The Dennis bros day at Invercargill

[Murray Fish]

First time ever a race meeting for a racing family? Trainers with a history of 60 years training and no discretions!

Interesting to see no Anderton, Parsons or Pitman runners!  No Pitman runners at last week meeting at Wingatui meeting either!

[Doomed]

31 minutes ago, Murray Fish said:

First time ever a race meeting for a racing family? Trainers with a history of 60 years training and no discretions!

Interesting to see no Anderton, Parsons or Pitman runners!  No Pitman runners at last week meeting at Wingatui meeting either!

I hadn't noticed that. What a great idea.

Who do you think was best, The Fantasy, The Twinkle, The Dimple. The Fantasy the oldest of the three, but I am pretty sure they would all have raced against each other, although I'm not sure if all three of them were ever in the same race. All out of the Pixie I think, but possibly by different sires.

Without looking at any stats I always had a feeling The Twinkle may have been the best. The Fantasy may have won the most races.

I always thought it was a pity they didn't stand The Chosen One down in Southland. Might have been just the boost the region needed.

[Newmarket]

12 minutes ago, Doomed said:

I hadn't noticed that. What a great idea.

Who do you think was best, The Fantasy, The Twinkle, The Dimple. The Fantasy the oldest of the three, but I am pretty sure they would all have raced against each other, although I'm not sure if all three of them were ever in the same race. All out of the Pixie I think, but possibly by different sires.

Without looking at any stats I always had a feeling The Twinkle may have been the best. The Fantasy may have won the most races.

I always thought it was a pity they didn't stand The Chosen One down in Southland. Might have been just the boost the region needed.

Great names there….and The Phantom

[Doomed]

1 minute ago, Newmarket said:

Great names there….and The Phantom

And the Phantom Chance

[Wingman]

The Phantom, Eales, then Baker trained I think, freak of a horse with a barrel chest and like his comic character got a a decent beating from time to time but won far more 

[Doomed]

I think The Fantasy left both The Phantom and The Phantom Chance. The Dimple left an Auck Cup winner, in the days when that was a decent enough race. The Twinkle of course ran second in the Auckland Cup. I can't remember if the Twinkle left much herself.

[TAB For Ever]

The Dennis Brothers ...a fantastic Farming family who bred and trained some fantastic horses.

I was pottering around stables as a kid when they raced the elderly very white horse The Wanderer around southern tracks often ridden by Brian Anderton .

The Twinkle and The Fantasy were both Gatekeeper - The Pixie and often raced each other quinellaing several races at Wingatui and also battling against Mellseur a very good horse of young Hec [ HT ] Anderton. He split them in the Timaru Cup , 

Another Timaru Cup [ Doomed's fav race ] The Dimple beat The Twinkle ...I think....with my neighbours Sporting Show [ Honey Crepe -Showgate ] third.

The Dimple was Noble Bijou - The Pixie .

Gatekeeper was stood by Gordon Thomson [ Showgate] and he bred some very good horses including Showgate , Artifice , Tuis Lass , Sporting Show etc.The Twinkle was among the best and raced well at Ellerslie.

The Dennis Bros horses often ridden by AK [ Ali ] Robinson who I saw and spoke to at Cup week in November. He started as an apprentice with DG Oneil at same time as AJ Tweedie.

[Newmarket]

Wow, how times have changed. Those 3 fantastic horses running first 3 placings in a Timaru cup…. we can all remember that. 
 

Struggle to name recent winners…. mostly no name nags….

[billy connolly]

12 hours ago, Doomed said:

The Twinkle of course ran second in the Auckland Cup. I can't remember if the Twinkle left much herself.

The Twinkle was an outstanding racemare and arguably the best horse the brothers bred or raced but she was a flop as a broodmare.

 

12 hours ago, TAB For Ever said:

Another Timaru Cup [ Doomed's fav race ] The Dimple beat The Twinkle ...I think....with my neighbours Sporting Show [ Honey Crepe -Showgate ] third.

The Twinkle won the 1980 Timaru Cup beating The Fantasy, The Dimple won it in 1981 and 82.

Edited 22 hours ago by billy connolly

[Doomed]

7 minutes ago, billy connolly said:

 

The Twinkle won the 1980 Timaru Cup beating The Fantasy, The Dimple won it in 1981 and 82.

Grey Way probably won it the year before with Show Gate a year or two earlier and possibly the good 3yo Greek magic sandwiched in between. Led all the way I think. I don't have all those records so this is purely fading memory. TAB4E will know.

It is sad how some of the great traditional races are allowed to fade away, often through no fault of their own. There are a lot of listed and group races with much poorer fields than the last couple of editions of the Timaru Cup.

To give Riccarton credit they haven't really let any of their big races disappear. Trentham is probably the worst club for having no sense of history.

[TAB For Ever]

6 hours ago, Doomed said:

Grey Way probably won it the year before with Show Gate a year or two earlier and possibly the good 3yo Greek magic sandwiched in between. Led all the way I think. I don't have all those records so this is purely fading memory. TAB4E will know.

It is sad how some of the great traditional races are allowed to fade away, often through no fault of their own. There are a lot of listed and group races with much poorer fields than the last couple of editions of the Timaru Cup.

