starts to remember them. Great Wonder "she was a pretty good sort" who beat Johnny Globe (on a protest); Shadow Maid who was third in Gold Bar's 1945 NZ Cup; Bronze Eagle who had won the 1944 NZ Cup before coming to Cecil's where he died of tetanus; General Sandy "a top horse who beat Caduceus" and then one day dropped dead of a heart attack in training...the names roll forth. He didn't train them all when they came to their peak. Often they came to him after a run of outs and he got them going again.

One he had from the start was the champion filly Vivanti, incidentally by Bronze Eagle. She was a top juvenile winning the 1950 Sapling Stakes, the Juvenile Handicap at Addington from 24 behind - "a phenomenal run", the Welcome Stakes, the Oamaru Juvenile and so on. She beat Johnny Globe in a lot of those races but he came out on top when they met later in the year in the NZ Derby. However, she did win the Oaks.

The next year there was Van Dieman, the horse who was to give Cecil the first of his six NZ Cups and thus the wherewithall to allow him to consider buying his own property. He had every intention of buying a place on the Main South Road, not far from his present place; and Cecil minces no words when he recalls how he lost out in the bidding to another. "I was determined to have that place but eventually had to pull out when I realised I was in too far. The other chap would have kept going all day. He knew what my limit was." That same day, however, while doing some shoeing back at Prebbleton, a friend mentioned to him that the owner of the land he now occupies might be interested in selling. Cecil made the approach. True enough. The land was for sale. One hundred and sixteen acres of bare land were Cecil's. "The best thing I ever did. I've never had to consider expanding. It's probably the time to shrink."

By this time Cecil was married with a child, Bonnie, the red-haired girl who was later to marry Kevin Williams, the man who will be behind Lord Module this season. Cecil had met his wife 'Vonnie' while at Prebbleton where she was organist at the local church for ten years previously. Marriage "was too time-consuming" to continue that. Together they designed their present home, built another on the place as well as the track, stables and men's quarters.

A lot of young men have worked for Cecil and have then gone on to make their own names in the trotting world. Men like Jack Smolenski, Leicester Tatterson, Peter Yeatman, Jim Dalgety, Faser Kirk, Paul Gallagher. He's got a reputation of being a tough boss. "If paying attention to detail is tough, then I am tough," he admits. "When you don't take outside drives or have a big team, you have the time to be particular. And if your not, there is not excuse." He laughs when you suggest he has probably been responsible for putting a lot of people on the right track in his time. And then he confesses, he has learned something from most of those who have worked for him. "You develop your own ideas over the years, but you have got to be prepared to learn off others. Anyone who is not prepared to listen to others is doing himself a disservice. I'm still learning. I learned something the other day from someone who's been in the game only three months. And then when Lord Module had those cracked hooves, I had no idea how to get them right, even though I thought I was a fair student of shoeing. The mushroom shoe we used to fix them was Delvin Miller's idea. You have got to try every avenue to solve problems."

Cecil Devine expects as much from his horses as he does from his men. His philosophy towards training a top horse: feed well, work hard and not always fast, pay particular attention to that detail again. You must respect a top horse who gives everything; any owner, trainer or driver has to." Cecil stops and laughs and, looking straight at Mrs Devine: "but I don't think you get to love them as much as some people think." Mrs Devine races Lord Brigade in partnership with Cecil and it's obvious she thinks he's a good horse, even though he was just pipped at the post in Cecil's last raceday drive. Strangely enough, Mrs Devine has never driven a racehorse - "and I don't ever want to," she laughs.

Those top horses who give everything. Cecil has raced more than his fair share of them. Van Dieman won the NZ Cup in 1951, Thunder in 1956, the mighty False Step in 1958-59-60, Lord Module just last year. "That's far too long a gap," he laughs. Then there were the likes of Terryman, Raft, Van Rush, Drum Major, Bass Strait, Star Beam, Good Review...the list goes on. He has had some great wins in trotting. He's won a fair proportion of the big ones over the years. He reels them off: "Four Dunedin Cups, two Easter Cups, three Rangiora Cups, a Nelson Cup, three New Brighton Cups, Invercargill Centennial Cup, two Timaru Nursery Stakes, two Sapling Stakes, three Flying Stakes, two NZ Derbies, a Champion Stakes, Juvenile Stakes several times at Oamaru, Canterbury Park, Geraldine, Waikouaiti, Rangiora and Timaru Challenge Stakes, a Timaru Cup, Hannon Memorial, a Royal Cup and the big International Paces at Yonkers and Roosevelt..." the list goes on.

