Dr Charles Roberts Library officially opened

The Dr Charles Roberts Library was officially opened by the man himself in New Zealand’s Harness Racing Hall of Fame just prior to last Friday’s meeting at Alexandra Park.

About 40 people attended the function in honour of the 93-year-old former vet and prominent stud master and owner/breeder.

Dr Roberts cut the ribbon to the entrance to the Noel Taylor Harness Racing Hall Of Fame. A plaque with his name engraved on it was also erected above the entrance.

The library naming came three years after Dr Roberts was inducted into the Harness Racing Hall Of Fame for his outstanding contribution to harness racing. Alby Gain, Bob McArdle, and Pat O’Brien were also inducted that year.

“This is a great honour. Noel (Taylor) was a great man and was a good friend of mine. It is wonderful to have my name up there in his Hall of Fame.

“Noel used to hunt with our family and we built up a great friendship over the years. What he did for harness racing both before and after his death was very generous. I am proud to be here today,” Dr Roberts said.

Dr Roberts has achieved many great things in racing, including the breeding and ownership of 2014 New Zealand Cup winner, Adore Me. More recently he also bred and owned Christen Me and Dream About Me to win the 2015 (March) and 2016 Auckland Cups respectively.

The South Auckland resident also bred Have Faith In Me to win the December edition of the 2015 (December) Auckland Cup.

Hall of Fame president, Gilbert Myles said it was an honour to name the library after Dr Roberts.

“He has done so much for racing. A pioneer in many ways and he’s still going strong – breeding and owning Group One winners.

“We were recently gifted the entire Australian Stud book collection from the Paul family in Mangere to go with our New Zealand one – and with such precious artefacts and books dating back to the 1800s we thought it was time to upgrade and name the library,” Myles said.

“We couldn’t have picked a better person to name our all of Fame after. It is a much prized possession and Charles is a legend of our great sport,” he added.

He said Dr Roberts has been a driving force in New Zealand harness racing circles for almost seven decades.

Initially involved in thoroughbreds it has been Dr Roberts association with Woodlands Stud that has kept him a household harness racing name.

He has won numerous prizes at annual Harness Racing Awards, as well as many more for his champion stallion and broodmare Bettor’s Delight and Scuse Me.

Mr Roberts is also the only person to be named Breeder-of-the-Year in both the standardbred and thoroughbred codes. Being an original shareholder in Sir Tristram is another one of the many feathers in his cap.

Long before Woodlands Stud Mr Roberts was associated with Haunui Farm, and later qualified as a veterinary surgeon based at Takanini.

He became an expert on the reproductive aspect of breeding and more than six decades ago he helped set up the original swabbing proceedings on a national basis.

In 1976 Mr Roberts established the Riverside Veterinary and 11 years later the Auckland Vet Centre in partnership with Andrew Grierson, who is now the leading advisor to both codes in all veterinary matters.

In partnership with Grierson, Mr Roberts in 1987, bought what was then ‘Harness World’ at a mortgagee sale. They returned its original title of Woodlands and revolutionised standardbred breeding in New Zealand by concentrating on shuttling stallions from the United States and then buying the Southern Hemisphere rights.

In The Pocket was the first and his line changed the face of breeding in this country. Then Bettor’s Delight made an even greater impact, now dominating premierships on both sides of the Tasman as well as premierships in North America.

He has also been our most dominant forces at recent yearling sales.

His son-in-law, Paul Kenny, who is also involved in the thoroughbred industry, said it was an honour for both himself, his wife (and Dr Roberts’ daughter) Mary, and their family to be at the ceremony.

“What Charles has achieved has been unbelievable really and he still loves the game so much. He seldom misses a meeting at Alexandra Park. He’s a proud Aucklander and the Auckland Trotting Club look after him so well.

“The galloping code has no Hall of Fame and to have Charles name up in lights here is something very special. The Hall Of Fame is a great asset to our sport and is much needed in galloping. The family is so delighted, and even though it was a surprise, Charles was over the moon,” Kenny said.

“You could see it in his face,” he added.

 

Duane Ranger