Cardigan Bay raced there – Roxburgh TC celebrates 75 years

Harness racing comes back to town for the annual Roxburgh Trotting Club meeting on Thursday 4^th January next year.  And this year will be particularly special because the Club will be celebrating it’s 75^th anniversary.

Formed in 1932 the Club held its first race meeting in 1933. The early meetings were non-totalisator, and it wasn’t until 1949 (75 years ago) that the club received its first full tote license.

The Club’s first officials were FJ Tamlyn (President), JC Stevenson (vice – president), and D Gordon, N. Harliwich, R. White, F. Varcoe (committee). A Burton was the secretary.

The Parker name has been synonymous with the Club throughout it’s long history and current committee man Phillip Parker has been involved since he was seven.

“I used to boil the copper for the picnic days on Easter Monday. After that I worked down at the stables doing the numbers,” he said.

When he turned seventeen he became Clerk of the Course, following in the footsteps of two of his uncles.

“I was working under Peter McKenzie (Stipe). I used to ride at the rodeos and he called me ‘rodeo boy’. He said I was the youngest Clerk of the Course in New Zealand. He was a pretty tough boss to work under. If my tie or cravat wasn’t straight, he’d stir me up. One year I had a one eyed horse to catch. Once I caught the horse everyone stood and clapped.”

Phillip first went on the Roxburgh TC committee in 1997 and he was President for eight years from 2005.

His cousin David Parker was President for five years, David’s father Alan and Phillip’s father Colin also had stints in the top job.

“Frank Varcoe was President in 1949 and my grandfather (Victor) was Vice-President. I’m not sure when my grandfather went in, maybe in the early 1950s. There’s been a Parker on the committee since 1949.”

Phillip was made a Life Member in 2016 along with other Life Members Bob Mason, Gary Robinson and Bill Bain.

The first Roxburgh Cup was actually run at Gore on the grass in 1950 and was won by Black Puzzle (Grattan Loyal). She was trained by Davey McIntyre and driven by Graeme McIntyre, the grandfather and father of Brent McIntyre owner of Macca Lodge.

By the mid 1950s the Roxburgh Club was racing on it’s home course. The 1956 winner of the Roxburgh Handicap (Cup) Redcliffe Hall (Dillon Hall) also won the Central Otago Handicap later that day. Trained by Davey Todd, Redcliffe Hall was the first of four Cup winners for the Mataura based trainer. His other winners were Michael Hall (1957), Blue Prince (1960) and the great Cardigan Bay (1961). The same day that Cardigan Bay won the Cup as a four year old, Robin Dundee won another of the Club’s feature races, the Central Otago Stakes.

Up until 2004 the Clubs race day was Easter Monday, but it now races in early January as part of the Central Otago circuit.

The last Easter Monday meeting was in 2004. 113 horses started, the on-course turned over $68,396 and off-course $512,543. The Cup was won by Brydone (Fake Left) owned by Ben Calder, Tony Whaanga and Earl Shannon and trained by Ray Faithful.

“We weren’t happy with the change because for the next two years we raced non-totalisator meetings. We used to get big crowds on Easter Monday but in those days there was no Lotto. A couple of times we did over $300,000 (on-course). We were as big as Omakau on the odd year.”

Parker remembers Wee Donna’s (Smooth Hanover) win in the 1982 Roxburgh Cup. She was trained and driven by Maurice Kerr and was one of six winners Maurice drove to win in the race. The others were Fait Accompli (1972 and 1973) for his father Davey, Glen Moria (Smooth Hanover) 1979, Karalea (Smooth Hanover) 1980 and Dean Again (Shicker) 1993.

Phillip remembers Shoshoni Sunrise (OK Bye) winning for trainer Alan Paisley and junior driver Alister Black in 2002. She was owned by the Central Otago based Onslow Syndicate which included a couple of guys from Roxburgh.

Overall (Lucky Hanover) trained and driven by Ken Balloch is another winner he remembers. She was owned by Eugene Woodhouse and was bred by Victor Parker, Phillip’s grandfather.

Other than Fait Accompli, the only other horse to win two Roxburgh Cups is Enchantee, (Bettor’s Delight) in 2020 and 2021.

The race was run over 3200 for most of its history and the race record of 4-05.1 is held by the George Shand trained Eastwood Jaunty (Holmes Hanover) which won in 2001.

From 2004 the distance was changed to 2700 metres and the current record holder is last year’s winner Better’s Tart (Bettor’s Delight) with a time of 3-19.5.

Trainers who’ve used the track over the years include Ginger Woodhouse, Doug Gordon, Alan Parker, Keith Falconer, Vince Heffernan (Middlemarch), Father Dan Cummings, Bill and Jeff Roberts (Lawrence) and Albie Eade (Kaitangata).

“Albie used to come over for trial days. We ran eight to nine trial meetings a year and going back twenty odd years there’d be forty odd horses trialing. Robin Swain and Brian Norman used to bring horses up from Gore. There were also quite a few horses around Omakau in those days.”

Originally the track was crusher dust on top of hard clay.

“We changed the surface six years ago and put yellow sand on the top from Dunedin which was costly.”

There are no permanent trainers based at Roxburgh these days and the track is used only for racing.

Phillip says it’s great to see a new bunch of younger men on the committee.

“They’re not interested in horses but turn up to the Clubs’ working bees and are reliable.”

Parker says the Club has been lucky not to have had any power cuts in the 75 years it’s been operating.

“Life member Bob Mason worked on the hydro dam so he’s looked after all the power work. We pushed down the old tote. It was getting a bit of borer and a lean on. Bob worked with us when we built the brand new tote. Our committee built it ourselves.”

He says camper vans are regularly using the course now and the Club has planted lucerne in the middle of the track which helps the maintenance fund.

“The A&P Show is held on the course in February, so they give us a bit of revenue. We had a funeral a while ago. The family stayed on the course for a week and carted the old fellow away in a horse and cart down to the cemetery.”

Parker says the club has been lucky to have had great sponsors over the years particularly for the Roxburgh Cup. Roxburgh Contractors sponsored the race in the early years, Currie Motors Toyota for twenty one years (1992-2013) and in the last ten years, Peters Genetics (2014-2024).

Local iconic pie brand Jimmy’s Pies puts up $500 every year for the lucky punter, with $50 handed out for each race.

There’s plenty to celebrate in January as this special wee club in Central Otago notches up another milestone. All the best Roxburgh.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink