Westport icon hoping to celebrate eighty years young in style

The West Coast and Buller districts of the South Island is a region known for its dramatic landscapes, rich history, and strong connections to industries such as mining, forestry, and dairy farming. Also woven into the tapestry of this incredible community is the sport of harness racing, particularly in the town of Westport where local trotting legend, John Reedy, calls home.

This afternoon, harness racing action heads to Patterson Park, Reedy’s home track, where he will celebrate his 80th birthday with three runners on the eleven race programme.

Reedy turned 80 on Tuesday, and like a fine wine, continues to get better with age. Something he readily admits that the consumption of which holds the keys to his longevity and youthful exuberance.

“Well, you know, the secret to living a long time, like me, is looking after yourself, drinking plenty of wine and beer. I gave up smoking about 20 years ago, but I’ve still got all the other bad habits,” he laughed.

One of which is arguably still holding a training license at eighty years young, something Reedy has zero intention of relinquishing just yet.

“We’ve always been involved in racing. My dad John Reedy Snr was an owner and a breeder and I was born not long after he got back from World War Two. He got the bug for the industry soon after and the family have just carried on from there,” said Reedy.

“His first winner was a horse called Golden Rule (Garrison Hanover), who won the 3YO Champion Stakes at Ashburton on Boxing Day in 1960. Instead of taking him to Westport, they trucked him all the way down there. Dave McGregor, a friend of his, drove him, and the horse broke the track record. Half of Westport had money on him at the TAB, and they didn’t have enough cash to pay out. They had to wait for the bank to open,” he laughed.

Reedy was just a teenager when Golden Rule was establishing himself as a cult hero on the coast, but his exploits and those of his father led Reedy to getting his own training license with HRNZ records suggesting 1978/79 as the season Reedy trained his first winner, on his home track no less with a horse called Pioneer (Eagle Armbro). Reedy recounts the story slightly differently, but as they say, never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

“Oh yeah, that horse was something else. He was a terrible horse, honestly. If I was feeding him up and had the radio on listening to a race, he’d hear it and wouldn’t eat his tea.

“He won three races with three different drivers. Keith Powell won his first race at Westport and told me, ‘Don’t take him at Greymouth; he won’t get around the track.’ But I took him to Greymouth anyway, and Keith refused to go down and drive him.

“I had a friend staying with me, Lester Keenan, who was in town for my birthday. He was a trainer from South Canterbury, so he drove him instead, and the horse bolted in. The next year, my friend Tom Fox from Nelson drove him at Westport and won. He probably thought he hadn’t won because, in the photo, Tom was sitting behind him in the cart while the horse’s ugly, great Eagle Armbro head, was in front,” he laughed.

The fact that Reedy has only trained 32 winners may lead some to believing that the passionate hobby of Reedy was merely that and picking up wins on the Coast and Seddon circuit over the years was his lot.

Those that have been in the game long enough will however remember the deeds of his extremely talented pacer, Starship (Lordship). The horse was originally trained by it’s breeder, Bill McDonald, for his first 36 starts, yielding a G3 victory in the Forbury Park Nursery Stakes and multiple Group placings behind Tuapeka Knight over his two, three and four-year-old seasons.

After nearly a year off the scene, Starship was transferred to the care of Reedy and in his first start in Reedy’s silks, the horse came out and licked a star studded field in the 1989 Flying Stakes at Ashburton.

“That was pretty special—bloody unbelievable, to be honest,” said Reedy.

“Patrick drove him, of course. The next year, we got beaten in the New Zealand Cup by Neroship. Patrick told me, ‘There wouldn’t have been a horse in the world that could have beaten him last year at Ashburton. He could have gone around again.’ That was something else.

“Patrick was a great driver to have—he really knew his stuff. I remember taking the horse to the trials at Addington. He ran his thumb down the horse’s neck, and all these brown hairs jumped out. He asked, ‘Had a bit of a setback?’ I said, ‘Yeah, about six weeks ago.’ He just nodded and said, ‘Go home, keep doing what you’re doing, and don’t listen to anyone else.’ Patrick was great like that,” he said.

While he is no Starship, Stanley’s Rule (Sportswriter), one of Reedy’s favourite horses he has ever put a bridle on will attempt to make his birthday an extremely memorable occasion, when he contests the John Reedy’s 80th Mobile Pace in the fifth on the programme.

Descending from the family breed going all the way back to the foundation mare of his father’s, Golden Rule (6th dam), the six-year-old gelding even carries the blood of Starship through his granddam, Deb’s Rule.

‘Stanley’ has won at Westport in each of the last three seasons, a record he is hoping to keep in tact in 2025 beginning with today’s annual March meeting.

“He’s a bloody good horse because all three of his wins have come at Westport,” laughed Reedy.

“We have shipped him here there and everywhere but it seems home is where the heart is and he likes to give us a reason to celebrate,” he said.

Reedy has entrusted the drive to Robbie Close, who will attempt to become the fourth winning consort to Stanley, with the task made a little bit tougher having drawn barrier eight over the 2600m journey.

Reedy also lines up the second starter, Rule Again (Vincent), who was an eye catching run in his debut on Boxing Day after giving them a start and flashing home into sixth. The five-year-old gelding will attempt to break maidens in the third on the programme, also in the hands of Robbie Close.

“I’ve been a caretaker trainer for Ford Rule, too,” said Reedy.

“He’s a horse I bred and is ten-years-old now, but has been running some cheeky races for Andrew Stuart and loves it here at Westport and should be ready for another cheeky race,” he said.

Reedy was a long time President on the Club and while that position is now in the capable hands of his son, Reedy maintains a significant role in the Westport club delivering it’s iconic race days to patrons and license holders.

“My son, Junior, is the president now. I just mow the grass, the tracks, and the paddocks. We live about five kilometers’ away from the track,” he said.

“We used to keep the horses here at home, but I had a truck and used to take them to the beach or the track. We swam them. Years ago, Richard Cornelius wanted his horse to race at Westport, but Jack Smolenski wouldn’t bring it, so he told him to give it to Keith Powell instead. Keith and I worked together, and when the horse wouldn’t eat, Keith called a friend with a fishing boat. He got in touch with the captain, and we swam the horse in the Orowaiti River. It ended up winning both days. That was a good one for me,” he recalled.

Most will be well aware of the temperamental weather that can rear it’s head on the West Coast of the South Island, but with a mostly fine day forecast, pundits can expect a true surface for this afternoon’s programme with Reedy expecting the track to be one of the better surfaces he has seen for some time.

“The track’s been real dry lately, but we’ve had a bit of rain here and there. It pissed down the other night, and this morning (Tuesday) was still a bit wet, but now it’s a fine, sunny day and the track is looking a picture,” he said.

For complete Westport fields, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink