This is part two of the article looking at the development of the mobile starting gate. In part one we looked at its development in North America, New Zealand and Australia. Part two provides a brief club by club summary reviewing the early use of the mobile gate in New Zealand. The use of mobiles during Interdominion Championships concludes this article.
New Zealand –
A club by club account of the Corrigan gate’s use on a nationwide basis follows :
Hawera – on third day of 1957 Easter meeting, held Tuesday 23 April 1957, Flying Stakes over 1 mile (grass), £700 (£500 to winner), 2:12 class (2:11 was open class) was won by Ben Grice’s Brahman in 2:07.0 (dr/tr : Ces Donald). The mobile was used for one event only and again at Hawera Easter meetings 1958 – 1960 but not again until April 1966.
NZMTC, Addington – the Corrigan gate which was attached to a utility vehicle ventured south to Addington for the final day of the 1957 Cup carnival. It was used for one of the feature races on Saturday 23 November 1957 – NZ Flying Stakes (10 starters) won by Caduceus (tr : Jack Litten, dr : Tony Vassallo) in a 2:00.0 mile with False Step finishing second.
New Brighton – staged the New Brighton Flying Mile behind the Corrigan gate on Saturday 7 December 1957. The winner was Lookaway trained and driven by Maurice Holmes with Caduceus, False Step and Don Hall, finishing in that order behind Lookaway.
Bay of Plenty (Tauranga), was first North Island club to use the Corrigan gate on Saturday 25 January 1958 in the Te Puke Futurity Stakes of approx 1¼m, featuring two year olds behind the mobile gate for the first time.
Waikato (Claudelands), on Saturday 24 May 1958 ran the First and Second Te Awamutu Hcps from the mobile.
Cambridge, on Saturday 28 June 1958 honoured the Corrigan gates inventor conduct with the A.J. Corrigan Hcp.
Franklin (Pukekohe), on Saturday 8 November 1958, held its 2yo Franklin Sapling Stakes over 8½ furlongs for a stake of £400.
Stratford, at their inaugural meeting on 7 February 1959, honoured the Corrigan gates inventor with the A.J. Corrigan Hcp.
Waikato (Claudelands), Saturday 16 January 1960 summer meeting, ran four of its eight races using the mobile gate. The mobile was not used at their winter meeting or at inaugural night meeting held in March 1961.
In 1962, Canterbury Park Trotting Club introduced a mobile barrier modelled on those used in North America.
Canterbury Park TC at Addington – used their new gate for the first time at the Winter meeting on Saturday 26 May 1962 (heavy track). Four mobile events all over 9½ furlongs were run.
NZMTC, Addington – used the CPTC mobile gate at its National meeting in August 1962. On both days the largest on course betting turnovers were achieved on races from the mobile barrier. A matter of interest about the early mobile starts at Addington is, apart from the one mile starting point used for a number of races, distances of 9½ furlongs (sprint) and 12½ furlongs (middle distance) were utilised.
At the 1962 NZ Cup Meeting, only three races used the mobile starting gate. The NZFFA won by Lordship (2:04.0MR) drew the largest on and off-course betting on the second day; NZ Trotting FFA won by When (2:07.2MR) on the third day was not the highest race betting wise while on the fourth day, the Smithson FFA, had a good total invested on a small field with a dominating favourite winning in Cardigan Bay (2:03.0MR, tr/dr : Peter Wolfenden).
Canterbury Park (Addington) : conducted open class miles on both days of their 1963 New Year meeting (1 and 2 January 1963). The Lightning Mile on the opening day was won by Lordship and When took out the Trotters Flying Mile on the second day. The club continued using the mobile gate at their meetings and were the first club to hold a mobile event at night at their New Years Eve meeting on 31 December 1963.
New Brighton – once they had moved their headquarters from the grass track (last meeting 21 September 1963) at what became Queen Elizabeth II Park (venue of 1974 Commonwealth Games) to Addington, held their first mobile event on Wednesday 10 March 1965.
NZMTC, Addington – mobile gate controversy continued to rage at NZ’s premium club in the mid 1960’s. It wasn’t until the Easter meeting of 1965 that advocates of the mobile barrier received heartening news that NZMTC would again include two top class mobile features on its programme.
Just when it seemed that mobile starts would take their place as a standard means of starting races throughout the country, the NZ Trotting Owners, Trainers and Breeders Association recommended a complete ban be imposed on mobile starts. At their national meeting in November 1965, they voted 11 to 10 against this proposal. This is how close we came to not having mobile starts fifty years ago. At this time, comments both for and against mobile starts appeared regularly in the Trotting Calendar’s Letters to the Editor section.
