The Corner with Garry Chittick
My wife views my daily activities, never a week passes without “why are you in such a hurry?”. Well, I respond, I have used a great deal more time than I now have available.
I believe the message, race a horse whilst you can remember the jockey’s name should be implanted as an enjoyable addition to our bucket list.
At Matamata last week Mark, Mary and I won consecutive races, now these were not Group races but to us they were. How lucky to be able to share the adrenaline surge, to dream of bigger things to come, to join with our friends, acquaintances, and people we didn’t know in our Waikato Stud’s sponsored entertainment room. Between races our win was replayed many times, all attending appeared as enthusiastic as we were being fully aware it is not a regular occurrence.
My father and his brother were market gardeners in Lower Hutt, the Wellington Racing Club’s race days were always keenly awaited, they owned the odd horse, a day of excitement was for my cousins, sister and I to be taken to the stables to see the horse they so anxiously believed would reach the heights they never did. I have a photo of a rotund Garry on the back of one of these hopes in a knitted suit aged three, probably the only time I would have made the weight.
This is all unremarkable, except my cousins and I are still at it. Still aspiring to be taken to the heights a good horse will, this is remarkable, our joint efforts, our relationships, our shared excitement all glued together by the horse over 80 years. You can’t put a price on the shared dreams. I often wonder how often our paths would have crossed without the weekly reason to call. The horses we race are homebreds, I have supplied the sire, they the dam. We have had the full spread I could offer – Savabeel, O’Reilly, No Excuse Needed, Sacred Falls, Ocean Park, Tivaci, etc. We probably have over mated, but then that’s not what it’s about, for some time the youngest of our group trained the progeny, now moving at a pace, the horses were out-thinking him, we have passed the responsibility to John Bary, with two of our partnership in Hawke’s Bay, they can regularly enjoy the preparation.
The shared involvement has had a great two weeks, two horses, two wins, then, they share equally in the joy of any Waikato Stud win. There are many others amongst our age group whom I am sure are sharing similar enjoyment, I remind my acquaintances there is little point in saving, your beneficiaries will simply use any largesse to immediately race the horse you should have. Keep an eye on our ups and downs and remind yourself that we four octogenarians are still sharing our lives, as I said earlier, there are some things you can’t value.
It is a spring so far that is ideal for bringing to life our 2026 crop of foals. Waikato is half way through, there have as usual been the odd disappointment, in all my years of the ups and downs, I would still find it hard to call an owner after an unsuccessful foaling. A hobby breeder will have put their all into their only mare, a loss creates a gap, if intended to race, you are contemplating the next four years awaiting your colours on the track. Then again Mary and I now only breed from ten mares, we have two to go. Our normal aim is to retain the fillies and sell the colts to fund the racing account. Might be difficult with six of the first eight being fillies, still we have some lovely foals, let’s hope I need to worry about the racing account. As I said at the start of this Corner, I have seen more than I am going to see, what better to think about but their development.
If the two of you are similarly placed, make sure you have a horse to keep you in touch with the great racing fraternity, or as in my case my extended family.
P.S on reading this Corner to Mary she reminded me, as she does regularly, that the Octogenarians are still happily married to their first wives. She won’t read this so I can be brave enough to tell you, “it’s probably because of the horses.”
Cheers,
G
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