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 ?

[Doomed]

18 hours ago, muzenza365 said:

 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.

 

That was my first day at Trentham Muz, and I backed The Twinkle. I remember it well.

[muzenza365]

9 hours ago, TAB For Ever said:

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 ?

I rode many times for the Boys, I remember riding a horse named The Swagger for them, he gave me a terrible ride, he was on the fence and kept trying to jump it, Ali did not tell me, not to get on the fence,I wish he had told me before the race.

I don't remember Orchidra in a 4 horse field, I do remember riding her when she won at Riccarton and then Noel asked me to ride her at Trentham when she also won, then J Grylls rode her to win the next start.

[Freda]

14 minutes ago, muzenza365 said:

I rode many times for the Boys, I remember riding a horse named The Swagger for them, he gave me a terrible ride, he was on the fence and kept trying to jump it, Ali did not tell me, not to get on the fence,I wish he had told me before the race.

I don't remember Orchidra in a 4 horse field, I do remember riding her when she won at Riccarton and then Noel asked me to ride her at Trentham when she also won, then J Grylls rode her to win the next start.

I recall The Swagger working at Riccarton on one of his trips, the rider [ which twin I'm not sure ]  sporting very long boots, up past his knees, and a piece of alkathene for persuasion.  And he needed - and got - plenty of it.

[curious]

1 hour ago, muzenza365 said:

I rode many times for the Boys, I remember riding a horse named The Swagger for them, he gave me a terrible ride, he was on the fence and kept trying to jump it, Ali did not tell me, not to get on the fence,I wish he had told me before the race.

I don't remember Orchidra in a 4 horse field, I do remember riding her when she won at Riccarton and then Noel asked me to ride her at Trentham when she also won, then J Grylls rode her to win the next start.

I think you won on her at Riverton then Trentham Muz. She was then unplaced next start for JF Grylls.

[mikeynz]

Out of interest do the Dennis tribe have any in at the sales this week ?

[TAB For Ever]

1 hour ago, mikeynz said:

Out of interest do the Dennis tribe have any in at the sales this week ?

The entire book of entries is on line NZB Karaka Sales 2025

Seems they have a couple entered ...

355 Proisir -The Lustre [Darcy Brahma - The Preacher ]

356 Savabeel - The Solitaire [ O'Reilly - The Dazzler ].....this related to The Grin , tha dam of The Chosen One , the Savabeel horse at Stud !!

[muzenza365]

13 hours ago, curious said:

I think you won on her at Riverton then Trentham Muz. She was then unplaced next start for JF Grylls.

I am sure she didn't race at Riverton, as after driving 7 hours back from Riverton I was told to be at the track to ride Orchida in work at 6.30am.

 

[curious]

51 minutes ago, muzenza365 said:

I am sure she didn't race at Riverton, as after driving 7 hours back from Riverton I was told to be at the track to ride Orchida in work at 6.30am.

 

[Freda]

I can't imagine why/how Orchidra would ever be at Riverton either!     Might it be a typo meant to be Riccarton?

[curious]

3 minutes ago, Freda said:

I can't imagine why/how Orchidra would ever be at Riverton either!     Might it be a typo meant to be Riccarton?

Could well be. I also can't recall any WFA races ever there.

[muzenza365]

34 minutes ago, curious said:

Could well be. I also can't recall any WFA races ever there.

It is a typo and to back that up the 2nd horse was trained by Barry Taggart who also wouldn't have been to Riverton. The Easter races were at Riccarton and Riverton where you could ride for 5 days of a 6 day circuit and the typist must have been confused.

[mikeynz]

Anzac day 1981 was a Saturday, following on from Easter,  Forbury Park ran a all bells and whistles meeting, they even got innovative and started around 4 , finished about 9, also on same day All Whites started their world cup  campaign which took them to Spain, by playing Australia,if you backtrack dates Wednesday 22 and Monday 20, Easter Monday  Riccarton raced as was the case then, Riverton raced Easter Monday as well, I think even for a time Riverton may  have raced Saturday Tuesday, those results above have Riverton where it should be Riccarton.

Anyway there is a bit of useless trivia for the day😀

[Special Agent]

As far as the 4 horse field goes, could that be the day when the fillies and mares race at Riccarton had a false start and the horses that didn't scratch ran in take #2 after the last scheduled race?