Vale Peter McKenzie.

[Chief Stipe]

Peter McKenzie passed away recently.  A character, good trainer and one to challenge the authorities.  The industry could have done with more like him.

[Chief Stipe]

Singing his praises | Stuff.co.nz

i.stuff.co.nz

Bret McKenzie's dad can trace his son's love affair with trophies back to a day at the races.

 

The Levin horse trainer is buzzing his son has just scored four New Zealand Music Awards as one half of comedy duo Flight of the Conchords.

 

But it doesn't come as a surprise - in fact, Peter McKenzie reckons Bret's appetite for awards was whetted at an early age.

 

Back in 1984, an 8-year-old Bret and older brother Justin went with Dad to the Hawera races, to help with renowned sprinter Mr Illusion.

 

The horse cleaned up at the track, and the excited kids lugged the winnings back to the car.

 

"I still remember Bret with his arms full of trophies, saying 'Gee, does this happen every time we come to the races Dad?'," Mr McKenzie chuckled.

On Wednesday night, the Flight of the Conchords took the trifecta of Album of the Year, Best Group and Breakthrough Artist of the Year, for their self-titled debut album.

 

The band - Bret and fellow Wellington comedian Jemaine Clement - also shared the award for International Achievement with rapper Savage.

 

At his Strathcarron horse stud yesterday, the senior McKenzie was visibly proud of his son's success.

 

A thespian himself, he's travelled the country performing musical theatre and seen shows all over the world - but still rates his son among the best.

 

"I'm really rapt, it's exciting to see it happening. But they have always been very good, their musicianship and comic ability was brilliant from day one."

 

Though Mr McKenzie has always been confident of his son's talents, he didn't realise the full extent of Bret's fame until last Christmas.

 

As he prepared to join Bret and friends for a game of tennis at Waitarere beach, one of Bret's mates jokingly asked if he had seen the "Bret phenomenon".

 

Mystified, Mr McKenzie replied he hadn't.

 

Moments later a teenage girl rushed up to Bret and ascertained his identity before disappearing.

 

In 10 minutes she was back - with a bevy of about 50 young admirers, all clamouring for photos with his son, Mr McKenzie said.

 

"It was quite cool. He doesn't change though, nothing would change him. Bret is just Bret."

 

This time next year, Mr McKenzie hopes to celebrate his own award.

 

In 2007 his stallion Sculptor won the last lead-up race to the Melbourne Cup, the Saab handicap, before an injury saw him finish ninth in the big one itself.

 

The horse is now back in training for the Auckland Cup in March - and Mr McKenzie has his sights set on the 2009 Melbourne Cup.

 

But in racing, as in showbiz, the road to success isn't easy.

 

"You don't win by coincidentally turning up on the day, like you don't perform a stage show without the preparatory work. It takes years."

 

 

[Chief Stipe]

Peter McKENZIE Obituary

On September 9, 2023 at Wellington, in his 80th year peacefully took his final breath. Cherished by his family, beloved by friends, companion to many a champion racehorse and his little black dog Sally. The funeral service will be held at Lychgate Funeral Home, Cnr Willis and Aro Streets, Wellington, at 11.00am on Friday 15th September, followed by burial at Mākara Cemetery. Rest in Peace Messages for the family can be sent care of Lychgate Funerals, 306 Willis Street, Aro Valley, Wellington 6011.

[Chief Stipe]

Peter's different sort of stable living

i.stuff.co.nz

Peter McKenzie is a lawyer, actor, singer and horse trainer who lives in a converted woolshed at Ohau in the Horowhenua, surrounded by horses.

 

It is a place he confesses not everyone would find comfortable, but he is passionate about calling it home.

 

For this chap, the world is his oyster when it comes to affording a glamour home. He is a highly successful thoroughbred breeder and racehorse trainer, has had an equally illustrious career on stage and film, and for two decades worked as a lawyer in his own practise in Taranaki.

 

Within his own stable of realty he has plenty of choice. Up the road in Levin, he owns a house and stables on a large property, down the road at Paekakariki a cottage with a million-dollar sea view, and over the ditch in Australia in the temperate climate of Queensland, a house and land located just walking distance from a superb beach. But, ironically, he chooses the most basic of his property portfolio to call home, keen to be in eyesight and earshot of the stables and the thoroughbred horses that are his life.

 

The decision typifies the man. Now in his 60s, Peter is an extraordinary mix of qualities and despite his life achievements and accolades, he chooses a simple existence dedicated to horses and away from the limelight. These days he prefers to watch from the wings as his sons develop their business interests. Middle son Bret is half of Flight of the Conchords. With Jemaine Clement the pair are internationally acclaimed and in huge demand.

 

Peter's other two sons, Jonny and Justin, manage an expanding chain of Wellington bars.

