“Every kid at school knew him as the trainer of the immortal Phar Lap” The Truth, March 1953
A young racing reporter approached Harry Telford eager for a comment. He had already been warned by other journalists not to expect much. The few questions he managed were all met by mumbled sentences and Telford looking at the ground for an escape hatch. Some trainers give the impression of living in a world where they endure crushing gravity, only relieved by the occasional, merciful betting bonanza. Most of Harry Telford’s life is reminiscent of a line from “Jerry Maguire” when Tom Cruise's character is desperately explaining what his soul destroyed working day is like as a player's agent.
"It’s an up at dawn pride swallowing siege that I will never fully tell you about…” Jerry Maguire” Cameron Crowe 1996
Of the 82 years lived by trainer Harry Telford, three of those years saw him riding triumphantly on the crest of a wave called “Phar Lap”. Success brought an ephemeral burst of wealth, everlasting fame, and misplaced confidence to hatch grandiose plans of running a breeding and racing complex. It lured him into a crippling lease on a rundown farm at Braeside. A farm so in need of repair, most other prospective buyers and tenants took one look and hightailed out of there.* The rest of Telford’s 80 years were spent grinding out a living on the edge of destitution. His training life consisted of him stumbling from one financial catastrophe to the next. Yet Telford’s life is not that dissimilar to many trainers before or since. Those who have flown high in April only to be seriously shot down in May. In Telford’s case, his finances were pretty much bullet ridden for much of the year and for most of his life.
*Located in the southern suburbs of Melbourne, neighbouring Mordialloc and Mentone.
Henry Richard “Harry” Telford was born in 1878 in the Victorian gold town of Ballarat, home to the Eureka Stockade. The following year, Harry’s parents William Henry Telford and wife Mary settled in the windswept town of Invercargill, near the southernmost tip of South Island, New Zealand.* Harry Telford’s father may have been a man of many trades, but horses were always his real passion and focus. He too battled with finances and may have endured an even tougher and more precarious and impecunious existence than his famous son. Henry and Mary Telford staggered from one failed dream to the next until they died impoverished in Palmerston North.
*Phar Lap – The Untold Story Graeme Putt and Pat McCord
Henry and his sons John, Hugh, Harry and William Edward were all about horses. Like every other horse owner and trainer, it does not matter if you are His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum creating the global powerhouse of Godolphin or a struggling operation like the Telfords, everyone in racing is chasing the same thing – that horse. A horse so magnificent as to be etched forever in the memory of all who saw it race. A horse to bring you everlasting fame. For most who pass through racing desperately seeking “that” horse, often discover a roller coaster ride of frustration. Picking horses almost becomes akin to buying a lotto ticket knowing you are more often investing in the dream than the jackpot. In this respect, the Telfords were no different from any other racing family. They all held a deep love for horses, a want for gambling and eternal hope in chasing the dream of finding that magical horse.
Before returning permanently to Australia, Telford worked at various times out of Invercargill, Dunedin, Christchurch, North Otago, Lower Hutt (Wellington) and Palmerston North. First as a jockey, then stable hand, when weight became an issue. Leading trainer Harry Goodman employed Telford for five years. This included working with their star Sir Modred.* Harry Telford later transferred to Christchurch working with smartly dressed Horace Lunn and master trainer Dick Mason.** In 1901 Telford branched out on his own as a public trainer. Later joining forces with his brothers Hugh and John, the brothers trained, and for a short time, successfully bet on their horses Torowai, Heritas, Aide-de-Camp and Stepson.*** Although this arrangement worked well, the brothers went their separate ways. By 1904 Harry made the first of his many forays into Australia. When he returned the following year, Telford opted to work out of Awapuni, Palmerston North. Telford struggled to produce winners during this period.
*Sporting Globe 23 October 1929, page 1 – Sir Modred – Traducer was sent to New Zealand in 1862 and proved a boon to New Zealand breeding. Although there were very few registered thoroughbred mares in the country at this time, this stallion coming down the Byerley Turk sire line proved to be a brilliant stallion. Among his many star progeny was Sir Modred, winner of the CJC Derby, Timaru, Dunedin and Canterbury Cups and 1884 Great Metropolitan Stakes. Sir Modred was purchased by uber wealthy James B. Haggin and imported into California in 1886 and became leading US sire in 1894. After Glencoe, Sir Modred is considered one of the most influential Herod line sires in US breeding history. Sir Modred became the first American stallion to sire progeny that won over 200 races in a season. It should also be noted Sir Modred’s younger full brother Cheviot, also winner of the CJC Derby was purchased by Leyland Stanford and imported into California. tbhertiage
**Sporting Globe 23 October 1929– Richard John Mason is still considered the outstanding trainer of the first half century of New Zealand racing. His partnership with George Stead and LH Hewitt was legendary. After Stead died in 1908, Masons began a partnership with George Greenwood, which included training the legendary Gloaming. In a strange racing quirk, Mason, Greenwood and Gloaming all died in 1932.
