HORSEPLOP.COM
General Category => Harness Racing => Topic started by: Kirbys Ace on March 08, 2023, 04:58:34 PM
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Where did he go?
Looks like he sold his horses to Sean/Crissy and not down on any drives.
Any idea?
Just curious..
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His father died in NZ last month
Racing legend Peter Wolfenden, whose fame transcended harness racing, has died.
One of the greatest drivers in New Zealand history and the man who guided the career of the best-ever Australasian standardbred in Cardigan Bay, Wolfenden passed away after a brief illness, aged 88.
He won a remarkable 14 New Zealand drivers’ premierships, Inter Dominions, New Zealand and Auckland Cups, and for three decades, had no peer as a driver.
“He was phenomenal,” says New Zealand’s most successful reinsman Tony Herlihy.
“When I started driving, Wolfie was the best and would have been the best anywhere. He was a great, great driver. Very fair out on the track but you knew there was something different about him, something special.”
The winner of 1762 races driving in New Zealand, back when there was often only one meeting a week, Wolfenden was quietly spoken but respected worldwide.
For all his talent, recognised with an MBE, it is his association with Downunder’s greatest pacer Cardigan Bay, the first standardbred in the world to win $1 million, that made him a household name.
“Dad was on The Ed Sullivan Show with Cardigan Bay in the 1960s, he used to be on the front page of the Herald often,” says son Glen. “As kids when we grew up, it was normal to us, but he was famous in racing all over the world. He didn’t talk about it much and he rarely discussed the great horses like Cardy, but we knew everything about them because everybody else talked about them.
“But when he did talk about them, Cardigan Bay aside, the one horse he loved talking about was Armalight [the 1981 NZ Cup winner], who he said was a great mare. Dad was a wonderful trainer, he had a great eye for detail and keeping the horses healthy, but when we started training together, he pulled back from the driving a bit.”
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Sad to hear that
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rip mr wolfenden Ross is a nice guy
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I used to work weekends Windsor Raceway early 80s..entering building and escalator, the wall of previous Provincial Cup aged winners was right there..and 1967, Cardigan Bay and Stanley Dancer,..as the two legends combined that year at short money for the win. The 11 yr old gutted out the victory on a cold night in 2:01 in front of big Windsor/Detroit crowd.
Mr Wolfendon had great success with Cardigan Bay in New Zealand a few years earlier before CB went to U.S...Both man and horse were New Zealand royalty.
r.i.p. mr wolfendon
Heres that race. Recognize any other hardhitting FFA North American names in this race from that era?
https://youtu.be/mhwpKtv2vFI
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Just watched the replay. Can’t understand a word the announcer is saying because he sounds like he has an ice cream cone down his throat when he was calling the race. Second thing is who gives a dead’s rats ass about some old ass horse that was probably full of EPO and red acid. Screw this old ass shit. I don’t care about it.
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And
..a year later, Cardigan Bay and Stanley Dancer took the 'Windsor Provincial Cup 68 edition once more at age 12.
And last but certainly not least , the fact CARDIGAN BAY was the ONLY horse to ever defeat three US harness horses of the year
On three different occasions, the mid 60s, he took down Overtrick, Meadow Skipper and one of the alltimers Bret Hanover.
***note***45,000 jammed into Yonkers..yes today's ghostown Yonkers Raceway, to watch Bret Hanover return the favor vs. Cardigan Bay.
..heavyweight harness days indeed.
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Nobody cares about some old man or old ass horse. This is 2023 not 1968. Screw that bs
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Cardigan Bay raced after a severe hip injury
Cardigan Bay was then involved in a disastrous trackwork accident which could have ended his racing career and placed his life in jeopardy.[4] He was able to be saved but the injury resulted in one hip being permanently lower than the other
Raced for years after this hip injury (at least 6 or 7 seasons)
Amazing horse