A Veteran's Memories

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 17, 20 January 1945, Page 4 (Supplement)

A Veteran's Memories

Trainer Says Algerian Was A

Phenomenal Horse

By A. F. HOWARTH

Nearly forty years as an active trainer entitles W. H. ("Bill") Dwyer to be regarded as one of the veterans of the game. Although he has never had a big string, it is a very rare thing for him to be without a good horse, and his successes have gained him a high reputation for skill in his profession.

Perhaps even more than his training ability, his uncanny instinct for picking a good horse in the making has given him a winning percentage of practically 100 per cent among the yearlings he has bought for his clients at the National Sales; and they have not been expensive lots- either. This eye for a horse is born in a man, not made; it is a gift to which only a small percentage of those who live among horses can lay claim. Bill Dwyer has it to a high degree.

TN a lifetime spent among horses, * with all its ups and downs, successes and reverses, the Wanganui veteran has one big regret—Algerian. Though he seldom mentions him, and never repines, he feels that a cruel fate snatched from him what might have been one of the greatest horses of all time. Dwyer bred Zarene, the dam of Algerian, and sold her to the O'Neill brothers, of Wanganui. He bought her dam, Crown Lady, a mare by Crown Imperial 11., for 50gns, retired her forthwith to the stud, ana mated her with Chief Ruler. Zarene was the result of the mating, and she won a few races for the O'Neills under the tutelage of Dwyer. As a brood mare she was to earn undying fame as the dam of 'two Derby win-, ners, and of a third horse which was far greater than either. The End of a Gallant Horse Zarene's first foal was Lowenberg, which won the New Zealand Derby. Dwyer trained him when he took part in a famous triple dead-heat at Riccarton, and also when he broke his leg when running in the New Zealand Cup. Eight years after Lowenberg came Zarene's second New Zealand Derby winner, Tara King, still a force in the land today. In between came Tara King's full brother Algerian. After Algerian's greatness became known the O'Neills sent Zarene over to Australia to be mated for a second time with Beau Pere. Tara King arrived in due course at the Trelawney Stud, where Zarene had been sent to be mated with Foxbridge. The colt by Foxbridge died, and Zarene has had no winner since. Dwyer says that Algerian was a phenomenon. When he won the Nolan Hack Cup at Hawera as a three-year-old he ran the nine furlongs in five seconds faster time than it took the open class horses to go the same distance, and he won by a street. The following season he was taken to Australia, and nominated for all the big races. When he arrived in Sydney it was found that in his working gallops he could not turn a corner properly. He was given a trial in two races, but it was obvious that something was wrong, and it was decided to bring him back to New Zealand. Then one morning, when he was rolling in the sand, his shoulder broke. A post-mortem showed that it had been cracked for a length of oyer six inches, and that the injury had taken place about six weeks earlier; presumably on the boat coming over. Such was the end of a gallant horse and the great dis appointment of a trainer's lifetime. No race, says Dwyer, the Melbourne Cup included, would have been beyond him. Belle Cane Raced in America Another good horse trained by Dwyer for the O'Neills was Belle Cane. She was bought as a yearling by Mr. W. J. Smith,,the owner of Beau Pere, who created something of a sensation by coming over from Australia and buying nine yearlings, mostly fillies by his own horse. She was" leased to O'Neill Bros., and whert she was a three-year-old Dwyer brought off a sensational sequence J of wins which he had had in mind for a long time. It started with a.j maiden race, arid then the., Stakes at Wellington. . At meeting she won the open mile-'event. the Pearce Handicap. Still eligible, to run out her hack nominations, she went to Riccarton and waltzed home in the Spring Stakes, a race for hacks at fixed weights, and after being.skittled in the Derby won the Oaks with ridiculous ease. Later, Belle Cane won the Mariawatu Cup, ran second in the Wellington Cup to Kindergarten, and won the-Great Northern Oaks. Her lease expired, and she was taken to Australia, and sold to the American picture magnate, Louis B. Mayer, for 15,000 dollars. Belle Cane had one race in America, but was not placed. She is now at Mr. Mayer's Deep Cliffe Stud Farm in California. Good "Bread and Butter?' Horses "Bill" Dwyer has raced horses on his own account. After the war he had the useful San Fran horse Alaric and during the depression, when the smallest of stakes were a godsend, he had the good "bread-and-butter" horses Midian and Etiquette. The last-mentioned won three races in four starts of a total value of £125. He also won the Wellington Stakes with Headlady, one of the first of the Chief Rulers. Dwyer's greatest success, however, lay in buying horses, mostly as yearlings, for his clients, and with these he has rarely had a miss. His first venture in this direction was in 1926, when he bought the two-year-old Paleta after seeing him race. Paleta was by Leighton from Catalani, later to become the dam of Catalogue. The price paid for him was lOOOgns. and the buyer, Mr. W. A. Todd, of Wanganui did not see the horse till a fortnight after he was purchased. Paleta proved a great bargain. He won every race in which Dwyer started him as a two-year-old, finishing up by winning the W.R.C Pacific Handicap, the most valuable two-year-old race in the Dominion, carrying 9.7 and giving Laughing Prince 71b and a beating. Mr. T. A. Duncan had given lOOOgns for Laughing Prince at the Jorgensen clearing sale the previous day With this very race in view. When Paleta Was Poisoned . Paleta was taken to Australia in the spring, but was nobbled over there, and was suffering from poisoning when he ran in his only race there, in which he finished 100 yards last. His hair fell out, and it had not properly,grown again when he won the Great Northern Guineas at Ellerslie, beating Laughing Prince agajn and a strong field. He was never as good after that, but at his best he had a torrent of speed, and his.trainer thinks he was the best two-year-old he ever handled.

