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Noel Taylor Harness Trotting Hall of Fame


Double R

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Just an update.

The contents are presently being packed up, and will be stored in containers, and transported to Cambridge at the cost of the club. Some of the contents are destined to go to the Ashburton Trotting Club, where they will go into an section called the Fiona Stuart memorial. Fiona was a very long servant of Harness Racing in Canterbury, and South Canterbury, and was a very good assistant to the Hall of Fame.

The legend, and wonder horse Cardigan Bay, who is buried at the rear entrance to the Hall of Fame, will be exhumed by an archeologist, at the cost of the Hall of Fame, and be transported down to Cambridge.

It might be a number of years before the Hall of Fame surfaces again its full physical form, but it is very important for Harness Racing's history to be displayed for future generations.

Cheers.

Robert.

Edited by Double R
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Thanks for the update DR. Well done to Cambridge for stepping up.

I heard that at the last committee meeting Branch attended at Alex P not too long ago, he suggested to committee he would try to get in Agricultural students from around Waikato area to visit the museum when its back up & running.

Pending how it is put back together you could target Asian tour groups too, that travel down from Auckland to Rotorua. Ideally just work with 1 company or maybe 2. The Japanese are the best. Super sweet & polite. They usually look for a quick toilet stop & Cambridge is a perfect mid-point. Cambridge have plenty of loos there, easy parking & a coffee shop & then would have the museum. Suggest a koha (donation) from the group as a whole. Even if its just small. Incorporate with the Club that the estimated booked in time for their visit to have a local horse train on the track, so those that want to go & look at a horse working out on track can do so. They love that sort of thing.

Wouldnt cost the club anything, and be easy to organise. Then HOF or Cambridge would invoice the travel group, whatever the agreed Koha is. So maybe start point NZD10 per person. Which in their currency maybe even less eg Japanese yen. Groups are usually from approx 10 - 40 people.

They get a loo stop, see a horse workout, have a quick coffee (if they want to buy 1) & can take a peak at the museum. If you have a volunteer working at musuem at that time, they could tell tour interpreter how Waikato is home to many equine etc & equine is a big contributor in NZ economy etc. As they travel further thru the Mighty Waikato to Rotorua they will see many horses, studs, foals & so on. Add some fun facts.

Keep it short & sweet. They would only likely have max 20 mins for a (loo) stop-over on their way to their final destination.

If your even smarty the way to go would have a souvier shop at the exit, so they have to walk out back to their bus past it. Usually someone buys something 30-40% of the group do. The tour guide & bus driver, usually gets a tip eg 5% for bus driver & 5% for tour guide, which comes out of the total of sales 10% of. You give that to the tour guide the next time they are down with the next group. Put it in an envelop with the tour guides name on & cash & they then pass on the bus drivers envelop also.

They could even take pix of the horse working out on the track & post on their social media & tag at NZ Trotting Hall of Fame at Cambridge. Free marketing! Plus a lil bit of extra coin for the kitty & running costs.

PS If it works after 1 season, then go again next season & upt the price eg $15-$20 per person.

Edited by karrotsishere
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Actually, I see Cambridge Raceway recently went to Waikato Uni to promote The Race & targeted the Uni students.

Therefore they must know them or have some sort of relationship.

Go to Waikato Uni, & ask them their Language School Institute. The 1 that teaches English. Those studying go on tours in weekends or sometimes do 1/2 day trips local after class or if they have no class in afternoon. (A 1/2 day trip used to be the Horse Magic Show in Cambridge). It used to be a stop-over many years ago.

Ask the Language Institute at Waikato Uni who is currently doing the tour groups. Also contact Auckland University - Language centre & ask same thing. That would be my starting point.

Then go from there in suggesting a quick stop-over at the Hall of Fame. A key point to it is loo stop-over, give driver a rest plus visit the new to area Trotting Hall of Fame, plus see a horse. That is your in - Auckland to Rotorua tour groups or a local fun visit.

You are after those learning English in NZ and are in NZ for short term stays. They usually will be staying with home-stays. Home-stays are not reasonable for taking them on sightseeing trips.

Ps would need to get in touch a mimimum of a year out. So Id touch base this year. As they ususally have itineraries set out & done 1 year in advance. Simialar to racing calendar done for a year. 

Edited by karrotsishere
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  • 3 weeks later...

I don't follow harness any longer, but used to, and Cardigan Bay holds the same status in the NZ harness world, as Phar Lap hold in the NZ galloping world.

I'm astounded that relocation of Cardigan Bay's grave and memorial is not the top priority

I suppose it tells you a lot about the current people running the ATC, and why they have seen the collapse of harness in the North

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56 minutes ago, Globederby19 said:

Dear me. I saw the horse in the flesh when he returned from the states. Im afraid I have tears in my eyes over this , and bloody angry.. NZ History being paved over. Why don't they pave the Waitangi Treaty grounds as well and kill two birds with one stone.

Me too Rees. I saw him in Dunedin, when he toured around the country, after coming back from America.

