New Brighton's rich trotting history to be showcased

By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk

The New Brighton Museum is on the lookout for trotting memorabilia - but there is a catch.

It has to relate to the New Brighton Trotting Club, which operated in east Christchurch from 1895 to 1963, before relocating to Addington Raceway.

"We want anything and everything," says Museum president Wayne Hawker, "that includes trainers' colours, footage of any races, trophies, photos, cups, and racebooks. We have a fair bit of stuff already but we are always keen for more. They would on loan for the exhibition in October - November."

The Museum, now into its third decade, plans to hold its exhibition just before New Zealand Cup Week. It will also coincide with Heritage Week in Christchurch.

Recently the museum held a "50 years on" exhibition celebrating the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch.

"We had 2500 through the doors - it was a great success," says Hawker.

Central to the Commonwealth Games was QE2 Stadium where 10,000 champion Dick Tayler - among others - wrote themselves into New Zealand sporting folklore.

Way before it was a multi purpose sporting venue it was the site of the New Brighton Trotting Club. For 70 years it was a bit of a rarity - a big city club with a grass track.

Trotting in New Brighton goes back around 140 years.

At a meeting held in the Sawyer's Arms Hotel in February 1883, the stewards "were empowered to select a course for races anywhere within the Avon Road District." The stewards chose land that skirted the swamps adjacent to New Brighton beach.

Tom Free, licensee of the local Bower Hotel, laid out a 1200 metre course at the Queen Elizabeth II Park property. There was then a mixed trotting and racing programme, and the first race on the site was held in 1886.

It was a start, but by all accounts the conditions were pretty rustic.

The land would be bought by Henry Mace, a soft drinks manufacturer, who built "Brooklyn Lodge" where he founded a stud and training and racing stables.

He sank wells for irrigation, upgraded the track and built accommodation for the public. Leasing the track from Mace, the New Brighton Trotting Club held the first official race meeting on March 16th, 1895. The first race was won by J Gallagher's Swinton by "300 yards" in 6.01 for two miles.

Henry Mace died in 1902, with Robert Button, a rich timber merchant at the time, taking over the property.

Button is best remembered as the father of Bella Button, a true harness racing pioneer. She was taking part in trotting events as far as the 1890s. Two horses called Bella Button have since raced in this country, most recently an eight win trotter trained by Mark Jones.

The club leased and then bought the land off the Button family. It evolved into a busy training centre, with the track being as fast as any in the country.

A long list of champions, including Wildwood Junior, Reta Peter, Adelaide Direct, Willie Lincoln, Agathos, Onyx, Peter Bingen, Great Bingen, Harold Logan and Josedale Grattan, were trained, at one time or another, on the New Brighton track. Reta Peter, a trotter, was a two-time New Zealand Cup winner in 1920 and 21.

Happy Voyage's 2:04.2, which stood as the NZ and Australian mile record for a season, was established on the track in 1923 while Harold Logan's 2:36.6 victory in the Avon Handicap over a mile and a quarter (2000m approx) from 84yds (76m) in October, 1934 was a then world record.

During WWI the army used the grounds for training exercises, though racing continued and prospered. That changed during WWII as the grounds were given over to the Defence Department and the club raced at Addington.

The club returned to their home patch in 1948 after the site had had an extensive makeover.

But the advent of night trotting would change everything.

It was first introduced at Addington Raceway on November 20, 1963, the same night that Cardigan Bay won the Allan Matson Handicap in a new world record (3:18.2).

By then the New Brighton club had decided to sell the site and transfer to Addington.

Its last meeting was held on Saturday, September 21 1963, with the New Brighton Club merging with the Canterbury Park and the New Metropolitan Trotting Clubs in 1998.

The course was sold to the Christchurch City Council (for $75,000!) and it became the venue for the 1974 Commonwealth Games. It was extensively damaged in the 2010 Christchurch earthquake and was demolished soon after. A smaller multi purpose complex is now on the site.

A harness racing fan for decades, Hawker wants the museum's exhibition to showcase the New Brighton Trotting Club's significant contribution to harness racing in Canterbury.

In the last 40 years he's hardly missed a New Zealand Cup.

And his favourite? Borana winning in 1985 at odds of 70-to-one.

"I had $5 over $10 on it," Hawker says, "and I also had the horse in the sweepstake at work!"

For more information on the exhibition or to contact Wayne - [email protected]