Millionaire Horse

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31785, 16 September 1968, Page 14

Millionaire Horse

Many New Zealanders besides the country’s racing enthusiasts have been waiting, with the sort of eagerness usually reserved for news of distant Rugby test matches, to hear of Cardigan Bay’s passing the million-dollar mark in his stake earnings on the world’s trotting tracks. The 12-year-old pacer was already assured of a place among the “ greats ” of New Zealand sport, just as he had long held a special place in the affections of those who follow the sport in this country. There will be general satisfaction that “ Cardy ” reached his million in a winning run rather than by accumulating the last few thousands in a succession of minor placings. Clearly there is still much running—and earning power—in the great pacer; and it is to the credit of his owners that they have stuck to their announced intention of retiring Cardigan Bay to his native New Zealand immediately on his becoming the first standard-bred “ millionaire ”. Cardigan Bay has been a valuable publicist for New Zealand and for the New Zealand export trade in standard-bred horses, an increasingly important earner of dollars and other currencies. The suggestion that Cardigan Bay’s feats should be commemorated on a New Zealand postage stamp is not, therefore, as fanciful as it might have seemed to the uninitiated. Compared with those of other countries, New Zealand’s postage stamps have followed a conservative tradition. Our philatelic designers could be encouraged for once to leave their well-beaten tracks for a timely excursion on to the raceway.