Forbury finale

[the galah]

With the final meeting to be run in a couple of days,i thought some may enjoy sharing memories of past experiences they have had there.

I remember as a kid mum and dad would take us on regular holidays in dunedin,always timed to take in a race meeting. As a kid,there always seemed a lot of people there to watch,and i remember they always seemed to have a fire engine parked out the back of the main grandstand beside the main tote and hot dog and chip stand. My uncle had a friend called mr bailey,a friendly short older man,from christchurch who often was there,and the word was he knew his form,so my brother and i used to follow him around a bit for some reason,but he was a very fast walker. His son was actually a high profile nz doctor/specialist who tragically drowned while swimming in the sea in bali.

Once i started training a couple of horses,i would make what always seemed like long trips to forbury ,and actually trained my first winner there,and a short time later drove my first winner there as well.Whenever my wife and i would go,my parents and brother would come,and my wife's aunty who was a local would normally turn up for support. The results often seemed rather mixed,but did provide some good memories.

Forbury could be a frustrating track results wise.I had a horse i thought was ready to win fresh up,and i took it all the way down there,only to be badly checked on the first bend,with the culprit driver given a suspension. The following week i made the decision to go back,but the 12 hour round trip was a disappointing one as believe it or not we were knocked down again on the first bend. 

Then you had the stipes down there. I remember asking one of them one day if he watched the programme "lost in space" from the late 60's as a kid,he said he did.So i told him he reminded me of the robot on it, that every week would go round waving its arms uncontrollably,yelling warning,warning,warning.I also learnt that stipes will only show camera angles that suited the picture they were trying to paint.I remember them one time showing me the film from the back end of a 12 horse field,and giving my horse a warning when he  supposedly paced a little roughly when outside the leader. I told them show me the front on as i couldn't even see my horse,they said  there was no front on available,so i said show me the angle they had on trackside,they told me to go before they charged me.Drivers should always insist they are allowed to view each angle before they admit to anything if they think they are being railroaded.I also remember i occasionally took a horse to have a pee on the grassed end of the float car park.For some reason unknown to me i noted the racecourse inspector sometimes hid behind floats,while he observed what i was doing. I thought what a dick and that rather strange.

Then of course there were the long drives there and back. Whenever you went over those big hills close to forbury on the way down it always looked like it was going to rain,and then it could be a long drive home on the cold and frosty nights.It really depended how you went as to how you felt.

I remember the clerk of the course always seemed very friendly and helpful. There was always a level of anticipation when you arrived on course,and like most racecourses everyone seemed friendly. You also got to watch how the top drivers and trainers operated.Your respect for them as people grew when you got to see how they acted and treated others.

A strange experience i had with a driver was when we had a very short priced favorite who had won the week before. When i went round to give him the colours he had just come off the track after driving a hot favorite who had taken no part in a mobile event. Before i had a chance to give him the colours the owner of the horse who had just run,came round and went in the box to discuss what had happened with his horse. All you could hear was laughter whenever he spoke to the driver and trainer,and the owner came out and commented what a waste of time that was. He would later go on to own a multiple nz cup winner.Anyway i gave the driver my colours,while he seemed very jovial. Come the race,despite being hot favorite,he was intent on racing parked with the driver of the leader later telling me he had told our driver twice he could have the lead,and couldn't understand our drivers tactics. . Anyway we got beaten a length and only ran 5th in a close finish.While he was a nice bloke,I didn't use that driver again,and he no longer drives.That was before they pre raced tested drivers for things like cannabis.It was also back in the day when they had some big pick 6 pools which syndicates used to target,and i had made the mistake of telling our driver the day before that i believed our horse may have been a bit flat from his win the week before.

But at the end of the day the main memories really are that our shared experiences with the wife and family. And i personally think its a real shame forbury is closing.

[Davis]

Thanks for the memories Galah.

I have been to Forbury two or three times, had a horse race there but ran fourth or fifth both nights. It was driven by Henry Skinner, so that tells you how long ago it was. I don't remember much about the course except it was cold. 

There are some reasonable fields for the final meeting. The final race, Race 10 Tuapeka Harness Racing Pacers' Cup has attracted a good field. There are a few chances - the Chris Gerken trained pair are racing well, Dreaminsover and the Hoffman and N. Williamson runners also going well.

Who's your pick to win the final ever race at Forbury Park?

Edited July 6, 2021 by Davis

[Gospel of Judas]

Been too Forbury when living down there, good 15 times. Not really the place like to punt much, too many funny things go on and horses get checked or taken out. Was of the view should moved it in mid 2000's somewhere else and future proof it. But Dunedin still living in 1970's down there, so heads always in the sand.. Look at mess created now, already with trainers get bullied off course and all the membership fights. Glad don't live in Dunedin anymore.

[Gammalite]

Places of History being demolished is a real tragedy. Forbury Park being another great harness track to go the way of the greats (horses and people) that raced there. consigned to memories and history.

 Gammalite loves an Interdominion, having won 2 of them, and loving all the great NZ and Aus champions that have competed in it. THEN,  one night in history at Forbury Park 1965, in the near 100 year History of the greatest Race there is ,The Interdominion Grand-Final , there was 2 winners in one go !!!!

A VERY FAMOUS dead-heat between champion NZ mare Robin Dundee (Doody Townley) flashing up out wide, and Jay Ar  (George Noble) . Both starting from the 12yard handicap. 

Still keeps Forbury Park in Dunedin as the one host track of an Interdomion Grand-Final Dead heat , to date , maybe forever. 

[the galah]

30 minutes ago, Davis said:

Thanks for the memories Galah.

I have been to Forbury two or three times, had a horse race there but ran fourth or fifth both nights. It was driven by Henry Skinner, so that tells you how long ago it was. I don't remember much about the course except it was cold. 

There are some reasonable fields for the final meeting. The final race, Race 10 Tuapeka Harness Racing Pacers' Cup has attracted a good field. There are a few chances - the Chris Gerken trained pair are racing well, Dreaminsover and the Hoffman and N. Williamson runners also going well.

Who's your pick to win the final ever race at Forbury Park?

i would pick hazer,for chris gerken. Although i wouldn't be too confident in what looks an even field.

henry skinner was a long time ago,but i do remember him being a leading driver when in southland. I remember being at forbury one night.It was about the time the shirley stable had a lot of runners.At one point the shirleys seemed to have a run of interfering with each other,and one night at forbury i followed them back to see what their dad said.It was rather funny,he shook his head and said,"well whose fault was it this time".. Its funny the things you remember.

Edited July 6, 2021 by the galah

[Gammalite]

have been to 100 different tracks Aus and NZ but never got to see Forbury Park alas. 

As a teen in Auckland , did have one memory of Forbury Park, as dad a crazy punter, had this 'Special of ALL time ' from a nationwide tip /word of mouth and media, for a Derek Jones MMNZ trained horse running at Forbury Park in the Spring of 1979.

Derek took the pacer the long trip to Forbury Park for the use of the mobile as he had refused to 'step' in his first 2 race starts from a stand in maidens , and was proving difficult to get away.

Dad , (and much of NZ ) sending the horse with a '00 formline' out as Hot favourite. unfortunately a Forbury Park maiden was too hot !!, for the barrier rogue and rather than follow the mobile to the start, He tangled and took the easy way out, by Crashing to the Forbury Park deck. " Hands Down, he's down alright" said the commentator .

Teen self saying to my losing dad, "Doubt that will ever win a race" "can't even get it started in the race".

Hand's Down got back up off the deck ok, and after leaving Forbury behind as a 'bad night out', went on to win about 30 races, including the NZ Cup and NZ FFA. !! 

[Davis]

23 minutes ago, the galah said:

i would pick hazer,for chris gerken. Although i wouldn't be too confident in what looks an even field.

henry skinner was a long time ago,but i do remember him being a leading driver when in southland. I remember being at forbury one night.It was about the time the shirley stable had a lot of runners.At one point the shirleys seemed to have a run of interfering with each other,and one night at forbury i followed them back to see what their dad said.It was rather funny,he shook his head and said,"well whose fault was it this time".. Its funny the things you remember.

Yes, Skinner was a top driver in his hey day. He won the 1979 Auckland Cup with Sapling. There were a lot of good horses down south then. 

Gil Shirley must have won a lot of races at Forbury, he had a good team in the late 60s, early 70s. 

[Davis]

8 minutes ago, Gammalite said:

have been to 100 different tracks Aus and NZ but never got to see Forbury Park alas. 

As a teen in Auckland , did have one memory of Forbury Park, as dad a crazy punter, had this 'Special of ALL time ' from a nationwide tip /word of mouth and media, for a Derek Jones MMNZ trained horse running at Forbury Park in the Spring of 1979.

Derek took the pacer the long trip to Forbury Park for the use of the mobile as he had refused to 'step' in his first 2 race starts from a stand in maidens , and was proving difficult to get away.

Dad , (and much of NZ ) sending the horse with a '00 formline' out as Hot favourite. unfortunately a Forbury Park maiden was too hot !!, for the barrier rogue and rather than follow the mobile to the start, He tangled and took the easy way out, by Crashing to the Forbury Park deck. " Hands Down, he's down alright" said the commentator .

Teen self saying to my losing dad, "Doubt that will ever win a race" "can't even get it started in the race".

Hand's Down got back up off the deck ok, and after leaving Forbury behind as a 'bad night out', went on to win about 30 races, including the NZ Cup and NZ FFA. !! 