He finds it hard to pinpoint any particular highlight over the years. False Step's win in the $50,000 National Championship Pace at Yonkers in 1961 would be one, winning the 1954 Royal Cup when Van Dieman came with a withering run to beat Thelma Globe and Zulu and then meeting the Queen is another. "That would have to be a highlight; most people would have cut off their arm to win that race. Of course in those days you didn't meet or see royalty very often. Now, with the ease of travel, royalty is almost commonplace." Cecil also remembers February 15, 1964 with particular enthusiasm. that day at Addington horses by Van Dieman filled the first three placings: Van Rush driven by Morrie Holmes, Raft (C C himself) and Young Dieman (Paul Gallagher). "They were the only three horses by him in the race; it would have to be a unique feat."

Two years ago he was loathe to compare any of those top horses against the other. But now, he doesn't hesitate to say that Lord Module is the best of all his champions. "It's hard to compare horses of different eras, but Lord Module has done so many good things. False Step didn't have as much speed as Lord Module, but he was a top racehorse, Van Dieman was probably faster but needed to be covered up; Lord Module can do it from anywhere over all distances.

Cecil has been asked time and again when and if he is taking Lord Module to America. Usually it's been accepted that he will before settling back to a life as a stud stallion. But Cecil has never sid yes or no definitely. But now he says Lord Module will go...provided he races up to last year's form. And provided "Mum lets me go". "You can go," Mrs Devine is quick to reply. There are, however, no definite plans. You get the impression Cecil would like to win another NZ Cup before heading away. The stud career is definite. Nothing is more certain. There have been offers already to stand the horse "with full books guaranteed". But there's time for that. "He's the living image of Globe Derby," Cecil says fossicking around for a photograph of "the greatest sire ever" to prove his point. "It's uncanny, even down to the one bit of white on one foot."

The Cup won't be beyond Lord Module again. If anything, says Cecil, the son of Lordship has come back bigger and better than last year. "He's matured, he's very strong. Personally I think he will be a lot better than last year. He feels good in the sulky." Which is where Cecil won't be on raceday, and that makes him just a little sad in another way too. He thinks that only by driving a horse in a race can you really tell what he needs. Still, son-in-law Kevin Williams has been handling the horse in work and at the trials without any bother so it's now up to them on raceday. No-one else has ever driven the horse before. Cecil's been told that when he takes the horse to America he "shouldn't drive the horse" himself. He should get "a good driver". "Well, what's he going to do with a good driver on him?" Cecil asks. "It would be interesting." It's hard to tell whether or not he's annoyed at having that advice given him. Still, as long as he is fit, he intends to drive himself in America. There's no rule to stop him there. And he is fit. He is up and about by 7 of 7.15 every morning, and works hard enough to keep himself fit. "You must stay pretty healthy working out in the fresh air all the time...even if it is a bit too fresh sometimes these mornings," he says.

If he weren't 65, Cecil Devine would do the same thing all over again. "It's given me a pretty good life; I started with nothing and don't need anything now. I've had a lot of luck and I've had a lot of good horses (he's figured in the finish of 11 NZ Cups with Shadow Maid and Blue Prince as well as those others) over the years. Yes, I'd do it all again."

Of his last season, he was disappointed he couldn't get anything to go right in Sydney ("Lord Module wasn't half the horse he was here") and that he was only second in the Auckland Cup. Still he has a lot of admiration for the horse that beat him on that day, Delightful Lady. "She's a good mare, of that there is no doubt. That day, she was well turned out and very well driven. No doubt about that either.

Cecil means it when he says that. He has got a reputation for straight-talking, even though he can be a bit cagey about revealing future plans. His forthrightness has often got him into trouble with officialdom on racedays but as he says: "I always call a spade a spade. And I don't believe in being run over. If your right, it pays to stick to your guns. I've always done that."

He prefers not to talk about the time he was suspended after a battle with Jack Litten down the straight at Addington, except to mention that he did lose a few good horses through his suspension. Enough said. He remembers just as well his last drive down the straightwith Lord Brigade. "It was close you know," he say a little wistfully. "I would like to have won. Still you can't win all the time. I think I've won my share."

-o0o-

Ron Bisman writing in HRWeekly 11Jul90

C C (Cecil) Devine, who died in Christchurch last week aged 75, was a battler who clawed his way from being a nonentity to fame an fortune in the hard school that is NZ harness racing.

Content to train a small team, even when big success did come his way, Devine neverthless compiled a record in the nation's most prestigious harness race - the NZ Trotting Cup - that is second to none. He won the great event six times, and, while this equalled the training feat earlier in the century of the great James Bryce, Cecil drove all his winners, whereas Bryce shared the driving honours with sons Andrew and James jnr.