Later Dwyer bought Knollmere. a colt by Grandcourt from Orozino, for Mr. Todcl, and won eight out of the first eleven races he ran him in. Another great success from the Lowry stud was Paratoo, this time bought on behalf of Mr. Pat O'Neill. Paratoo won the Spring Plate at Riccarton, and on trie second day ran second to Cylinder in the Derby. Dwyer has no definite opinions as to the best horse he has trained—that is, leaving Algerian cut of the count. Kiosk and Sir Beau, both trained for Isaac Lupton, of Waverley, were very brilliant horses, and the lastmentioned was rather unlucky. Belle Cane gets top marks among the fillies, and one of the useful variety was Globe Trotter, which put up a good winning sequence when at the top of his form.

A Good Day's Work at the Sales .-..Recent purchases;.-^6r': : -clients include some good winners bought' at Trentham for Mr. W. A. Dang, of Wellington, at very moderate prices. At the 1942 sales Dwyer bought two colts for Mr. Lang, one by Tiderace from April Fool and one by Lang Bian from Spionetta. Although they are now only four-year-olds, the former, now known as Gulf Stream, has won the C.J.C. Winter Cup, and the latter, Longsword, has won the Manawatu Cup, and there should be more to come for both of them. Next year he bought two more j'earlings for Mr. Lang. They were Matador, a half-brother to Battledress, and Baffling, a colt by Baffles from Taupiri. Both are winners, and the lastmentioned, an 80gs purchase, recently won the Hawkesbury Hack Handicap at Waikouaiti. Michael, a Broiefort colt bought at last sales for Mr. A. Hurley, has yet to win, but he has been third twice, and his turn should not be far cff. Another winner bought at the sales by Dwyer was Hippodrome, this time for Mr. A. Pope. Such a winning percentage is one of which any buyer might be proud. Those who go regularly to the sales know what a chancy thing buying yearlings can be.

Dwyer sold his place at Wanganui a year or two ago, and is more or less retired at Levin, but the lure of the game will not be denied, and he still has a couple of horses to keep him occupied. One is the out-sized Typhoon, a big Defoe gelding, which has been in his care since racing in the Manawatu Cup at Christmas time. Typhoon is a big, raking horse with a tremendous stride, and more should be heard of him before long. Dwyer will also be buying a yearling or two at the sales. Who is prepared to bet that .they will not be winners?