Tasmania lost one of its harness racing icons last week when champion pacer Halyer passed away peacefully of old age at Scamander on the North-East Coast.

The former champion had been living the life of Riley on the property of Ana and Eric Hayes where he was treated like a member of the family for the past 12 years.

Halyer became an integral part of the Hayes family that comprises Ana and Eric Hayes their son Saxon and daughter Lily-Mae.

"Losing Halyer was like losing a family member because he meant so much to all of us," Ana Hayes said.

At his previous two homes Halyer was used as a pony club hack and from all reports he thoroughly enjoyed being ridden but Ana's attempts to reignite that passion failed.

"I took riding lessons using "Hals" as my mount but it wasn't really working and when he bucked me off a few times I decided to give riding a miss and just keep him as a pet.

"We decided to call him Big Dog because he was fed twice a day and was treated just the same as any family pet.

Halyer also became a good companion for Lily-Mae who was quite attached to the horse. She would often wander down to the back of the paddock and talk to Halyer and over time he became very affectionate towards her.

When Halyer laid down to take his last few breaths Lily-Mae was with him and fell asleep by his side.

"We are a very close-knit family and our animals are very much a part of the unit so to lose such a dominant force in our lives is heartbreaking,"

In his racing days Halyer was owned by Don Cooper and his son Dean and Halyer died on Don's 90th birthday last Sunday week.

Don had not seen Halyer for about 14 years when he made a visit to the Hayes' property about six years ago and what transpired when he and the horse were reacquainted was quite moving.

Almost from the moment Halyer caught sight of Don the gelding became more animated and when Don put his arm around the horse's neck the obvious affection they had for each other shone through.

"This horse took us on a fantastic journey and for obvious reasons Bobby (Halyer) always will be very special to me and my family," Don Cooper said.

Halyer was a great racehorse who greeted the starter 70 times for 32 wins and 22 minor placings for over $340,000 in stakes.

He broke two minutes every season he raced, notching a 1.59.7 rate as a two-year-old and at three he clocked 1.58.3 in an open class race over 1609 metres Launceston in February 1990.

Two months later he was mixing it with the best three-year-olds in the land winning a heat of the NSW Derby prior to finishing second in the Derby final, a race that even today Don Cooper finds had to believe he lost.

"One thing you learn when you are involved in racing is that you have to take the bad with the good and the NSW Derby was one of those not so good experiences," Cooper said.

Halyer finished second to Imprimartar, but only because Halyer struck interference, broke and galloped 100m from home and what led to him breaking resulted in the horse's trainer-driver Neville Webberley being suspended.

But the horse made amends at his next start when, with John "Bulldog" Nicholson in the gig, he gave his rivals a pacing lesson in the Group 1 Australian Derby.

"The Australian Derby win was enormous and definitely made up for the NSW Derby loss," Cooper said.

After six months in the paddock Halyer returned to the racetrack and following his first win as a four-year-old Webberley predicted his stable star had the ability to reach great heights.

His effort to finish second to Thorate in the 1990 Tasmanian Pacing Championship remains one of the most courageous efforts seen on a Tasmanian track.

The then four-year-old was galloped on in the run and despite blood gushing from a gash in his hoof he finished at the rate of knots to edge Generator out of second spot and beat home some of the best horses of that era including Allan Grant that was driven and trained by the late Vin Knight.

The hoof injury ensured Halyer would spend the next nine months in the paddock but he returned with a vengeance.

He won the Easter Cup in 1992 which boasted a star-studded line-up including Inter-Dominion performers Franco Tiger and The Tower Of Strength who filled the minor placings.

Despite having a few niggling injuries, Halyer was prepared for the 1994 Inter Dominion series in Sydney and he again made his mark at the highest level.

He won his first heat of the series and placed third in two others to progress to the final in which he finished a luckless fourth to Weona Warrior.

But days after the final he was stricken with a stomach illness that almost took his life.

"We thought we lost him a couple of times but he was a real fighter and he lived to fight another day," Don Cooper said.

Halyer returned to Tasmania when fully recovered and other than a four-start campaign in Victoria he spent the balance of his racing days in his home state.

Webberley regards Halyer as the best he trained and after consultation with the horse's owners they agreed to retire the horse from racing after he won a free-for-all in Hobart in September 1995.

Ana Hayes said Halyer is buried on the family property where he lay in a specially marked grave.

"We buried Hals in a spot that gets the morning and afternoon sun and that's the way he would have liked it," Ana said.

Peter Staples