Devine's record is likely to stand the test od time.

In his hey-day, with some of his owners not averse to having a punt (and embued with great confidence in the judgement of their trainer), some of NZ's best-known book-makers refused to accept wagers of any sizeable amount on horses from Devine's stable. Devine trained with a purpose. He was a man with very set ideas and, as (sometimes)officialdom and (always) those who crossed him came to learn, he stood up unflinchingly for what he thought was right. When the chips were down, he was a hard man to beat - not only on the track but anywhere. To those he liked, Devine was a generous and loyal friend; to those who got on the wrong side of him, there was almost invariably no reprieve.

Born in Tasmania in 1916, Devine was drawn into trotting through his elder brother Eric, who worked with and drove horses. Hopes to become a lawyer were dashed by lack of wherewithal and opportunity in depression times that saw Cecil, after three years at high school, leave to work in a horse stable. In 1936, when brother Eric was unable to assist trainer Fred Rudd with the good Tasmanian performers Evicus, Icevus an Emlilus on a visit to New Zealand, Cecil got the trip. He was to be here for a month, but stayed for good.

Impressed by the sport here, Devine was readily persuaded to join up with the late Vic Leeming, training at Prebbleton. But, as second-string driver in the stable to Eugene McDermott, opportunities were few and far between. In 1938, Devine went it alone on a little property at Prebbleton, from where his first success as a trainer came with Prince de Oro, whom he rode to win a saddle event at Westport on Boxing Day, 1939. It was two years before Devine won again - on the Coast with trotter Teddy Gregg; and a few weeks after that he won with the same horse a non-tote race at Addington.

It was 1945 before Devine made his first NZ Cup tilt, and this was with Shadow Maid, a good race mare who had been handed to him after losing all semblance of form. Under his guidance, she finished third to Gold Bar and Integrity in a memorable Cup race. Better horses began coming into Devine's stable, and around 1950 he was making his mark with good pacer Good Review and crack filly Vivanti. The latter, bred by Devine and sold to the late Bill Parkinson, won the Sapling Stakes and NZ Oaks and was second in the NZ Derby before Parkinson sold her to Australia.

A milestone in Devine's career came when he leased, with right of purchase for $1000, Van Dieman (U Scott-Reno) as a two-year-old colt from Brian Forest, of Kaiapoi. In an outstanding career for Devine, who eventually bought him outright, Van Dieman won the 1951 NZ Cup and Royal Cup at Addington in 1954. Devine became a national hero as he received the congratulations of the Queen and Prince Philip.

In 1953, Devine left the small Prebbleton stable for a 46-hectare property at Templeton that he transformed from a bare patch of land into a model training establishment. Apart from Van Dieman, one of the first stars from his new property was Thunder, who made a meteoric rise through the classes, culminating with success in the 1956 NZ Cup. A big, rangy son of Light Brigade and Jack Potts mare Busted Flush, Thunder's maiden winat Methven was memorable. He collided with a rival at the start, dislodging Devine, who ran behind, caught hold of the sulky and climbed back in. Making up 100 yards to catch the body of the field, Thunder continued on to win the race to rave reports praising both horse and driver.

Other good horses in Devine's stable at this stage included Starbeam, Great Wonder, Nancy Lee and General Sandy (who was on his way to the top when he dropped dead soon after downing Caduceus in the NZ Pacing Championship). Next came Invicta, who, after winning his way to a tight mark, was despatched to the stable of Steve Edge by Devine. Along with the late Jack Litten, Devine had been suspended from driving for six months for their memorable whip-fight at Addington in 1957. If he couldn't drive Invicta, Devine didn't want to train him. But for this, he would almost certainly have added another NZ Cup to his bag. Under Edge, Invicta, as an 11-year-old, sprang a boilover winning the 1961 NZ Cup.

By now Devine had taken over False Step, inheriting him from the Litten stable following an argument between Litten and owner Jim Smyth. Winner of 14 races including the NZ Derby under Litten, False Step carried on under Devine to win 19 more races in NZ, and in doing so joined Indianapolis as the only three-time winners of the NZ Cup. False Step's Cup wins were in 1958, '59 and '60. Devine then campaigned him in New York. After tragically being stood down from the first leg of the 1961 Yonkers International Series when a blacksmith drove a nail into the quick of a hoof, False Step finished unluckily second to Australian star Apmat in the second leg. And while Devine won the third and finasl leg with False Step, with Apmat fourth, the Australian was awarded the title on points. Shortly after, False Step (now sold for $115,000 to American polaroid tycoon Jack Dreyfus) was driven by Devine to win the Frontiers Pace at Yonkers, with America's champion pacer Adios Butler only fifth.

