LIGHT HARNESS RACING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22424, 20 November 1934, Page 5

LIGHT HARNESS RACING

PROGRESS IN THE DOMINION POPULARITY INCREASING ,:T. EARLY MEETINGS RECALLED

; Rivalry on the road led to the introduction of light harness racing. The , .mode of conveyance in the early days was the .saddle horse. Improvement in :-roads led to the harness horse. In Africa the speedway was the play--■gTOun'd:’ of -, the American millionaiie apolrtsriian who “drove to wagon ” with with'' one -‘‘ hitched to sulky.” ■ ' The patrician of'purse paid any old price for. ja horse to beat his rivals in the speedVway or road, and the plebeians in purse fAccd each other in’their goods delivery, yaps .or, on holidays,, with . the same stdeds- hit'ched to a more sporty type of vehicle that lent assistance to speed. Matches on the road and speedway ed to pools or purses being “hung up” for races and to the circular tracks which provided spectators with a good view of thevsport. The spirit of sporting rivalry Ifed to improvement in breeding, and most of the first horses imported to America were ■ thoroughbreds whose influence on the conformation, speed and courage of the light harness horses o stili exists. Some think that the quartering* of a horse’s pedigree ’are in a sense watertight cells and cai/ry no influence on each other, but a more fallacious idea could not be On the other hand, the base of asjvorsc’s pedigree may be said to percolate from the quartering to another and the greatest proof of the fact. is. the. transmission of colour and markings. ' Rivalry on. the road existed in Australia and New Zealand just as in th» Old World, and where a few horses could be got together- it inevitably meant a race meeting and the spur of the pocket' plus the sporting spirit led more to, the .improvement in breeding than the spur on the heels of a rider or the whip tlat as .a necessary - adjunct ro the reinlman’s equipment. The first trotting stallions imported to Now Zealahfcweire Berlin t (1870), Hambletoiiian (1872) , Jrvington (1870). Blackwood Abdallah (1878), and Huon (1879). The diites 'Are those of foaling. Thoroughbreds were imported about 30 years oofdrethe first trotting stallion, and the latter' were thus in a great measure forced to work ou mares of thoroughbred origin. It was the sportsman's ambition to have a high stepper in a dogeart to take him and his friends to the races and do. his best to give his; riyals on the rpad-as much-dust as possible. The ignominy of defeat could be diplomatically lessened.: by halts -at a • friendly hostelry on the roadside and compensation ‘sought by defeating and racing past-the; 1 /slowcoaches who lacked the speed to lead the way. Road racing

discovered many a horse Rood enough to try out on a more ambitious scale on the racecourse. The motor car dethroned the horse as a champion of the road, hut - has resulted in placing him on th.* higher pedestal occupied by the racing equine to which thousands pay homage (and cash) during each racing season. THE TAHUNA PARK CLUB Otago has always been interested in trotting, and most of the clubs in the early days catered for that branch of spurt. The Dunedin Jockey Club was probably- the first, metropolitan club to include a race for trotters bn' a. pro-

gramme, but reports of the fields at times, did not include more than the placed horses. The light harness sport ■ was not placed on a proper footing in Dunedin until the formation Of the Tahnna Park Trotting Club. Other clubs had a fleeting existence and held meetings at the Carisbrook Cricket Ground, at St. Clair Park, and at Green Island. The first trotting meeting of •importance was held in connection with ‘the.- Dunedin Exhibition of 1889, wnen the ' Exhibition Trotting Handicap, of 200sovs, two miles, and the Carnival Trotting Handicap, of ISOsovs, were run on the fourth day of a meeting held at Forbury Park, when they were the features of a mixed card which . also included flat racing. Both events were won by Princess, whose merit was discovered by D. J. Price when he saw her drawing a milk cart at Ashburton. She was * afterwards taken to Australia, where she produced Prince Imperial to, Hambletoiiian Bell Boy. Prince Imperial afterwards became a very successful sire, ■ and it is a coincidence that hq stood at Ashburton, whence his dam hailed. "Prior to the production of . Prince Imperial,

Princess also foaled Prince Edward and Prince Albert. She was got by Dexter, a son of Talisman, and a thoroughbred mare from a mare, by the thoroughbred horse Prickwillow. Princess must have been a most remarkable mare, because the Stud Book shows that she produced Prince Albert to' Perkin Warbeck' II Th 1889, and in December of the same year she won the two. richest stakes ever provided up to that date in New Zea-

land. There has, no doubt, been some confusion as to dates, but the fact remains that “Rivalry on the Road” discovered Princess, the fastest free-legged pacer of her time, and one that has bred on in the Stud Book through.her more famous son. 1 ' ’ i It was not until the Taliuna Park Trotting Club became established and held an inaugural meeting in |lay, 1892, tha't the,sport became firmly established in Otago. Stakes at the inaugural meeting ran from Usovs to GOsovs'. In 1892 the title of the club was changed to the Tahnna Park Trotting and Racing Club, when four single-day , meetings including a galloping race for ponies,

were instituted. The winner of the first pony race of the season was Kathlinda, who, afterwards produced St. Denis, a really good performer in his day. The narrow four furlong track at Tahuna Park did not lend itself to any great progress, particularly as a training ground, because the hard nature of the cinder surface tended to jar horses, and' the more they were trained there the slower they became.