Great story Gamma. I remember Hands Down racing at Addington in maiden ranks, he broke and raced unkindly in his first five or six races. Then Derek got him sorted... the rest is history. 

[Dougie]

Nice to see some of the old commentators will be calling a race on Thursday with the possibility of Tom Wood calling off the internet from Hong Kong.... little worried & curious as to why Davy Mc isn't calling a race, hope his health is ok.

I too have great memories of Forbury, some from my sisters fence when I was younger as she lived on the back straight in the 90's but I can remember a fav of mine 'Tornese' winning the 3200m cup with her mate Phil Williamson driving and just looking up a result now as I couldn't remember the year but in 1996 'Role Model' ran 2nd in the 3200m cup for $20,000!!!!!!!!!! beaten by 'Jeepers' and 'Frances Jay Bee/Strietross running 3rd and 4th..... no chance in the last 10 years would you have seen quality horses like that racing at Forbury nor the offered $20k prizemoney.

Kind of ironic some of these fields too on Thursday, those last 3 races are great betting races with decent numbers, now if they could have had fields like this for the last 5 years we wouldn't be having the conclusion Thursday that we are having..... on the other hand R7 is the battlers race from hell, Alexy coping the worst draw possible for him and Rick will need to weave his magic from probably 3/4 back the fence.

[Mardy]

Have never been to Forbury but have always enjoyed having a punt on their meetings. It's sad to see a club with so much history being rubbed out,but i guess its a world that we live in now,a shame tho as smaller clubs are the lifeline of this industry. Interesting to see they are doing a 'commentators night' on Thursday.As Dougie said a little odd that Davey Mac wasn't mentioned in calling a race,hopefully maybe it was an error and he will be on track,will be interesting to hear Kevin Payne call a race,hopefully he's been commentating some races at home to get ready for it. I hope the club has a bumper night for their swansong.

[Wobbler]

Forbury Park is where I spent many racedays and nights .I was there the night the lights were first turned on and remember well Sun Chief falling.

The 1965 Interdominions I fell in love with Gramel the little Aussie trotter. Later in life I trained my first winner at Forbury ,and since gone on to train quite a few more there . What saddens me most where now ,do we take the so called Forbury horses .In finishing I must comment on the race names  for the last meeting .Nowhere on the whole programme is there a race mentioning it .Surely the last race could have been  called 

the Grand Finale ,The Last Hurrah ,or something similar . Not the The Tuapeka Harness Racing Cup!!! Maybe that's the mentality of the committee down there ,and why it is the Final.

[Forbury]

My favourite track in the world.ive won so much money there and the biggest pick six ever.sadly I've never been there and never get a chance to.glad to see the tab open the cheeks up and gted 20k pick six.worst memory backing raphoe at fiftys with K butt in the one one only for her bad driving allowing Dexter to push her out from three back the fence and beat her a head when he should of never ever been able to do so.my problem with the best betting course closing that hrnz won't do any good from it.i think hrnz should be building a new race course in the area so we have the same mix of horses  and more important  training tracks that are better than mark purdons to give NZ trainers the best opportunity's 

 

[mikeynz]

I see some of the harness racing hierarchy are going to be at Forbury tonight,never there normally in all probability,must be money floating around or something or are they just there to celebrate the closure of another course?

[Brodie]

Forbury was a very good course for punting at over the years, but unfortunately just is not profitable for harness racing nowadays.

Alexandra Park will be the same but they wont be closing that track anytime soon, although it may well come to that?

forbury racing leaves Auckland for dead and I certainly will miss it.

The very few left training  around Dunedin will probably give it away or relocate, as it will be too costly travelling all the time.

You would Imagine Amber Hoffman to shift in the future!

Forbury, you have been great for racing in NZ, R.I.P.

[Dougie]

What did HRNZ get in $$$ return from betting turnover compared to the thoroughbreds???

You look at Ashvegas today most of those average/good fields are racing for more prize money than our trot races do on the 2nd Tuesday in November... how on earth is that possible for a Thursday winter meeting, is the club so rich or does NZ Racing prop it up.

[Chief Stipe]

19 minutes ago, Dougie said:

What did HRNZ get in $$$ return from betting turnover compared to the thoroughbreds???

You look at Ashvegas today most of those average/good fields are racing for more prize money than our trot races do on the 2nd Tuesday in November... how on earth is that possible for a Thursday winter meeting, is the club so rich or does NZ Racing prop it up.

They only reason is because they influence the number of imported races shown on Trackside AND those that are exported.  I think once that the revenue split was done on domestic turnover only not on imported and exported race revenue by code.

HRNZ and GRNZ leadership hasn't been too smart in fighting for a fair deal.

 

Turnovers push $30m

Betting on harness racing in this country was just short of $30m for May and June. 

