Flew 8000 Miles To See Her Filly

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30365, 14 February 1964, Page 2

Flew 8000 Miles To See Her Filly

A woman is really keen on horses when she flies from Chicago to Auckland—about 8000 miles —to see her filly. That’s how it is with Mrs Dorothy McKellar, of Lake Forest, Illinois, who bought Way South when she was in New Zealand last year, and is already back to visit the two-year-old.

The Blue Skin—Marieka filly, in a Takanini training stable, had not raced much yet and was still a bit skittish at the barrier, Mrs McKellar said in Christchurch last evening. “But she is going to stay in New Zealand. She is my excuse for coming back.”

Mrs McKellar owns two racehorses in the United States. Her husband owns 39 horses, including mares and foals, in Kentucky and Arkansas, as well as eight racers in France and England. A string like this could keep the owners travelling indefinitely. Wherever they go belated copies of the American “Racing Form” follow them around. "When we return home in March we shall be heading right over to Hot Springs. Arkansas, to see some of them race, as they won’t be coming to Chicago till May,” she said. Keen Rider A tall, lithe blonde with a love of the outdoors. Dorothy McKellar rides most days, except in the depth of winter. on the family farm about 30 miles from Chicago. Before she had her four sons she rode in shows and to the hunt.

"But I have to do all my own work. It is very diffi-

cult to get help in the home and so I have trained the boys in household chores,” she said. Home is a Spanish-type house built round a courtyard, with a guest apartment above the garage. “We have chickens, ducks and plenty of dogs around,” !she said. N.Z. Farm Some day Mr and Mrs McKellar hope to buy a place of their own in New Zealand. probably a small farm. “We love this country and the life it offers. You have everything here,” she said. Lake and river fishing has won an adherent in Mrs McKellar. “I caught a beautiful trout in Lake Taupo and I was shown a wonderful way to cook it —by wrapping it in a paper parcel, leaving it in the water for 20 then throwing it into charcoal embers (paper and all) till it was done. That fish was just out of this world.

This morning Mrs McKellar intends to be on her way to try salmon fishing by 4 a.m. with her husband and two Chicago’ friends, led on the venture by Sir Edmund Hillary.