This is the first of six articles covering the life and racing times of George Johnson Barton, the leviathan and colourful Dunedin owner. Part One will be an overview of Barton’s career; Parts Two and Three will review the majority of his standardbred horses; Part Four will look at his star standard bred – champion pacer Indianapolis‘s career; Part Five will detail his other star standardbred – ID winner Grand Mogul’s career and Part Six will review Barton‘s thoroughbred horses.
George Barton was born in Victoria, Australia in 1880. Starting work as a butcher’s apprentice, he came to NZ as a young man on his way to the USA. Passing through Dunedin he saw opportunities in the butchery trade establishing himself as a partner in Barton and Trengrove, Dunedin’s largest and best known butchery located in the Octagon. A wholesale butcher, he made his fortune buying/selling fat lambs and all meats. Barton’s butchery partner was big spending owner Jack (Sonny) Trengrove who purchased Great Hope (NZ/GN Derby, Aust C/S) whose first appearance in Trengrove’s colours 3 months later won him the 1923 NZ Cup. Surviving a major fire in 1921, Trengrove sold out of the butchery business in 1926 to concentrate on his horses. Barton then sole proprietor, retired himself in 1936 having extended his butcheries to suburban sites throughout Dunedin.
Service and thoroughness coupled with prudent management were Barton‘s motto,
a patron of all sports and seeking to achieve to the highest order. Well known for not doing things by half, whether business or sport, he had a reputation for great hospitality.. Barton started out with gallopers before getting into trotting, following his great success with standardbreds, he returned later to the gallopers being his main focus although retaining an interest in trotting. In the twenty years before WWII, Barton became one of the best known racing and trotting owners in NZ. He was a fearless punter, never frightened to back his own horses or his own judgement. Numerous stories exist of his substantial collects in the 1920’s and 1930’s, insisting his horses run on their merits and did not accept otherwise.
Barton is the only person to have been leading standard bred owner (ten occasions between 1927/8 and 1937/8, eight in consecutive years) and leading thoroughbred owner (1958/59) in NZ racing history. Barton horses were leading stake earners of the year in 1934/5 Indianapolis £3,210 and 1936/7 Grand Mogul £2,610.. Barton’s ten seasons as leading owner is second only to Sir Roy McKenzie, Member Order of NZ (13 time leading owner, 7 straight).
George Barton formed a winning partnership with WJ (Bill) Tomkinson who was leading trainer in 1924/5 – 22½ wins; 1927/8 – 26; 1928/9 – 36. Tomkinson was leading driver in 1924/5 – 24½; 1928/29 – 33. He came to NZ in 1922 from Australia with a large team of harness horses to chase better stakes. He was a legendary trainer, best known in harness racing although he kept a couple of jumping horses in work.. From August 1922 to June 1934, Tomkinson trained close to 250 winners (68 individual pacing winners, 13 trotting) and drove 238 winners in NZ. Tomkinson had an accident when tying a sulky to the back of a horse float, slipping and falling heavily onto a 44 gallon drum. He died as a result of complications from an internal ulcer which formed after this accident (1934). Barton was one of the pall bearers at Tomkinson’s funeral and purchased his Derby Lodge stables setting up Claude (FC) Dunleavy, previously Tomkinson’s foreman, to take over the training of his team. This he did for a couple of seasons before being sacked prior to the 1937 NZ Cup – Dunleavy was leading trainer in 1934/5 with 36 winners. Jack (J) Fraser jnr, took over training Barton’s team, Fraser was leading reinsman in the 1934/5 season with 34 wins. Tomkinson and Dunleavy were two examples of the many horsemen who have ended up plying their trade on both sides of the Tasman [HRI Vol 5, No 3 – May/June 2004, Ken Dyer‘s complete story on William James Tomkinson].
Barton’s standardbreds often performed together in the same race as bracket mates, owner and stable quinella’s were frequent. Often 2 horses, sometimes 3 and on the odd occasion 4 Barton horses appeared in the same field.. In the 1930’s, it was not uncommon to see his horses dominate specific racing carnivals. An example was the two day 1935 Easter carnival at Addington (16 races) – five winners (day 1 – Indianapolis, Bracken; day 2 – Teviot Downs, Mountain Dell, Tempest); one second (day 2 – Bracken), three thirds (day 1 – Teviot Downs, Tempest; day 2 Indianapolis).
In the early 1930’s Barton had the largest team of trotting horses in NZ before cutting back his numbers after an investigation into the form reversal of one of his horses at Forbury Park. On 2 March 1932, the Auckland Star and Wellington’s Evening Post reported : –
“Following immediately on the announcement of Mr. H. F. Nicoll’s retirement from trotting, Mr. George J. Barton’s secession from racing and trotting ownership has caused much surprise in sporting circles. For years Mr. Barton has been one of the leading trotting owners, having headed the money-winning list on several occasions and on the turf he has also met with some success. He is one of the few owners who race without depending on tho success of their horses, and for that reason his retirement is a matter for concern.
