Wallis and Hackett schoolers of fine trotters

When you think of trotting in the north you instantly think of Michelle Wallis and Bernie Hackett.

The couple who currently lead the New Zealand Trotters Trainers Premiership operate out of their stable in Waiuku, utilising the beach nearby.

Michelle is a Hamilton girl and was always going to get into the harness industry.

“Dad trained at Claudelands. For as long as I can remember that was always what I was going to do,” she said.

After leaving school Michelle worked for Kevin Shaw at Cambridge and then Robert Asquith.

She then ventured south for a stint with Jack Carmichael in Christchurch before returning home to work for her father Errol who trained 115 winners, 77 of which were trotters.

“Dad used to get a lot of peoples old cast offs and play round with them. He specialised in the trotters because he was a farrier.”

Bernie’s father (Mick) was a dairy farmer and hobby trainer. Bernie started life in Tangiteria in North Auckland where the great pacer Chequer Board was born.

“Dad had horses with the late Kevin Holmes. Dave Jessop got him into the game and I ended up working for Dave a few years later. I left school and worked on the dairy farm but milking cows wasn’t for me. I used to jog the horses at home. Dad sold the dairy farm and we came down to Waiuku. I then worked for Butt Hair and Dave Jessop and then went out on my own.”

Bernie has driven 58 winners. His first at Hawera in April 1988 was Super Brave which he also trained. Ten days later at Morrinsville, Michelle had the first of her 242 driving wins with Turama Ten.

The best horse Bernie has trained was Gypsy Vance which won fifteen.

“He was my first horse. I was pretty lucky to get him really. I drove him in a qualifying trial after the last race at Ruakaka. He did everything but stand on his head. We were having a beer in the Presidents room with Jacky Johnston, the guy that owned him. Brian Crengle who was the stipe, said to Jack that the horse needed ironing out and suggested that I train him. That’s how I got him,” he said.

Feature wins for Gypsy Vance included the 1987 Kumeu Stakes and the 1988 Franklin Cup.

“Joe Goodyer’s horse Race Ruler was all the rage in the Wattyl (Kumeu) Stakes and we got up and won it. He also ran second to Neroship in the Auckland Cup.”

Bernie also had good success with Southern Man which won thirteen races.

“I bought him off Brian Gliddon. I was always looking for a trotter and a bunch of us bought him. He did a real good job.”

Michelle has trained 323 winners on her own account, 150 of those being trotters. Bernie’s trained 123 including 57 trotters. The partnership has won 397 races, 359 have been with trotters.

Michelle has trained three Group One winners – the first was the 2004 National Trot with Paris Metro.

“Lyell Creek was the favourite. I remember the night. Mark Purdon was staying with us with Jack Cade and Light N Sound and they were racing a bit later. Bernie took the early ones in and I brought Mark’s two in a bit later. I got to the carpark and the horses were out warming up and it was pouring with rain. I thought I might sit this one out but it was a Group One race so I thought I’d better go and watch it (laughter). We won it, so that was pretty special,” she said.

8/8 in the betting, Paris Metro came down the outside of the track in the hands of Peter Ferguson to beat Allegro Agitato by half a neck with Lyell Creek a neck back in third.

The ten acre property Wallace and Hackett train from belonged to Bernie’s parents.

“Before Dad passed away I came home. Michelle and I were together then. We ripped the little track out and redid everything,” Bernie said. “We’ve lived there coming up twenty two years,” Michelle added.

The couple have a 600 metre track and lease eight acres next door. Karioitaha Beach is just ten minutes down the road.

Jogging is done at home or on the track next door and the main property has a swimming pool. All the fast work is done at the beach.

“They learn to trot in a straight line. It tends to increase the size of their stride because they’re not shuffling around a bend. Generally they don’t hit when running in a straight line so it gives them confidence,” Michelle said.

The beach has been the training ground for some very good horses over the years, both standardbred and thoroughbred.

Successful thoroughbreds include Ring The Bell which won the Avondale Guineas and New Zealand Derby, Solvit which won the1994 Cox Plate and dual Great Northern Steeplechase winner Golden Flare.

Although Michelle and Bernie have had most of their success with trotters, some good pacers have been trained on the property.

“We’ve had a few good pacers over the years, like Sly Flyin and Waitfornoone. The quality of the pacing stock wasn’t that great so we decided to concentrate on the trotters because we both love them. I was brought up with trotters so we went down that path. We still take pacers but we don’t get a lot of them now,” Michelle said.

Waitfornoone’s win in the 2006 Queen Of Hearts was Michelle’s second Group One winner.

A good number of their top end trotters like Delft and Temporale have begun their careers with Tony Herlihy.

“Tony being the great horseman that he is can sense that the beach or the straight line training will help them. Or if they’re a big horse and struggling with his track, he’s happy to send them out here because he knows it’s the best thing for the horse,” Michelle said.

Delft won two races for Herlihy before he was sold to America.

“He was over there for about twelve months, didn’t settle in and never raced. They sent him back to Tony. Tony said the horse couldn’t get around his track and thought the beach would be the best thing for him and as they say, the rest is history.”

Delft went on to win the Group One National Trot and the 2016 Inter Dominion Final at Moonee Valley.