More vivid in the memory of current-day harness racing fans will be Devine's great exploits with Lord Module. Buying this son of Lordship and the Bachelor Hanover mare Module through the National Sale for a mere $3000, Devine developed Lord Module into one of the most capable pacers pacers produced to this time in New Zealand. Despite a recalcitrant streak which cost him dearly at the start of many of his races, Lord Module won 28 of 93 races ans was also 40 times placed.

Highlights of his career were his 1979 NZ Cup win and his 1:54.9 time trial in 1980 in weather conditions all against a fast time at Addington. In his final race in the 1981 Allan Matson Free-For-All at Addingtn, Lord Module came from last to first to win brilliantly in the hands of Jack Smolenski, one of several one-time employees of Devine who went on to make names for thenselvesin the game.

Devine was forced to retire from race driving at the end of the 1979/80 season. After Lord Module's retirement from racing and standing him at stud, Cecil pottered with a horse or two, but his heart never really appeared to be totally in it from that point. Though he didn't show it, Devine took great personal satisfaction from the success of his son-in-law Kevin Williams with his NZ and Auckland Cups winner Master Mood. Devine's final race win was with Cheeky Module, a son of Lord Module, driven by Smolenski to win a maiden race at Motukarara in January, 1988.

The great trainer is survived by his wife Avonnie and his daughters Bonnie (Williams) and Debbie (Carolan).

-o0o-

A PERSONAL TRIBUTE by Dave Cannan

He was, unquestionably, one of the old school of trotting, long before it became fashionable to call the sport harness racing. And he was proud to be a trotting man, proud sometimes to the brink of vanity and egotism.

But then Cecil Devine had a lot to be proud of and while he never, in my experience, actively sought public recognition for his numerous achievements he was not one to take the self-effacing approach when the media became interested in him or his horses. Why? I never asked him and, if the truth be known, I was probably too intimidated to risk such an impertinent question. My educated guess is that Cecil worked so hard, battling his way from anonymity to world-wide fame, that he wasn't about to give anyone else the credit. And who would deny him that?

Cecil Devine won the NZ Cup six times, training and driving False Step (three), Thunder, Van Dieman and Lord Module to win the country's greatest race. James Bryce also won six Cups but Cecil, rightfully, claimed the record outright as Bryce only drove four. Its possible, but highly unlikely, someone will eventually take that record from Cecil and if "Tassie" is looking down on Addington the day it happens I'll bet dark clouds will magically appear on a bright and sunny November day, and grumble ominously in discontent.

Cecil, who died in July, 1990, aged 75, didn't live long enough to see one of his proudest achievments wiped from the record books - Lord Module's 1:54.9 time trial mile - and while I mourned his premature passing as much as most people, in a way I'm glad Cecil was spared that. Not that I would detract an ounce from Starship's 1:54.5 effort on a hot sunny day at Richmond in 1992 but who of us present could forget the drama and excitement of that cold, wintry night at Addington in 1980 when Lord Module set his mark more than 13 years ago. Not Kevin Williams, who drove the galloping prompter with frozen fingers, not Cecil Devine, who wiped the dew from the sulky as Lord Module prepared for his epic dash, and not me or the thousands of others who stayed on after the races were over to cheer on their champion to such an astonishing time.

And 18 months later they were cheering again when Lord Module denied all odds for the last time to win the Matson Free-for-all, downing Gammalite and Armalight in a race that threatened to bring the Addington Grandstands down. Cecil, forced into unwanted retirement, had to watch like all the rest of us from the stands and before the race began he walked quietly into the press room and slipped some tickets into my pocket. Knowing I rarely risked a dollar on the tote, Cecil had backed up my wavering - and his unflinching - faith in the much-troubled Lord Module with his own cash.

But later, when I chose to spend the proceeds on a mounted action picture of Lord Module, which still (hopefully) adorns a wall in the Addington press room, Cecil was openly furious with me, pointing out the dividend could have - and should have - been spent on my wife or young children. "You always look after your own first...always," he chided me and as epitaphs go, I think it's one of several Cecil Devine would have found appropriate.

Credit: Graham Ingram writing in NZ Trotting Calendar 9Sep80

ROBERT McMILLAN

A fatal collision between the West Coast express and a car at Hornby was a front page story early in 1923. Added to the sensation was that Robert McMillan, the car passenger killed, owned the Santa Rosa Farm in Halswell, then the country's most successful Harness stud.

Champion stallion Harold Dillon, and horses like Great Audobon, Nelson Bingen, Brent Locanda and Petereta most of which produced at least one champion, made up the roster. They had made McMillan, who had personally selected many of them, a wealthy man. The driver of the car, severely injured, was his great friend Eugene McDermott, also of Halswell and regarded as the leading non professional horseman in the country.

Canadian-born of Scottish stock, McMillan had worked for a leading American trainer, John Blant for many years before coming to New Zealand and making his way as a trainer, ultimately at Santa Rosa on Nicholls Rd opposite the Halswell Hotel. McMillan had also struck gold when he bought Great Audobon, the first son of the legendary Peter The Great to win a trotting race in New Zealand. He also won as a pacer before siring the NZ Cup winner, Great Hope, with which McMillan won the Great Northern Derby at his first start (1921) before selling on.

McMillan struck up a close association with Etienne Le Lievre of Akaroa who stood his best stallion imports, usually selected by McMillan, at Santa Rosa. At the time of his death McMillan was described as "a real man and one ready to do a good turn to anyone who was a trier". The two Macs, McDermott being of strong Irish stock, had taken a late afternoon drive to Yaldhurst to inspect American imports based with Ben Jarden, one being the later famous stallion Jack Potts.

Soon after McMillan's burial at St Mary's church in Halswell, Santa Rosa was sold to trainer Albert Hendrikson from Templeton and it gradually lost its lustre as a commercial stud, later being used for training by Charles Cameron and others before housing took it over.

McMillan's death had exposed an embarrassing situation in his private life. In 1914, in his late 40's, he had married Madge Green, 24, who had borne him three children in four years. However the marriage broke down and McMillan was ordered by the court on his wife's petition in 1921 to restore her rights, after she was banished from the house. Great Hope's sale may have been part of the settlement because she did not appear in his will, his estate being valued at a considerable £13,000. The children had been cared for by Madge's sister, Miriam, and that apparently continued to be the case after his death. His only son, Peter, later returned to Canada and one of his two sisters died in Arizona.

Eugene Clement McDermott was the son of a professional trainer, John McDermott, originally from Doyleston but based for some years in Domain Terrace. He shifted to Junction Road in Halswell after World War 1 where the family farmed for over 80 years. Eugene, who operated as a stock dealer from an early age, and as a farmer based in Tankerville Road, was a leading trackwork rider at Addington when that was popular and a champion saddle trot race rider on horses like Vilo, Capriccio, Schnapps and Cora Dillon, all trained by his father, besides a host of outside rides. However he resisted pressure to become a professional until late in life for special reasons and never trained a big team.

After the Hornby tragedy McDermott said he would give up owning racehorses and while in later years he relented it was usually only in special cases such as the trotter Garner which he bought for £16 and won many races includig a clean sweep of the features at an Auckland Cup meeting. Ironically it was the death of another close friend, the country's leading trainer, Bill Tomkinson which propelled MsDermott back into the headlines.

Tomkinson suffered minor injuries falling from a drum securing a float door as the team left for Auckland in 1934. Sent home from hospital apparently fit and well he became seriously ill and died within days triggering the biggest Christchurch funeral of the year. The cortege procession was a mile long. McDermott, a pallbearer, had also raced gallopers with Tomkinson and his young son, Jim.

He took over driving the Tomkinson star Indianapolis that year. They won the 1934 NZ Cup but "Mac's" most memorable triumph was with the champion in an odds-on win at Addington the same year. After less than 200m before a very large Addington crowd the hot favourite broke a hopple. Normally he would have been pulled up but Indianapolis seemed to be only keener with the flapping hopple so McDermott decided to let him run for the public's money. The result was a famous hour in Addington history. Indianapolis never missed a beat. He won easily and paced the last 2400m in 3:08.8 - then two seconds inside the national record for that distance and a theoretical world record. McDermott was cheered "to the echo" by grateful punters.

In the 1937 Cup his own luck ran out when he fell from the sulky of Colonel Grattan with about 800m to run, suffering a fatal heart attack. He had told friends before the race if he was leading at that stage Colonel Grattan would win. His son, also Eugene, was taken out of school to help run the family farm.

Later a prominent owner and highly regarded administrator, he had played rugby for Canterbury in the war years. One of his sons, John, also an Addington administrator (his brother Maurice is a stalwart of Banks Peninsula) is now a licensed trainer - like both his great grandfather, 100 years ago and his grandfather. The McMillan racing tradition died that fateful day at Hornby but the McDermott legacy lives on.

Credit: David McCarthy writing in HRWeekly 1May13