A Lucky Owner.. Mr. Barton can be counted among the lucky owners, as his racing account has always been on the credit side, and a run of bad luck would not worry him. The reason for his retirement is that he is not deriving from the sport the enjoyment he should.. For some months ho has been considering the question of retirement, and recent experiences have hastened his decision. He has found many irritating incidents of late to affect his enjoyment of the sport and also fraternal sociability……. At present he has seven gallopers in work at Wingatui, and 13 trotters in Tomkinson’s stable at Addington. All the horses are to be offered at auction without reserve before Easter. The current depression, and consequent reduction of stakes, have nothing to do with Mr. Barton’s retirement, and he is definitely seceding from racing”.
It was particularly fortunate that neither Messrs Barton nor Nicoll were lost to trotting at this time..
Despite his outstanding record, Barton’s purchases were not always successful – two examples of well performed horses from whom minimal returns were received :
Golden Pedro – 31 starts : 1 win – 8 2nds – 1 3rd. Arriving in NZ following his major Australian success in the 1929 Tasmanian Northall Champion Stakes, Golden Pedro had one unplaced start at seven before recording his only NZ victory at eight in the 1931 Presidents Hcp at Forbury Park. Unplaced in the 1931 Auckland Cup, he finished second the same day in the St Heliers Hcp and totalled seven further placed efforts in the 1931/2 season. Golden Pedro’s final NZ season at nine consisted of six starts for a solitary second. Chancellor – 42:11-5-2 (none for Barton). A successful young horse for E and F Bridgens (tr/dr Fred “Wizard” Smith), Chancellor won three as a 2yo plus placed third in the 1933 Sapling Stakes. At three, six wins included the 1933 GN Derby, one of five at Alexandra Park. At four, Chancellor won two at Alexandra Park including the 1934 Premier Hcp and placed in the 1935 Adams and CF Marks Memorial’s. Chancellor’s seventeen starts for Barton at five and six yielded just four placings.
George Barton was a member of the FPTC committee commencing in 1924 when five new committee members provided the largest injection of new blood into the club‘s administration at that time. He resigned from the committee in December 1934 purported to be due to ill health and a Stewards inquiry. This was into the running of Tempest, Barton’s horse that had ended the ten win sequence of up and coming sensation War Buoy at Forbury Park on 24 November 1934 in the 2m Forbury Hcp. In 1956 Barton was one of three committee members opposed to the introduction of night trotting at Forbury Park due to the cost of installing lighting. The others were HD May and JG (later Sir James) Barnes – died in June 1995, aged 86. A former Mayor of Dunedin; Committeeman, President and Life Member FPTC; President NZ Trotting Conference from 1979 for 4 years, 16 years in total; served on Racing Authority, TAB, in total 36 separate organisations; National Party MP for St Kilda 1951 – 1957. In 1974 he was made a Knight Bachelor for services to public life. A breeder and owner, his best horse was trotter White World (8 wins, T2:8.4, 1964 Dunedin Hcp Trot, 1965 CPTC Stewards Hcp – Trot). White World’s sister Aspen is 3rd dam of Aqua Caliente, a top class pacer of the mid/late 1990’s and grand dam of Hard on the Pocket, 1:50.0US.
Despite the objections of these long serving committeemen, night trotting came to Forbury Park in January 1961. George Barton however had had enough and he was no longer a committeeman when the 1961 AGM was held (extracts concerning Barton’s membership of Forbury Park committees appear from an unpublished history of trotting in Dunedin, courtesy of FPTC). George Barton was an Otago District representative on the NZ Racing Conference in the mid 1950’s.
Barton’s death occurred in Dunedin Public Hospital on Wednesday 3 April 1963, following injuries received when he fell from a ramp onto concrete at the Burnside saleyards. He was buried at the family’s plot at Andersons Bay Cemetery on Saturday 6 April 1963, aged 82 years. The family plot includes Mona Pretoria Barton, 29/6/1982, aged 82; an unnamed still born child and Lorraine de Maurice Edmonds, 9/12/1985, aged 70. A dispersal sale of Barton’s standardbred and thoroughbred stock took place in June 1963. After his death, Forbury Park instigated the G J Barton Memorial in his honour for open class pacers from 1963-1984, again in 2008 and 2009 and revived in 2012 as a 1 – 3 win 4yo discretionary handicap.
PART TWO : commences a review of Barton’s standardbreds.
Peter Craig
13 July 2016
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