THE CHANGE TO FORBURY A most progressive note was struck in the local light harness racing world when ■part of the old Forbury Park racecourse became the property of the club. .A five-furlong track was laid down, and soon became popular with owners and trainers, while from a spectators’ point of view the hew course completely overshadowed the deserted track. The final meeting' at Tahuna. Park was held in' the autumn of 1909, when the principal events carried stakes of loOsoys. Lady Clare won the Tahuna Cup in 4min 55 3-ssee, and First Pet the Telephone Handicap in 4min 52sec. Mantle won the'Electric Handicap in 2min 35 l-ssec, and Happy Moments the Recovery Handicap in 2min 32 2-ssec. Four races were run under saddle, four in harness, and the balance of the programme consisted of optional races, which are now completely barred. Forbury Park was opened as a trotting course in May of 1909, when the totalisator turnover amounted to £9052 10s. The spring meeting of the following ’season saw the Forbury Cup of 200sovs forming the star'attraction and marking a for-! ward move in stakes. /The autumn meeting was dovetailed with the Dunedin Cup meeting at Wingatui, then spread over three days. The Dunedin Cup, of 250sovs, and the Forbury Han-; dicap of 175sovs, and a progressive programme resulted in a turnover of, £14,465 10s. The Dunedin Cup of 1911 was raised to £3OO, and the turnover for the two days amounted to £23,742. The following season the stakes attached to the Dunedin Cup rose to £SOO, and the turnover to £30,275 10s. The financial attraction of the stake remained at SOOsovs the following year for a 4.43 class, and a general increase in stakes showed a response of £34,686 passing through the totalisator. The Dunedin Cup of 1915 -rose to 650sovs, and the totalisator topped previous figures by rising to £43,737 10s. Stakes were being kept up in, 1917 with the Dunedin Cup of GoOsovs and the Forbury Handicap of SOOsovs, but the totalisator returns had slipped. That season marked the very laudable effort on the part of the club to encourage the straight-out trotter, and it did so by the introduction of the New Zealand Trotting Stakes for three-year-old trotters. The* pruning knife had ' to be used the following season, and since then there has been a fluctuation of fortune in the affairs of the club, mostly attributable to bad weather, which proved a serious handicap to the success of several fixtures. The excellence of the going on the track was proved early in its existence by Revenue, under saddle, reducing the record for a

straight-out trotter to 2min 11 4-ssee. In 1912 Emmeline paced a mile in 2mhi 8 3-ssec without being extended in the run up the straight or she would have dethroned King Cole, who put up the same time in 1911. Emmeline was afterwards brought down two or three times to go against her own record, but track conditions blocked the chance of enhancing her fame. There is not the slightest shadow of a doubt that the stylish look-

, ing daughter of Rothschild could have clipped -far more than the fractions from her record. Emmeline looked more like a thoroughbred • than a trotting-bred blare,- blit the fact is not surprising as her grand-dam was by an almost thoroughbred sice from a mare by Hornby, the winner of the New Zealand Derby of 1879. These facts are, however, recalled to mark the fast going at Forbury Park and the easy turns which enable a horse to retain speed.

The “life” and buoyancy of the ’ground at Fovbury Park, formerly a swamp covering a submerged forest, could be ganged by the fact that in the old days a field galloping past the caretaker’s cottage, about 100 yards away from the track, made the crockery dance on the kitchen shelves. A red-letter day in the history of the Forbnry Park Trotting Club went on the calendar when a purse of 250sovs was hung up for a match between the Australian champion, Walla Walla, and the New Zealand crack pacer, Harold Logan. It was the greatest star attraction ever staged at Forbnry Park, but unfortunately bad

weather wrecked the club’s efforts to supply its patrons with something that would live for ever in racing history. The champions met, and New Zealand triumphed over Australia in 2min 13 l-sscc, a time which indicates the state of the going. The match at least showed that the club was anxious to cater for champions and supply their patrons with an opportunity of seeing the star attractions of the light harness

world in action, and in pursuit of records. The sporting spirit which struck such a progressive note j has only to be kept alive, as no doubt it will.be, to mark an increasing attractiveness in the programmes issued by the dub. The club has an excellent track, a course well equipped with stands supplying every -reasonable comfort to patrons of the sport, and, with ordinary luck, can look forward to the future with every prospect and indication of success.