“It was pretty special. He’d gone through the series in Auckland unbeaten but didn’t win the final. He won both heats and the final the year later. The final he won was a handicap and he started off the back mark. Tony being the great driver he is got through, led and won.”

Temporale won twelve races for Michelle and Bernie including two in Australia – the 2020 Group One Dullard Cup and a heat of the Great Southern Star.

“He came to us late in his career. He’d won the National Trot and Rowe Cup. He was just having wee niggly issues and we had the pool and the beach. Tony thought that was probably the best thing for the old legs.”

Michelle’s other Group One winner was Ima Gold Digger in the 2010 New Zealand Trotting FFA.

Massive Metro’s win in the 2018 National Trot provided Michelle and Bernie with their first Group One winner.

“We had some stable clients looking for a horse and we managed to fall upon him and bought him. As the Muscle Mass’s do, he got better with age and being out of Paris Metro made it even more special,” Michelle said.

All Cashed Up is a trotter Bernie feels never reached his potential. He arrived at the stable in April 2023 and won five races for the couple. He was also placed in three Group races.

“He was a very good horse. He had speed like no other trotter we’ve had. He could come off their back and sprint like a pacer. He was the first one Pat (O’Driscoll) sent over to us. They couldn’t get him going left handed because he’d had injuries. He did a good job to win what he did with us,” Michelle said. “And he still holds a New Zealand record too,” Bernie added.

Over the years Michelle and Bernie have built a strong loyal client base which now includes some of the biggest names in trotting down under – such as Duncan McPherson from Aldebaran Park.

“He’s been with us for a long time. We met Duncan when Chris Lang brought Sundons Gift over for the Inter Dominions (2011). The friendship’s been there ever since,” Michelle said.

And Pat Driscoll from Yabby Dam Farms is providing plenty of trotting stock too.

“He’s been great to train for. If they’re not up to it, he says to move them on because there are plenty more young ones coming through.”

One of the couple’s longest clients has been Don McKenzie.

“We trained for him for maybe twenty years. He just passed away recently. We’re now training for Sandra his wife.”

McKenzie owned Genius which won seventeen races for Michelle.

“He was the first one we got from Don McKenzie, he started that relationship. He didn’t win a big one for us but he’d had a couple of knee operations so the pool and the beach suited him. It took a while to work him out and we had to change his workload. We didn’t work him like we did most horses.”

In recent years Heather and Russell Steele have provided Michelle and Bernie with a good supply of ‘Manchester’ horses.

“We trained Manchester Lass who won the Breeders (Northern Trotting Breeders Stakes) in Auckland. Her first two foals didn’t amount to much but the last couple, Faith In Manchester and Manchester’s Moment are two nice mares.”

Faith In Manchester has won twelve races for them and having had a break, she’s back in work.

“She’ll start fast work in August and if I can find out what the handicaps will be we may look at a couple of the mares races down south. I’m not going down there to start off ridiculous handicaps. Other than that we’ll keep going round Auckland and wait for the big mares’ race up here (Queen Of Diamonds),” Michelle said.

Michelle would love to win a Rowe Cup and a New Zealand Trotting Derby while Bernie would settle on winning a Rowe Cup.

“We’ve run second (in the Rowe Cup) a couple of times and were unlucky. Hopefully one day it might happen.”

Promising three year old trotter Illicit Love is a horse the couple have high hopes for. He’s out of Cheeky Babe, a half-sister to Bet N Win. He’s won three of his fourteen starts.

The couple’s biggest winner has been Invictus (14).

“Unfortunately he didn’t settle when he went to Australia because I thought he would have done a good job over there. He was another one that wasn’t a superstar but he was so consistent.”

Mazeppa, a trotter they’ve had recent success with, was purchased from Luk Chin.

“He was bought by a good friend of ours Brent Lilley. He always stays with us when he brings horses over here. He fluked upon Mazeppa and bought him.  He said we could train him and pick up a win to pay for his airfare to Australia. We gave him a start and he won. Then he won another three and he was too high (in the ratings) for Victoria. We won six with him but there are no races for him at Cambridge. We gave him two starts at Auckland and he failed miserably.”

Todd Mitchell has driven the most winners for Michelle and Bernie with a total of 142. Tony Herlihy sits at 114, Michelle 94 and their daughter Crystal at a total of 71.

“Todd’s been with us a long time. It was good to find a driver that didn’t have a big team and wasn’t committed to others (trainers). It’s getting a bit tougher having Crystal. We have to share them around a bit now.”

Tyler and Crystal are the couple’s two children.

“Tyler works for us off and on but she doesn’t want to drive. She works in the equestrian world.”

Crystal is shaping her own career path and is one of the rising starts in the harness racing driving ranks. Last year she drove Mach Shard for Barry Purdon and Scott Phelan to win two Group One races in the space of a week.

“She’s done a super job. Barry has been a great supporter of her.”

So, what does the future look like?

“In two or three years we might look at scaling back. We were going to scale back a while ago, then Crystal got into it. We said we’d go hard while she was still a junior. When she loses that (junior license) we’ll probably look at quietening down a bit (laughter).”

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink