Loose Amongst the Legends by Phil Gifford

Author:Phil Gifford
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-927262-20-7
Publisher: Upstart Press
Published: 2014-07-16T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP

In the early 1980s the Auckland Trotting Club at Alexandra Park ran a series of what they called Personality Paces, where they asked groups of sports and media people to compete in amateur trotting races.

I was invited to drive in one of the first events in 1982. I had no experience with horses at all. To me they’ve always seemed far too big, with an oversupply of teeth and drool.

So when I arrived for a lesson at the stables of trainer/driver Dusty Dunsmuir at Alexandra Park I was extremely nervous.

Later I found that Dusty thought the whole idea of amateurs driving a standardbred was ridiculous, but he’d yielded to the demands of the club’s committeemen. So with hindsight I understand why he was so taciturn as I was fitted with a helmet and a pair of Perspex glasses so scratched I could hardly see through them, clambered into a sulky and took the reins in a death grip.

Dusty flicked his horse into a gentle trot and headed through a gate onto the track. As I followed I called out, ‘What do I do?’

As he sped away he yelled back at me, ‘Just don’t hit anything.’

A trotter weighs about 450 kg and at full pace travels at about 50 km/h. As my horse, a colt called Aereus, barrelled down the back straight it occurred to me I had no idea if I had to steer him around the corner. I pulled so hard on the reins the poor animal’s head was almost at right angles to its body.

Towards the end of the second lap he’d had enough, slowed down and swerved through the gate off the track.

There’s a happy ending to this story. Luckily, Dusty had a lovely young woman, Diane Cole, who trained with him, and also drove in races. She took over. Over the course of the next three days she showed me all the basics, including the most bizarre safety lesson of all, not to panic when your horse is in full flight, or when the horse behind nuzzles the back of your neck. It wasn’t weird equine curiosity, Diane assured me, but something the horses are trained to do. When a trotter is close behind another the one position that guarantees no collision is nose to neck.

On race night I was still terrified, but once we’d started I have to say it was exciting almost beyond description. Imagine being right in the middle of the best-filmed cattle stampede you’ve ever seen in a western. Every sense was so sharpened I could hear individual voices in the crowd.

Leaving all the thinking to Aereus, there was a third placing and a chance, when common sense returned after the buzz of the race, to gracefully retire from the trotting game.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.