Obituary Mr A. J. Corrigan

Press, 28 September 1982, Page 26

Obituary Mr A. J. Corrigan

PA New Plymouth Mr Alexander James Corrigan, known throughout New Zealand for his interest in trotting, died at his home in.Hawera last week. He was 86.

Mr Corrigan started trotting driving as an amateur in the 1921-22 season and was the leading North Island driver for six or seven consecutive years. In 1927 he was New Zealand's leading driver of straight-out trotters.

Mr Corrigan relinquished most of his driving from the mid-1930s because of increasing farming interests, but continued to own and breed successfully. Some of the horses he bred, like Johnnie Earl, are legendary. .

He relinquished his licence as a trotting trainer in 1949 and from then on was very active in the administration of trotting. He was vicepresident of the Hawera Trotting Club from 1953 to 1963 and later a life member. He served on the executive of the New Zealand Trotting Conference from 1949 to 1957. After a trip to the United States he introduced the mobile starting barrier to trotting in New Zealand. Built at his own expense, it was mounted on a Land Rover and first used on Easter Monday, 1957. at Hawera. Widowed in 1970. he leaves three children.