The Dennis bros day at Invercargill

[Shad]

8 hours ago, TAB For Ever said:

Shad ,

Looking thru some of those horses ,and knowing a little about their breeding etc , the importance of speed etc ,you wonder how great stallions like Kurdistan , bellborough , Mellay and Gatekeeper would stand up today.

You enjoyed Coast racing....back in the day there were obviously a hard core of Coast trainers and horses who added to your interest. Recent Coast meetings have been quite reliant on Northern horses to keep the numbers up to survive...the gallops fortunate to have such a loyal supporter as K Myers.

To me the decline in Otago trainers/breeders has been unfathomable. The Andertons and are few others probably saved Wingatui from going the same direction as Forbury Park Harness....ie disappearing. Otago lucky that the track seen key as to that cluster.

 

Yes back in the day quite a few coast trainers, also support from the odd Nelson and marlborough trainer, and of course canterbury, the late Ray Harris always patronized the coast well will large numbers, Brutus, Scotch Mist, Wordly Miss, to name a few better ones, Jim Lalor(Charlies Pal) another who came to the coast, Shorty Healy from Nelson, and of course the Parsons, who still continue to train, as you point out the racing these days totally reliant on the Myers stable, also the Canterbury connection, don't think currently any thoroughbreds trained there, used to be the Kennedys, the Doolans, not sure if the Hamptons have any these days, times certainly have changed even the kumara track, not sure for the better, as the abandonments since the track upgrade have been a few.Westport jockey club ceased racing in 1996, times certainly changed.

[TAB For Ever]

10 hours ago, muzenza365 said:

Gary,I see you called Pauline Wright, Prue Wright,Her name was definitely Pauline. also trained a good horse in Fleetwood Mac.i think a half to Polly Porter.

Regarding the Twinkle and The Fantasy,Ali was always given first choice to which one he wanted to ride, I was lucky enough that he chose The Fantasy in the White Robe one year and I got the ride on The Twinkle and won. Their next start was going to be the G1 1600m at Trentham and again Ali chose The Fantasy, so I got the The Twinkle. The night before the races I got a call from one of the Boys who informed me that they could only get one on the plane and so I asked which one and they said The Twinkle.I said all good, but they said as Ali was the stable rider do you mind if he rode her, Clearly they wanted Ali on and even though I turned down half a dozen rides at Riccarton to ride her I had to forfeit the ride and she won from Mun Lee. They did say they would look after me, but Alzemheirs had taken over, I am still waiting but I hope they hurry up as not too many years left in me.

I believe the same thing happened when M Mein rode her ,Ali picked the wrong one again.

Just Been thinking I may have rode The Fantasy and Ali rode The Twinkle but for Trentham Ali had chosen The Fantasy and I was to ride The Twinkle.

Both were top mares

Thanks for the correction re Pauline......I'll blame that on me old mate tasmanman who when asked for the P christian name said Prue for 'a stab in the dark ' Of course he should know and remember this stuff as he stayed at school till he was 21 but I left at 13 ,hence why I still working ! His eyes light up when anyone mentions Show Gate ,Gatekeeper ,Middy ,Sandy etc. Together we spent a lot of time around these horses , the Didhams , Browns and smaller owner/trainer stables !

We never remembered you riding for the Dennis Bros....you a pinch hitter then ? We do remember you riding outstanding Northern mare Orchidra a few times ,once in a 4 x horse field if our memory is correct . What was the story behind that ?