Halwes – May have been the best horse never to win an Inter Dominion?

Halwes- Prologue 

One of the great privileges of advancing years is to have the opportunity to test the patience of younger people with tales of yore. When it comes to reminiscing about the deeds of great horses of the past I can “earbash” with the best of ’em.

I’d been calling the Harold Park trots for only a short time when the 1968 Miracle Mile rolled around. The 2GB Macquarie network had made the welcome decision to launch a Friday night harness coverage beginning with perhaps a dozen stations, a number that grew quickly over the following twelve months.

The dominant win by Tasmanian champion Halwes impacted me profoundly. In clocking 1.58.6 the stallion became the fastest pacer in the history of the sport in Australia, and set a world record for a race run on a track less than half a mile in circumference. In an era when the “the trots” enjoyed a huge following around the nation, Halwes was the new superstar.

The champion was twenty six years old when I paid him an impromptu visit one day while driving through the tiny village of Hagley near Launceston.  It was a surreal experience to catch up with the horse who’d kick started my passion for harness racing. On a whim many years ater I decided to pen my little tribute to a horse who would have given the champions of any era a run for their money. 

With your indulgence I’d like to give that tribute another run.  

 

HALWES WAS ONE OF THE BEST HORSES NEVER TO WIN AN INTER DOMINION. 

When it comes to horses I’m a hopeless sentimentalist.

I had the pleasure of calling Halwes in all of his Harold Park wins in the late 1960’s and he left an indelible impression on me. He was a horse of high speed, great reserves of stamina and a terrific will to win. 

These were the thoughts running through my mind on a sunny February day eighteen years later, when I was driving through the tiny village of Hagley about 32kms from Launceston.

I’d been on a “drive yourself” holiday with my wife Ann and four year old daughter Rebecca.

This was the home of Aub Wesley who had trained the champion throughout his career. This was the location of Fairview Stud where Halwes spent his post racing days.

I went into a little general store in the middle of town and asked the lady behind the counter  where I might find Mr. Aub Wesley.

“There he is over there “, she declared pointing directly across the road.

“That’s Mr. Wesley in the blue overalls and the hat “. I could see an elderly man pottering around near a galvanised iron shed.

A semi trailer roared past as we ducked across the road, and climbed between the rails of an ancient ironbark fence. “ Can I help you sonny?”, asked the man in the blue overalls as I approached with outstretched hand. I remember thinking it had been a bloody long time since anyone had called me “ sonny “.

Aub only vaguely remembered having met me in Sydney, but was quick to ask about his old friend Kevin Newman who’d driven Halwes in most of
his mainland races.

After introducing my family and exchanging the usual platitudes, I asked the predictable question “ Is the old horse still alive Aub?”

“ He was when I fed him a while ago”, said the old world horseman “ Wait here and I’ll fetch him “.

I struggled with a lump in the throat when the veteran trainer emerged from a stable, with one of my equine idols. There he was in the flesh.

The great Halwes or “Toby” as Aub always called him.

A little swampy backed maybe, but alert and bright eyed with a coat that was gleaming like satin. He looked nothing like his 27 years.

The memories flashed by. A mighty win off 12 yards in a Spring Cup, an even better win off 36 yards in an Easter Cup and of course his demolition job on some super horses in the 1968 Miracle Mile.

In Auckland only weeks earlier, he’d been a shock late scratching from the Inter Dominion Grand Final. He’d won all three qualifying heats in spectacular fashion and was at unbackable odds for the final.

His troublesome quarter crack had been visible for some weeks, but had given him no trouble through the series. He’d trotted up perfectly sound on race morning, and Aub had no reason to be concerned.

The trainer thought he noticed a funny step or two as he led Halwes to the race night stalls. An hour later the great horse was actually “pointing his off fore toe”, and Wesley’s dream slipped away before his eyes.

The on track siren preceded the shock announcement that Halwes was out of the Grand Final. “ He would have won that race on his ear “, was Aub’s lament for the rest of his days. Kevin Newman agreed, as did every experienced trotting man who’d watched him destroy his rivals through the series.

Imagine the frustration of the Halwes camp when First Lee won that Grand Final comfortably. His trainer/driver Kevin Robinson was the first to admit he won the big race by default.

This was the second Inter Dominion disaster for Aub and his co owner Charlie Williams. The stallion had been to Perth the previous year and actually finished second in each of the first two heats. He was lame the morning after the second heat, and for the first time his infamous quarter crack appeared. His campaign was aborted when he was ruled out of the third qualifying heat.

Just a few weeks after Auckland Halwes beat First Lee by a massive twenty yards in the Miracle Mile. His time was 1.58.6-  the fastest ever recorded by a pacer in Australia, and a world record on a track measuring less than half a mile.

He was just .2 of a second outside Lordship’s Australasian record which had been set on a 5 furlongs track.

Halwes was rising nine when he time trialled at Harold Park seven months after his Miracle Mile triumph. Accompanied by a galloping pacemaker Koala Proof, Halwes stopped the clock at 1.57.3 taking 1.4 seconds of the “mile against time” record established fourteen years earlier by the brilliant Ribands.

Despite the fact that Halwes won 15 races at Harold Park, Aub Wesley maintained that his champion was never completely at home on the famous circuit.

Conversely he always looked comfortable on the smaller Melbourne Showgrounds track where he won half a dozen races.

Aub, in a pose typical of a country man of his generation, squatted on his haunches chewing on a stem of grass as he reminisced about his travels with Toby. He was happy for me to shoot some home movie footage of the old horse, which is still among my souvenirs.

Halwes seemed to understand every word spoken by his former trainer, including one usually reserved for dogs. When Aub shouted “skitch ‘em “, the stallion pinned his ears back, bared his teeth and charged straight at us, skidding to a halt just centimetres from his yard fence.

There was little doubt he would have made a meal of anybody who got between him and his old boss. Aub’s love for the horse was such that he’d arranged for the insertion of a special clause in his will stipulating that Halwes should be “put down” if he died first.

The terms of that special clause were never executed, because “ Toby” died nine years before the passing of his former trainer.

By the time Halwes retired in 1969 his record stood at 45 wins from 63 starts, and the equivalent of $73,000. That figure will give you some idea of the significance of a $300,000 offer Aub received from the United States the previous year.

Aub Wesley would never have parted with his “horse of a lifetime”, and was now looking forward to standing Halwes on his own property “Fairview” at Hagley.

The great horse did a respectable job with around 120 winners, but nothing even close to his own great ability. Aub  died at 91, and those close to him believed he never got over the loss of his “ best mate “.

I had several conversations with the late Kevin Newman over the years, and he never wavered in his claim that Halwes was the best horse he drove.  Most horses can go only once in a race “, said the ten times champion Harold Park trainer. “ Good horses can go twice. Halwes could go three times in a race “.

Almost thirty four years have passed since my impromptu visit to Hagley. I’ve never forgotten the wonderful few hours spent with a grand old horseman, and the champion who took him on a fantastic journey.

 

 

By John Tapp for Harnesslink