 

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Despite some personal exposure, notably in the Peter Jackson films King Kong (as part of the Venture's crew) and Lord of the Rings (as Elendil), Peter is enjoying life from off-stage. He says it was a special experience for a couple of weeks recently to hit the road and tour with the Flight of the Conchords. He witnessed the tour finale at the Hollywood Bowl where the comedy duo played to a crowd of 17,000 adoring fans.

 

"It's so different here from America," says Peter. "It was quite an adrenalin rush to see how the crowd responded. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience."

His woolshed home couldn't be more removed from the razzmatazz of his son's stardom in the States. But Peter loves the peace of his Ohau woolshed, surrounding 60 hectares and the opportunity to work so closely with his horses.

 

"Really racing is a bit like being on stage. You work away with a horse for months and months, even years, to prepare them for that one moment, the one race where they have to peak and perform at their best. It's the same on stage, it's all about putting on your best performance on the night. That's all that matters and that's what you rehearse for, day after day."

 

When he initially bought the Ohau property, Peter lived in a house that was a part of the original block of land, but with a burgeoning thoroughbred breeding programme he decided it would be much easier to live where he was spending most of his time.

 

"When mares are foaling they have to be watched through the night, so from here I am able to see into the foaling paddocks. I could see everything that went on at night from the veranda. That was until the flaxes grew too high."

 

He had Chris Good, a local furniture maker, do the conversion using a mix of plywood and kauri to line the building. The matai flooring is original and parquet flooring covers areas that were typical woolshed grated flooring.

 

"There are still stains from the sheep dip and grease on the floor in my office. That's where the three shearing stands were so it's had plenty of sheep over the floor."

 

A mezzanine floor was built and divided into two rooms for bedroom space, but has been recommissioned for storage.

 

Today the three-stand woolshed is a 180-square-metre, three-bedroom home with a huge office; bathroom and laundry plus expansive living/dining/kitchen open- plan 

"There is plenty of space and with the wood fire it heats up well. It's a working environment with stables at the back door. It's really an extension of the stables. It enables me to not worry so much."

 

So what does his trio of highly successful sons think of their father's unusual home?

 

"They don't criticise it. They call in, say 'hello', but don't really have time to stay, and with the location, it's easy for me to commute to Wellington to discuss business matters with them."

 

Peter says he gives a little legal advice to his sons and is as much a mentor, someone to bounce ideas off and work through concepts.

 

"It's actually really well located, just up the road at Levin. I have an excellent swimming pool where I swim four or five nights a week and we are not far from Hokio beach where we work the horses."

 

The woolshed home is central to his enormous thoroughbred operation, Strathcarron Stud.

 

Today, Peter has 70 horses on the property, a mix of broodmares, weanlings, young stock, racehorses in training and a stallion available to outside mares. Highly acclaimed stallion His Royal Highness spearheaded the stud operations until last year, when at 20 years old he died.

 

On reflection, Peter says he was first smitten with the horse bug as a third former at college in Wanganui.

 

He remembers beginning most days at dawn riding track work before heading to school, and while he achieved academically he simultaneously did well riding earning his amateur jockey's licence.

 

"I didn't ride many races and I didn't win any tote races but back then there were also picnic races and I won a few of those."

 

Peter's many interests are reflected in his woolshed home. The office is packed with breeding books and bloodline data, law books and business papers. The living room features his piano, and his bedroom is decorated with an Aboriginal artwork he got decades ago, long before Aboriginal art became fashionable.

 

"I love music and theatre, even while I was at university in Otago I did lots of television work. I toured with the New Zealand Players for a year after I finished my law degree and that was an amazing experience. We went everywhere, to the smallest towns.

 

"I did a masters in law when I couldn't do theatre for a year, after I had had my tonsils out. Then I did theatre in the States, what is now known as theatre sports.

 

"I remember my father, whom I met for the first time when I was nine years old, came to see me perform with the opera in Christchurch. He said to me, 'When are you going to get a real job?' "

 

The real jobs have transpired always with a similar mix - law, theatre and horses. Today that mix prevails, although Peter now uses his legal expertise exclusively to help family and friends.

 

"How long will I live in the woolshed? I don't know," he says. "I have weanlings in the stables and with horses you always look at them and think that one just could be a winner."

[Special Agent]

I wonder how many of racing's pro bono clients will be there to send Peter off tomorrow.

No doubt he never contracted a fee before helping.

[Huey]

Youre right the industry needs a lot more like him.

Stood the more than handy Sire His Royal Highness from memory?

[Chief Stipe]

He sure had an interesting view on the use of Cobalt and the positives returned in NZ.  Seems he was more right than wrong on the issue when you see the outcome of the court cases in OZ.

[Chief Stipe]

Has anyone seen a tribute from NZTR?

[Special Agent]

It is very poor form but, not unexpected from NZTR.

There should be black armbands tomorrow at New Plymouth at the very least as a mark of respect from industry participants.  Peter's racing interests began in Taranaki.