To give Riccarton credit they haven't really let any of their big races disappear. Trentham is probably the worst club for having no sense of history.

Aaaaahhhhhh the memories Doomed...

Having lived next door to Show Gate for several years I have kept a few of the 'articles' to remind me of her uniqueness !

And pottering around with Gatekeeper too quite 'fun' for a very young chap.Fortunately he was a quiet stallion with good nature [and a dip in his back] Unsure if he even raced ,may had had a couple but I know the Champ sire down the road at Andertons ,Mellay was unraced !

Mellay [mum of The Pixie] was NZ leading sire in 1976-77,2nd the previous year and two years following including 1978-79 when Gatekeeper was Champion NZ sire.

Show Gate won the Timaru Cup in 1976 ridden by Nick Harnett the day after winning Dunedin Gold Cup [2400m] ridden by Chris Ramage who could not make the Timaru weight. Nick Harnett worked at Andertons but often went to Gordon Thomsons later in morning to ride work ! Andertons often used Gordon's 1600m track [the old Wingatui/Mosgiel racetack] to exercise horses in the afternoon. This was kinda a contra deal !

 

1977 Timaru Cup won by Greek Magic [Ray Harris]..Grey Way 3rd as 7 yr old.

1978 Timaru Cup won by Catastrophe part-owned by Dunedin mayor and fish-baron Cliff Skeggs ,from Polly Porter a very good Gatekeeper mare trained by Prue Wright[Winton]

1979 Timaru Cup won by Grey Way[Aka Cowan] a 9 yr old. From Tuis Lass , a Gatekeeper mare who won the NZ St Leger [2800m] at Trentham ,trained by Jim McKay who was the local Horse Transporter !.Third was Napiat..... sire Taipan spelt backwards.

Gatekeeper did a great job as a sire , Gordon must have served 10-15 of his own mares annually then took limited outside mares. Dandyman was another good Wingatui horse.[ Cec Wallis/ JD Pankhurst ]. Many of his best were mares...Artifice ,Annenic etc

Gatekeeper was related to Rain Lover [ Melbourne Cup in 1968 and 1969 ] Gatekeeper was by Alcide from Hortentia [by Precipitation] Rain Lover was by a sire Latin Lover who was by Ribot from Hortentia. Gordon Thomson studied the Stud Books. For a time he was the only chicken-sexer in the South Island .

Great memories !

[Doomed]

Grey Way was ridden by Snooky Cowan TAB4E. Aka was his dad.

Here's another question for you TAB4E while on this subject  Showgate's Timaru Cup may have been the first time it was run as a 1,600m WFA race. The previous year as a stayers handicap I think it was won by a Gatekeeper horse. It had a name something like Gateman or something similar. Can you remember that one?

As others often say, I wouldn't have the faintest idea who won last years Auckland or Wellington Cups, but I can tell you most of the big race winners from the late 70s until the early 90s.

[TAB For Ever]

3 hours ago, Doomed said:

Grey Way was ridden by Snooky Cowan TAB4E. Aka was his dad.

Here's another question for you TAB4E while on this subject  Showgate's Timaru Cup may have been the first time it was run as a 1,600m WFA race. The previous year as a stayers handicap I think it was won by a Gatekeeper horse. It had a name something like Gateman or something similar. Can you remember that one?

As others often say, I wouldn't have the faintest idea who won last years Auckland or Wellington Cups, but I can tell you most of the big race winners from the late 70s until the early 90s.

Yes , I thought all Cowans were Aka !!

I have no race records at all , but I remember Show Gates brother well....Show Keeper a gelding. There were a couple others who showed promise as Colts but went amiss. Going Some and Troilus !

Show Keeper won once at 3 and with bad form started fresh  at 4 over 2000m at Gore , possibly ridden by Steven Crutchley and it won paying $45 !

The next season he looked really good and was working the house down ...Gordon used the stop watch on all fast work and declared tho he was resuming in the 2200m Ashburton Cup he really should be in the Open 1200m such was his times ! He duly led all the way and won by 5 lengths fresh up at 2200m !

Gordon always looked out for good young jockeys and he nailed Brent Thompson for the  1975 NZ Cup but he got stuck on the rails for an unlucky 5th , the Cup being won by Heidseck. Maybe you remember Show Keeper.

[Shad]

18 hours ago, billy connolly said:

The Twinkle was an outstanding racemare and arguably the best horse the brothers bred or raced but she was a flop as a broodmare.

 

The Twinkle won the 1980 Timaru Cup beating The Fantasy, The Dimple won it in 1981 and 82.

Interesting how many top mares, don't carry it through to the broodmare paddock, what a grand mare she was, had some very good riders of that era, A Robinsion, M Casey, and Micheal Mein, wonder where some of these riders are these days, the later had a good strike rate, for the few times he rode her, was a very good rider of that era, and association with some very good horses,may have even ridden in Australia a few times,think his father was a jockey also, times flies by, but what a golden era of racing it was.

[curious]

30 minutes ago, Shad said:

,think his father was a jockey also, times flies by, but what a golden era of racing it was.

Graeme?

Edited 3 hours ago by curious