The mastery of Cardigan Bay? The stoutness of False Step? The brilliance of Johnny Globe? The personality of Robalan? Was one of these Cups hailed as the finest ever run: or was it perhaps the third win of Indianapolis, the second by Haughty or even the great run by old Monte Carloin 1904?
Well strangely enough those who have seen a lot of Cups always come back to one sooner or later which gave them a special thrill. And that Cup was Gold Bar’s winning run in 1945 when the Grattan Loyal bay finally lasted the distance and defeated a high-class field.
The middle and late forties were the peak of trotting’s popularity and the 1945 NZ Cup was the richest horse race ever run in this country and it was also billed as the richest trotting handicap in the world which, when you think about it, doesn’t mean much. But during the war years huge crowds always attended the Cup and ever since 1941 when Gold Bar first started in the event they had watched him burn off his rivals in the middle stages only to get run down near the end. In 1945 they finally saw what they had waited years to see – the brillant bay getting too far in front for the others to catch him.
Gold Bar had unique appeal for his racing style has never been seen before or since in big races in this country. There was none of this business of tucking in on the rails in the big staying races and waiting for the last run. Gold Bar went flat stick from the start no matter how far the race and it was up to the others to catch him. In 1945 for example he went his first quarter in 31.4, first half in 62.8 and the first mile in 2:06.8 by which time he was firteen lengths clear of the field.
Thirty-two thousand spectators watched in amazement as the flying stallion and owner-trainer Alan Holmes made an almost lonely sight nearly half a furlong clear of the Cup field. “Of course he’ll stop,” they were saying. “He always does.” But deep down they were hoping that today it just might be different. And it was. Going past the old five furlong pole (1000m) Gold Bar still had a big lead and back in the field the other drivers were putting off the decision which would cost them the race. No mug field either. Included in it were Integrity who would win the following year, Haughty already the winner of two Cups and the first two-minute mare in the Southern Hemisphere, Bronze Eagle who had won the previous year, Countless, Shadow Maid and Indian Clipper a free-for-all winner.
The drivers back in the field were remembering one important thing. Almost inevitably in previous years the horse which had first bridged the gap to Gold Bar when he set up his long leads found that the effort exhausted him and he was no longer a challenger. The previous year none less than Springfield Globe had spent his resources trying to catch Gold Bar. This memory made the drivers hesitate and the hesitation gave Gold Bar the race. Finally Maurice Holmes driving the little chestnut Integrity decided to lead the chase. The gap between the tiring Gold Bar and the challenging Integity narrowed and it seemed once more that Gold Bar would falter.
Approaching the home turn Integrity had drawn up to the leader and it looked a formality for him to pass. History repeated itself however and the effort of the chase had tired Integrity. Gold Bar managed to hold on in surely the slowest quarter in recent Cup history as the two exhausted pacers struggled to the finish. Much further back was Shadow Maid in the hands of a youthful Cecil Devine who would later write his own Cup history and Countless driven by Jack McLennan. Gold Bar who had paced his opening 1¼ miles in 2:39 and the 1½ in 3:10.4 came his last half in 65.6, the last quarter taking about 34 seconds.
Integrity may have been a shade unlucky as he had been slow away but it was definitely Gold Bar’s day. His reception was fantastic. Before he could return to the birdcage hundreds of well-wishers had jumped the rails and surrounded Alan Holmes and his champion heaping congratulations on them. It wasn’t as if they had all backed him either because he was fifth win favourite, Integrity and Bronze Eagle sharing the favouritism. People who had probably not even seen much of the race because of the crush cheered him to the echo on his return to scale.
The impossible, it seemed, had happened. One reporter began his story the next day ‘Never in the history of trotting…’ and the excitment took several hours to die down. There were critics. Some said that Gold Bar’s tactics were ruining the NZ Cups as true tests of staying ability. Others said that had Haughty not been checked at the turn she would have won her third Cup. There are always critics. They were golden days in trotting about that time. Totalisator records the day Gold Bar won the Cup were smashed and the day’s turnover was only $10,000 less than the turnover for the entire meeting five years previously. A quarter of an hour before the Cup the queues at the tote were over 60m long and many people had to miss races in order to bet on the Cup. More money was invested on the big race itself than had been spent on all eight races a decade before.
Gold Bar was a personality horse of the first water and many will tell you he was the most brilliant horse they have seen. He was the first NZ-bred to break two-minutes and he scored a number of spectacular victories one in the Ashburton Cup being even more thrilling than his NZ Cup win. He started in two further Cups adopting the same tactics but didn’t win another one before being retired to stud in 1947. He was quite successful siring over 80 winners, the brilliant Brahman probably being the best and a number of his daughters bred on well.
He was owned throughout his career by Alan Holmes who purchased his dam from her breeder Mr J Cooper of Cheviot. In all Gold Bar won 22 races over nine seasons earning nearly $26,000. There have been no Gold Bar’s since his time. Big races since then have been won by more orthodox means. Perhaps one day another will come along so that a younger generation can see the excitement that such a run can engender. I don’t know about staying techniques but Gold Bar’s 1945 Cup run must have been a wonderful spectacle. No wonder some say it was the greatest Cup of all.
Credit: David McCarthy writing in NZ Troguide 4Nov76
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