Everything is being done at the highest level, to ensure he can be relocated, and let us be patient in the knowledge of this.

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1 hour ago, Double R said:

Me too Rees. I saw him in Dunedin, when he toured around the country

I saw him at Hutt Park , was there with my mother, and still have the programme about him that was produced. Boy, he could have run rings around anything on course that night, he looked so good. One of  most endearing memory's of my teenage years. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
9 hours ago, Double R said:

No further developments as yet on the remains of Cardigan Bay.

Cheers for the update, much appreciated. 

Many people will be interested to see how this all unfolds. 

Given the arrogance of ATC President Jamie Mackinnon, I think there is every chance he will instruct contractors to undertake the tarseal project, above Cardy's "final" (current) resting place without notification to any other party.

And one morning, it will be all laid bare, for all to see, black asphalt for miles, and noone will be able to pinpoint exactly where the great horse lies. 

What are the odds of that happening? $1.05? 

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10 minutes ago, Rusty said:

Given the arrogance of ATC President Jamie Mackinnon, I think there is every chance he will instruct contractors to undertake the tarseal project, above Cardy's "final" (current) resting place without notification to any other party.

And one morning, it will be all laid bare, for all to see, black asphalt for miles, and noone will be able to pinpoint exactly where the great horse lies. 

What are the odds of that happening? $1.05? 

The thing about someone of his calibre/arrogance is they have a strong instinct for self-preservation so I doubt the asphalt will ever be laid.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Happy Sunrise said:

The thing about someone of his calibre/arrogance is they have a strong instinct for self-preservation so I doubt the asphalt will ever be laid.

Good. I sure hope that is the case. 

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23 hours ago, Happy Sunrise said:

The thing about someone of his calibre/arrogance is they have a strong instinct for self-preservation so I doubt the asphalt will ever be laid.

 

 

I tend to agree with that sentiment. It is not a legacy that one would want to carry on their shoulders, no matter the quality (or lack of)  his character. 

I wait patiently for an agreeable outcome. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

The latest update from Barry Lichter, the newly elected president of the N.Z.Trotting Hall of Fame.

The New Zealand Trotting Hall Of Fame is in the process of morphing into a modern, interactive museum that it is hoped will eventually draw visitors both young and old to Cambridge.
Since the debt-ridden Auckland Trotting Club kicked the Hall Of Fame out of its purpose built facility at Alexandra Park earlier in the year, the committee has been busy planning its next, exciting iteration to be located at Cambridge Raceway.
It has engaged an expert museum designer, has sought the help of a professional fund-raiser and has begun gathering key memorabilia from New Zealand and overseas to widen the scope of its exhibits.
Among those will be crucial memorabilia from the Addington Hall Of Fame which has graciously agreed to collaborate with its northern counterpart given its own collection has no home and is locked up in a container.
A number of exciting new features are in the works to modernise the collection of more than 50 years and a special education section is planned to expose school children to harness racing.
Given the effort going into the rebirth of the Hall Of Fame, it came as a surprise to its committee to hear ATC president Jamie MacKinnon make a totally misleading statement on this week’s The Box Seat harness show.
MacKinnon claimed the Hall Of Fame was “sitting in a container in a paddock waiting for someone to think about what’s next”.
MacKinnon told The Box Seat host Greg O’Connor
he was disappointed the Hall Of Fame had decided “to up and go somewhere else”, a surprising claim given that’s exactly what he told the museum’s curators it should do in a TV One interview earlier in the year.
On hearing the Hall Of Fame was moving to Cambridge Raceway where a new museum would be built, MacKinnon said he called Cambridge chairman Graham Bowen and claimed he was told “Don’t believe everything you read in the media. No, we’re not building anything, we’ve just offered storage of a container.”
That completely misrepresents what Bowen actually said.
Bowen said the club was storing a 40 foot container for the Hall Of Fame while it was planning its property subdivision and new covered stable block.
Only after it had gained resource consent could it then put a plan together for housing the Hall Of Fame.
Cambridge Raceway CEO David Branch has previously expressed his enthusiasm over the project and before the exhibits were packed away last month he brought his team north to Auckland to see the Hall Of Fame. Branch said it made sense for it to be based in Cambridge.
“Cambridge is a horsey town with great community support and it makes sense to incorporate a facility for the Hall Of Fame in our master plan.
“There’s so much history here. Whatever it looks like in the future, someone needs to be guardian for future generations.”
 
Edited by Double R
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10 hours ago, Rusty said:

Cringeworthy interview with Mackinnon on The Box Seat. 

Found it interesting the part about race dates was edited out. 

Agree Rusty.

Why would the Auckland Trotting Club be interested about where, and what was going to happen with the contents of The Hall Of Fame, when they cancelled the lease, which incidentally was prepaid for another three years, and wanted the building vacated.

Anyway, it was great to play a very small part in ensuring the history of N.Z.Harness Racing is given the chance, in due course, to be on display again, for the future generations to learn, and admire of the history of the past.

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