Vale Peter Craig

Harnesslink is deeply saddened to learn of the sudden passing of harness racing participant and historian Peter Craig yesterday afternoon.

The following statement was provided by the team at ClassicFamilies.net, in which Peter played an integral role in maintaining and progressing.

“The founders of Classic Families are in mourning today following the devastating news that our invaluable, tireless and much-admired New Zealand representative Peter Craig suffered a massive heart attack at noon on Tuesday and could not be revived.

His wife Catharine described it as an “out of the blue event” as Peter was fit and that there had been no indicators of any underlying health problems.

Our collective condolences to Catharine on the anguish of losing her life partner is such circumstances.”

Personally, I feel very fortunate have had the opportunity to get to know Peter and his wife Catharine over several years working out of Harness Racing New Zealand.

They attended virtually every race meeting at Addington and supported the industry with their presence at racing and breeding functions at every opportunity. Peter helped with producing countless articles for the Breeding Matters publication and had a unique style in which he was able to recount the history of a maternal family and its exploits.

He was a fountain of knowledge, and always on hand to offer advice and insight whether it be for researching an article or hashing out practical solutions to breeding issues the industry faced.

Very few would be aware of the countless hours he poured into his work as a volunteer in the area of preserving and maintaining harness racing and its history. At least twice a week, Peter could be seen visibly with his head buried in pages and pages of historical content, ensuring it was safely and accurately reproduced on the website ClassicFamilies.net which he had a significant role in developing and maintaining.

If you haven’t used the website before, I implore you to do so. It is an unbelievable resource for researching historical horses and elite performances from around the world. Peter’s passing will leave a gaping hole in the framework for this website, and I can only hope that the industry will continue to support this site in future as volunteers (and sponsors) will no doubt be needed to ensure its survival.

Peter was humble beyond measure, rarely taking credit for the work he was involved in, and even more rarely seeking financial retribution for the hours he invested. It was clear and obvious to me that he did what he did for the love of the industry, and his passion and commitment to seeing this passed on to future generations will be sorely missed and impossible to replace.

The following bio of Peter Craig was sourced from Harnessbred.com, another platform which Peter was deeply associated with:

A retired public servant, and accountant, born in Auckland with a career taking in 23½ years in Wellington with the last 19 years living in Christchurch with his wife Catharine.

A harness racing enthusiast with a keen interest in historical matters.

Current industry involvement;

• Member of Classic Families team (www.calssicfamilies.net) responsible for updating and maintaining the New Zealand data. This has included researching old newspapers and books for the speed and earnings records of New Zealand trotters and pacers from the early years of racing. The result is the most accurate electronic collection of elite New Zealand standardbreds ever compiled. In addition, involved in ensuring Classic Families has the most comprehensive details available on current and historical racetracks worldwide.
• Contributor to NZ magazine HARNESSED and Breeding Matters
• Member of following clubs: NZMTC (Addington), Forbury Park TC (Dunedin), Banks Peninsula TC (Motukarara) and dual gaited with membership of Canterbury JC (Riccarton)
• Member of Addington Harness Hall of Fame Committee
• Former involvement included –
  • Owner (Scottish Hostess)
  • Breeder under auspices of Capital Standardbreds Ltd (bred 24, 18 qualifiers with 17 winners). Best having been (Mister) Skye Rocket and (Mister) Veejays Fella
  • Contributor to The Right Track (NZ Breeders publication early/mid-nineties; Harness Racing International John Peck’s Melbourne based publication; Harness Racing Weekly in NZ
  • Wellington area representative for NI Branch of Standardbred Breeders Association

A keen follower of harness racing particularly overseas e.g. have been to twenty Interdominion Championships starting with Christchurch in 1979, last twelve consecutively touring with Melbourne based Harness Racing Travelworld. Have attended last three World Drivers Championships in USA (New York including Hambletonian), France (Paris) and Australia (Sydney) and in 2014 Little Brown Jug. Further trips planned hopefully in years to come.

Our condolences go out to his wife Catharine and her two children and the rest of Peter’s family at this sad time.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink