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Lightning Blue


karrotsishere

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1. How did you get involved in Harness? Father travelled to NZ with 4 mates and a great Tassie pacer named Halwes for the Auckland Interdominion when I was young, and decided to stay on in NZ afterwards.

2. How many years have you been involved? 20 years (gave it away to get married and have kids) Great life for a young single bloke though ! travelled all over NZ and Oz and wouldn't of missed it for quids. 

3. Who is the best horse you have seen? Village Kid and Popular Alm.

4. Who is the best horse you have driven? My Lightning Blue.

5. Who is the best horse you worked with? Frederick.

6. Who is your favourite horse? Blacks A Fake (4 Interdom wins and 2nds as well for Nat Rasmussen) will never be equalled.

7. What track do you rate as best? Moonee Valley and Alexandra Park.

8. What is your Fondest memory? Gammalite and Popular Alm quinella in 1983 Auckland Interdominion GF.

9. Biggest Punting Win? Trifecta at Auckland when took the great Tony Herlihy for 1st, a horse I raced myself for 2nd (beaten a head) and the 'field' for third. 3rd placegetter was the 4th emergency that got a run with form 0000 and paid $28 for a place . I scooped the pool. 

10. What is one of the funniest moments? Visited a Tassie relative ,who raced pacers, and all his pictures were in the little Tin garden shed hanging up. A rake, a framed photo, a spade, a framed photo, etc all around the walls of his shed. Missus musn't of wanted them in the house lol......... he loved his tin shed that bloke lol.....

11. What is one of the saddest moment? When trainers I started out with passed away. Jim Smith at Takanini especially.

12. Happy moments? Meeting my future wife at Albion Park. People used to go as had music and entertainment that started up after the last race was run, well into the night. Dead as a doornail these days.

13. What do you enjoy on this chat forum? Finding some folk still keen on harness racing! I love NZ horses.

14. Would you race a horse again? Unlikely, as put it in the same basket as training + driving. Sort of "been there - done that" already and happy with that.

15. Should others race them? Sure, best if you know the trainer personally though & race a horse in partnership with their family members or something like that.

16. Do you watch replays of wins? Not of own horses. Don't even have pic's on the walls actually (just kids primary school art is still up framed lol) But often watch YouTube replays of old Interdominions, NZ Cups, Derbies and Miracle Miles. Some of the best entertainment going !!! Eat your heart out Netflix. lol.

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42 minutes ago, karrotsishere said:

How did you get involved in Harness? Father travelled to NZ with 4 mates and a great Tassie pacer named Halwes for the Auckland Interdominion when I was young, and decided to stay on in NZ afterwards.

Yep he was an 8yr old by then. He was another Globederby line horse, through his dam. Won his first race at Alex Park in record time, but was pulled out of the final with an abcess in his foot. He also race many times at The Melbourne showgrounds from Hcps. Anyone who has been there would know it was a saucer ,narrow and more like demolition derbys . A very good horse indeed.

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42 minutes ago, Globederby19 said:

Yep he was an 8yr old by then. He was another Globederby line horse, through his dam. Won his first race at Alex Park in record time, but was pulled out of the final with an abcess in his foot.

Some great stories with that Horse HALWES. My dad travelled to Auckland with him as farrier and had to give him a little 'nail pinch' in his shoe to make him hop around a bit so the stewards would scratch him. Aub Wesley paid twice as much by NSW bookies Not to start in the Auckland Interdominion Grand Final, than what he would of got if he won the race. Won the Miracle Mile in Sydney just 2 weeks later.

Little known fact is HALWES had travelled to Perth the year before from Tas,  to compete at the 1967 Interdominon carnival. A local horse named BINSHAW had been backed from 100-1 in to 5-1 before the series started. Biggest plunge in Interdominion history. He defeated HALWES who was off 24 yards (his main serious rival) twice,  in opening round heats , and then Aub withdrew HALWES from that series as well and didn't start in final.  Dad didn't know if Aub had been 'paid off' on that occasion or not , But you have to wonder?  Binshaw went on to win that Interdominion final. made some folk very rich.

FOOTnote: The horse that won the 1968 Auckland Interdominion FIRST LEE from NSW , after Halwes scratched , later ran 2nd (beaten 10 lengths by Halwes ) in the Miracle Mile at Harold Park 2 weeks after his Auckland Interdom Grand Final win.  Just shows the tragedy of HALWES not starting at Auckland. .......money talks. 

