NEW ZEALAND CUP

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 35, 4 November 1933, Page 9

NEW ZEALAND CUP

Rider of First Winner R. DERRETT’S CAREER Interest in Sport Still Keen (By Telegraph—From “The Watcher.”) Christchurch, November 3. The first New Zealand Cup was run at Riccartou 50 years ago, and the rider of the winning horse, Tasman, is still alivq and very hearty. He is Robert Derrett, at present living at Ricearton, who In the ’eighties and nineties of last century was the leading horseman In New Zealand. The New Zealand Cup, which was previously known as the Canterbury Jockey Club Handicap, was first run in 1865, the name being changed m 1883. Derrett to-day is an exceptionally active man who might very well pass as less than 60 years old. He refuses to disclose his rpal age. It varies, he says, with the weather. Sometimes it is 16, and sometimes it goes as high as 23, hut as a general rule he maintains it is 21! The first cup was a great race for Tasman's jockey, who was commissioned to ride him only at the last moment. The popular fancy was Nonsense, and the mare had been heavily backed with the bookmakers, who in those days were the only betting channel. There was a lot of money on Nonsense, and also on Cheviot, but a magnificent race gave Derrett on the lightly-backed Tasman the verdict. Once Owned Carbine. Derrett’s first winner was ridden at Riccartou in November, 1870, just 63 years ago; his last was ridden at Ashburton in 1908. Between those years he handled hundreds of horses, including the great Carbine. Carbine actually passed into Derrett’s hands for a short while, and during his ownership won several races. D. O’Brien had bought Carbine at Sylvia Park for about £6OO, and was thoroughly disgusted with his ungainly-looking purchase. He offered to take £lOO less for the horse, and Derrett accepted the offer. The transfer papers were never actually signed, as the two were working in co-operation. Carbine started winning, and the lute Mr. G. G. Stead offered O'Brien £2OOO for the horse, which, on Derrett’s recommendation, was refused. Carbine eventually went to Australia, and became so famous that by the general public he Is one of the few of the early horses that is remembered. Derrett says Carbine was a very lazy horse to ride, and had to be pushed along. One of his mannerisms was an exceedingly slow start, because, unlike most ol her horses, he did not rush away when the flag dropped, but insisted on taking his own time. Of all the horses he lut'd ridden in races Derrett remembers Trenton, another Musket horse, with the greatest affection.. lie went to Australia, and once ran second in the Melbourne Cup. A Great Horse. “Trenton was a great horse," Derrett says. “He was the most generous mount I have ever had. Trenton afterwards at the stud made a great name for himself, and he appears now in many leading pedigrees.” Derrett’s life has been lived among horses. He is one of the type that motorears have no.t driven out of existence. He can recall with no effort the pedigrees of horses, their sires, their dam’s sires, and many of his mounts which were prominent performers in the early ’eighties and before. He talks with affection of the days when Stormbird, Nottingley and Natator were favourites; when Christchurch had a real “nobility,” recognised as such, and when Jimmy Self and Drake Harris and a dozen others made books. Hi's home at . Riecarton. which he acquired 56 years ago with the proceeds of a good w?n from Fishhook, is filled with sporting records that go back more than half a century. On the walls are pictures and prints of early meetings in Canterbury, and in England; of horses, and portraits of great riders like Fed Archer. Tom Cannon. George Fordham, and Fred Webb. One picture of particular interest, and one that gives its owner great joy, shows 'the Riccartou course with the finish of the Canterbury Cup of 1878. Temnloton is just passing the post, with Fishhook nnd Natator in that order behind him. The stand, built in 1864, fs'crammed with celebrities of the day. the “nobility” in the best seats, the sporting fraternity lined along the rails, and the ordinary people accommodated on the roof. The artist, painted most of those present from life, and Derrett can recall many names. The Present Generation. Like most, men of mature years, Bob Derrett shakes his head sadly over the condition of the sport of racing in the present generation. “Owners,” he says, "never watch their horses training now. Their greatest display of interest is on the morning of the race, when they will possibly ask the trainer whether the horse is worth ten bob,” Like the rest of the sport, training and riding, especially riding, have in Derrett’s opinion suffered a decline. “There are more horses ruined by hoys these days than by galloping, by a long way,” he says. “You see them jerking the horses heads about and misusing 'them.. That is the surest way to spoilt a horse’s character.” . The decline of interest of the public m

horses that make the races is for him a subject for sad reflection. Very few people now can appreciate the make and shape of a horse, nor give even a wild guess at its Racing for the most of its followers lias become a commercialised proposition. Derrett says that one of his chief pleasures now is to get somebody intelligent to talk to, but be finds it almost impossible to run across . anybody whose memory goes back sufficiently far. His success he attributes 'to a strict rule to go to bed early. He was continually in hot water with friends, who objected to him leaving sxune celebration too Carly. “I’ve seen hundreds of them who had their chances,” he declared. “They all fell down for want of self-control.” Bob Derrett is still active enough, to work alongside men 30 years his junior. He keeps his absorbing interest in gallopers and in music, which has been a hobby all his life.