In the North Island, Brian Butcher’s (Palmerston North) starting gate was adopted and used commercially by North Island clubs from the commencement of 1965/66 season. The mobile gate had truly arrived and became a permanent feature at harness racing meetings. Those initial North Island meetings using the Butcher gate were held by :
Morrinsville : meeting held at Cambridge on 28 September 1965 heralding the beginning of a new era with mobile starts on a regular basis. Four of nine races utilised the mobile start.
Alexandra Park : Auckland Trotting Club, Saturday 23 October 1965 (Labour Weekend 2 day meeting) where just two mobile events were held. FJ Smith Memorial was won by Great Adios and Mountain FFA Trot by Great Oak. The mobile was used on one occasion on the second day. It was next used at Alexandra Park during their three day AK Cup Christmas carnival of 1965. Again, just two races each night used the mobile gate. The Auckland Cup was run under mobile conditions over 2700m from 1978 (Sole Command) to January 1987 (Master Mood) and 2007 (Flashing Red) to March 2015 (Christen Me) before in each case reverting back to 3200m standing starts.
The Franklin Trotting Club used the mobile for 50% of its races (4/8) when conducting its meeting on Monday evening 15 November 1965. The Thames club held its first “mobile start” meeting on Saturday 27 November 1965 when seven of its nine races utilised the flying start.
Cambridge : first used at its meeting of Saturday 6 November 1965 for eight of its nine races.
Manawatu : joined the growing list of North Island clubs making maximum use of the Butcher mobile gate when on Monday 21 February 1966, four of their eight races were started from the mobile.
Hutt Park : at the two night 1966 Wellington Cup meeting (26 February/1 March 1966), had the first use of the mobile in the capital city.
Other North Island clubs to use the mobile during 1965/6 season were – Bay of Plenty (29 January 1966, first to use Butcher gate on grass for all but two races over two day meeting), Stratford (grass, 23 April 1966) and Taranaki (grass, 30 April 1966).
Forbury Park : lower South Island had its introduction to the mobile on the third night of Forbury’s 1966 Festival meeting (5 February 1966) with two races from behind the mobile, the first the Forbury 2yo Stakes won by Holy Hal.
Wyndham – the first Southland club to use the mobile gate on Saturday 30 January 1968.
Moving now to the 21st century and current mobile barriers are fitted to powerful modern vehicles, often sponsored by industry linked businesses. Mobile gates in the North Island are provided by just the three clubs : Alexandra Park, Cambridge (used at all Harness Racing Waikato venues) and Manawatu gate utilised by Central Districts clubs).
Many South Island clubs have their own gate, the main exception being Southland Harness whose mobile gate is used by Southland and Central Otago clubs. Forbury Park, up to end of 2010/11 season used Southland’s gate with their own mobile gate being used from the start of the 2011/12 season (also used at Wingatui dual code meeting).
Many clubs utilise the mobile gate as a means of “entertainment” for patrons by providing rides in the mobile. Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jenny Shipley is one of many to have ridden in the mobile gate at Forbury.
Mobile gate use at Interdominion Trotting Championships –
Pacers :
First used for second round of three heats over 2700m at Alexandra Park in 1975 (Vanadium, Micron, Young Quinn) prior to the first all mobile carnival at Moonee Valley in 1978. The heats were run over distances of 1 mile, 2400m and 3300m. The final won by Markovina was run over 2900m.
Addington reverted to an all standing starts championship in 1979 and its wasn‘t until 1984 when Globe Derby reinstated the all mobile carnival which has remained a feature of all Pacing Interdominions since.
Trotters –
The Trotters Championship had a more chequered history with respect to usage of the mobile gate. In 1984, like their pacing counterparts, the Globe Derby Trotters Interdominion was an all mobile affair with the final taken out by Sir Castleton.
Mobile trotters Interdominions continued until 1996 when standing starts were reintroduced in the following years : Moonee Valley (1996), Globe Derby (1997), Harold Park (1998), Melbourne – a mix of events (2000), Albion Park (2001), Harold Park (2002). Moonee Valley (2004, 2006), Globe Derby (2007). All other years in between were mobiles, as they were 2008 – 2012 when final Trotters Interdominion held.
Controversy still exists even today over whether all starts should be mobile, as the quality of some standing start field dispatches leaves a lot to be desired. Australia has a greater proportion of mobile to standing starts than New Zealand. A personal opinion regarding the mix of standing starts to mobile dispatches is that NZ has it about right – variety being the spice of harness racing life.
The mobile gate has come a long way, where would harness racing be without it today!!
Peter Craig
5 October 2016
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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