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37 minutes ago, karrotsishere said:

Thought of a question I should of included. How many old racebooks & old newspaper clippings did you save as souvenirs? 😁

Many thanks for sharing & participating 👍

No worries Karrots. Some great times had in harness racing. Plenty of clippings , magazines, books  and that I've collected along the way. Have given away all the harness along the way and that sort of thing, so people could use it that still had horses in the 90's.

Lost a great deal of stuff in a fire once sadly, including near 100 year old photos from Tas. One win from my grand-father (I never met him as dead before I was born)  in the saddle,  in a race full of 'saddle pacers' as well as sulky driven runners, which was very common in Tasmania. and dad says the bloke running second was Cecil Devine (A NZ Cup winning legend over there) before he went to NZ. My Dad says Cecil left Tassie altogeather for NZ, because got rubbed out for pulling a rider off a 'saddle pacer' by the leg  as he was going through a gap near his sulky in a race lol .... (in the 1930's  that would of been)       hahaha could just imagine old Cecil doing that too!. 

 

 

 

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24 minutes ago, Lightning Blue said:

running second was Cecil Devine (A NZ Cup winning legend over there)

Yep he was an Australian. One little fact I remember was Cardigan Bay winning his first stake in a saddle trot running third.

We should get together up in Auckland at the Hall of Fame and chew the fat. I think we would have a ball. Us older folk have a lifetime of memory's.

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8 minutes ago, brown fox said:

One of my favourite go to nostalgic videos.Lord Module

What a performance in that race ! made him immortal .

I Did go and chat with Cecil when he bought him (Lord Module) to Auckland a couple of times. (about Tassie and that sort of thing, surprising the dickens out of him lol) 

Delightful Lady (the queen of the north who Karrots would of loved) put him back in the placings 2 years running in the Auckland Cup. How good was she ?? tremendous.

Lord Module was a very aggressive stallion. Had to go in a box out in the car-park at Alexandra Park, just to be away from other horses lol !!!!. Also bit someones fingers off once. Cecil said 'Don't get to close' hahaha I said 'Not much chance of that " that I remember. Won't be patting Lord Module. lol.

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2 minutes ago, VC! said:

I was at Cambridge this night back in the 80s and there was this horse having it’s first race start I think the trainer may have been Mike Berger, pretty sure it won that night

Absolutely, a Matamata on-course only meeting. Mike got Blue going as a 2 year-old. and One of the best drivers I ever saw anywhere in these 2 great nations drove him . Owen Purdon.

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7 minutes ago, Globederby19 said:

Yep he was an Australian. One little fact I remember was Cardigan Bay winning his first stake in a saddle trot running third.

We should get together up in Auckland at the Hall of Fame and chew the fat. I think we would have a ball. Us older folk have a lifetime of memory's.

We certainly will have a get together, over multiple days if we need too, at the Hall of Fame, Rees. There is a whole section on Cardigan Bay, including when he went to America.

 

8 minutes ago, Globederby19 said:

Yep he was an Australian. One little fact I remember was Cardigan Bay winning his first stake in a saddle trot running third.

We should get together up in Auckland at the Hall of Fame and chew the fat. I think we would have a ball. Us older folk have a lifetime of memory's.

 

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23 minutes ago, Globederby19 said:

Yep he was an Australian. One little fact I remember was Cardigan Bay winning his first stake in a saddle trot running third.

We should get together up in Auckland at the Hall of Fame and chew the fat. I think we would have a ball. Us older folk have a lifetime of memory's.

You're ignoring the elephant in the room Rees but we won't go there.

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52 minutes ago, Lightning Blue said:

Absolutely, a Matamata on-course only meeting. Mike got Blue going as a 2 year-old. and One of the best drivers I ever saw anywhere in these 2 great nations drove him . Owen Purdon.

Those Purdon boys were a legend in my younger days at Alex Park.

Let's kindly say they looked after each other.

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50 minutes ago, VC! said:

I was at Cambridge this night back in the 80s and there was this horse having it’s first race start I think the trainer may have been Mike Berger, pretty sure it won that night

Yeah it was Mike.   Beaut Waikato connection for LB.   Bred by the Millers in Mystery Creek.   The mare Lightning was steered the way of the Millers by an old mate of my father's, Joe Goodyer.

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