Figures just released by the TAB show that total turnover was $13,431,339 in June, and $16,519,650 in May – a total of $29,950,989.  

The June figures were highlighted by the Harness Jewels at Cambridge ($2.656m) while the meeting with the highest turnover in May was Addington on May 14 ($1.550m). That meeting included the Group One Nevele R Fillies Final won by Bettor Twist.

Harness-Racing-Turnover-MayJune-2021.pdf

[mikeynz]

1 hour ago, Dougie said:

What did HRNZ get in $$$ return from betting turnover compared to the thoroughbreds???

You look at Ashvegas today most of those average/good fields are racing for more prize money than our trot races do on the 2nd Tuesday in November... how on earth is that possible for a Thursday winter meeting, is the club so rich or does NZ Racing prop it up.

Be nice to know,we never get to see what the gallops turnover is.Westport on Boxing Day does about 1.8million in turnover making them about the fourth or fifth biggest meeting on the calander ,I'm guessing that they ain't getting their full cut of the take,must be going to someone else,I wonder who that might be.

[KimButt]

16 hours ago, Forbury said:

My favourite track in the world.ive won so much money there and the biggest pick six ever.sadly I've never been there and never get a chance to.glad to see the tab open the cheeks up and gted 20k pick six.worst memory backing raphoe at fiftys with K butt in the one one only for her bad driving allowing Dexter to push her out from three back the fence and beat her a head when he should of never ever been able to do so.my problem with the best betting course closing that hrnz won't do any good from it.i think hrnz should be building a new race course in the area so we have the same mix of horses  and more important  training tracks that are better than mark purdons to give NZ trainers the best opportunity's 

 

Hi, Kimberly Butt here. I have no doubt I probably did that but it wasn’t Raphoe sorry 

[KimButt]

2 minutes ago, KimButt said:

Hi, Kimberly Butt here. I have no doubt I probably did that but it wasn’t Raphoe sorry 

I’ve even done the research for you. It was Earthbound. 8th March 2018 Race 3. 
Beaten by Go Getta and Dexter Dunn, probably one of the best drivers in the world. 
I paid $7.40 a place. Shoulda gone each way mate

[Forbury]

29 minutes ago, KimButt said:

I’ve even done the research for you. It was Earthbound. 8th March 2018 Race 3. 
Beaten by Go Getta and Dexter Dunn, probably one of the best drivers in the world. 
I paid $7.40 a place. Shoulda gone each way mate

Thank you for the correction as I did remember the race and I still don't believe Dexter did what he did and cost you winning at huge odds.raphoe confused me as it just got beat at a massive price there two and thought it was unlucky not to win..Kim you were not that bad at driving still improving in a hard environment And hope you and Johnny have a bright future together and ARE doing very well at it.im to harsh when it involves alot money.so sorry for posting in not a positive way.

 

[Gammalite]

44 minutes ago, KimButt said:

I’ve even done the research for you. It was Earthbound. 8th March 2018 Race 3. 
Beaten by Go Getta and Dexter Dunn, probably one of the best drivers in the world. 
I paid $7.40 a place. Shoulda gone each way mate

Great drive on Earthbound. No way in the world you could of kept Dexter in . Stewards report already declared him hanging out throughout the race anyway. Dexter turned GO GETTA"S head to the right that far he was looking at the ice-creams in the stand, !!!!! as you turned for home. Natalie wouldn't of even been able to keep him in. lol.

Great job for 2nd !!!! Forb's can line up for a punt again next week lol..... or take the $130 Q and shout a carton.

[Dougie]

50 minutes ago, KimButt said:

I’ve even done the research for you. It was Earthbound. 8th March 2018 Race 3. 
Beaten by Go Getta and Dexter Dunn, probably one of the best drivers in the world. 
I paid $7.40 a place. Shoulda gone each way mate

You tell him Kimberly, on the upside he didn't call you a dickhead or moron like he has other drivers....... maybe he's mellowing as his namesake is closing down. 

[paleface adios]

51 minutes ago, KimButt said:

I’ve even done the research for you. It was Earthbound. 8th March 2018 Race 3. 
Beaten by Go Getta and Dexter Dunn, probably one of the best drivers in the world. 
I paid $7.40 a place. Shoulda gone each way mate

Andrew fitz bet he had thousand place for BGP . keep the winners coming Kim 

[Brodie]

Wouldnt think the trainer wouldve put Kimberly on Raphoe??

No disrespect to you Kimberly, but seriously how on earth would you be able to see over Raphoe?????

Biggest horse to ever race at Forbury!

[Forbury]

Brad Williamson just got a whip suspension now he's going to get a dangerous driving charge on ohoka agent or more.a big suspension is coming from this one.not a very good look at all.might be looking at getting a holiday in the sun and heat!!