*** Phar Lap - The Untold Story Putt & McCord - as a footnote, this is a highly recommended book on Phar Lap, Telford and it has been wonderfully researched.
A few facts which rarely come out in any retelling of the Phar Lap story are the friendships involved. Racing men all over New Zealand usually gravitated to Christchurch in October for the turf and harness racing at Riccarton Park and Addington for their respective New Zealand Cups. During this festival of racing, the Hunt Club and Jockey Club ran their steeplechasers and many of the best horsemen in New Zealand made themselves available for rides, including those often associated with harness racing. At the 1906 Canterbury Jockey Club’s August Grand National meeting, from a racing historian’s point of view, it is interesting to note who was riding. While Hall of Fame trainer, Lou Robertson rode Golden Bangle in the First Hunter Hurdle and Gladys in the Tally Ho Steeplechase, he competed against some of Australasian racing’s most well-known names. In these races were friends Harry Telford, Ron Cameron (1911 Melbourne Cup winning jockey on Parisian and later turned trainer of Hall of Fame mare Tranquil Star), George Price, trainer of 1925 Melbourne Cup winner Windbag, and Vin O’Neill, trainer of 1926 Melbourne Cup winner Spearfelt. The meeting also included other members of the Cameron, Telford and O’Neill clans. Had trainer Dave Price been in Christchurch, there is every likelihood he too would have competed. As it was, the Price family was represented this day by his harness racing brother Newton Price. All these men loved gambling as much as they loved winning.*
*The New Zealand Turf Register 1905-1906 - The question should be asked why Ron Cameron, George Price and Vin O’Neill are not in the Hall of Fame. Not only were they all wonderful jockeys with Cameron riding The Parisian to victory in the 1911 Melbourne Cup. George Price, born the same year as Telford, in Christchurch became a leading jockey in New Zealand. He too trained out of Palmerston North before coming over to Australia to successfully train in Sydney – this included training 1925 Melbourne Cup winner Windbag, 1940 Caulfield Cup winner Beaulivre, 1940 Newmarket Handicap and twice winner of the Doncaster (1940 & 1941) Mildura, the wonderful horses Gold Rod, Murray King and Carry On.
This tribe of New Zealand expatriates from Manawatu was working in Melbourne around 1930 at the time of the Amounis-Phar Lap double. They were not just good friends, in most cases, so too were their families who had worked and operated around Manawatu. This group includes trainer and gambler Maurice McGrath (a very close friend of Eric Connolly, Lou Robertson and Harry Telford), champion jockeys Roy and Ashley Reed along with jockey turned trainer Ron Cameron (trainer of Hall of Famer Tranquil Star). The Reeds and the Camerons went to the same primary school at Bulls, Manawatu. As did the official Catalogue trainer, Alan McDonald,* Ron Cameron’s father Sam was a stockman and his brothers were all involved in racing and lived in Feilding. Another branch of their family worked in the racing industry at nearby Hawke’s Bay. Duncan Cameron was also a well-known jockey while Ron Cameron’s uncle, John M. Cameron trained the exceptional Martian sired New Zealand champion, The Hawk winner of 1924 Futurity Stakes. Before Phar Lap, Gothic and Strephon, Jim Pike stated The Hawk was the best horse he rode. Ron Cameron had deep admiration and respect for his friend Harry Telford who assisted him in becoming a brilliant jockey along with Roley Hatch. When asking Ron Cameron’s daughter Keera Le Lievre “Did your father gamble?” She gave the most succinct answer, “They all did.” *
*Private conversation with the author at Regis Blackburn 2014
Trainer Maurice McGrath decided to settle permanently in Australia in February 1912 after the sudden death of his father Michael, who was also a trainer.* McGrath sold his horse Gunboat to Eric Connolly who proceeded to lose a packet on him in the Sydney Cup.* In fact, McGrath and Connolly’s paths crossed the previous year when McGrath sold Connolly his horse Osiris, which appears aptly named after the Egyptian God of the Dead because most of the time it ran like it was only half alive. When McGrath sold Gunboat, valued at £1,000, McGrath surprised Connolly by selling it for only £500 as a form of recompense for the failure of Osiris. From then on Eric Connolly and Maurice McGrath were firm friends. McGrath had been introduced to Connolly through his very good New Zealand friend Lou Robertson. The three men became a deadly betting trio. Along with owner Edward "Darcy" Eccles, jockey Hector Gray and the horse Wallalo, Maurice McGrath was found guilty and disqualified for “dishonest practices” over the running of Wallalo in a Highweight Handicap at Hawkesbury. The horse, sired by Wallace had been favourite for the Sydney Cup. The friendships continued for decades. At Eric Connolly's funeral in 1944, Lou Robertson, Maurice McGrath and Darcy Eccles were pallbearers. They were often involved in one another’s betting plunges.
* Gunboat Missed the Target” Sporting Globe, 12 May 1945
*NZ Truth 3 February 1912
This connection between the Robertsons and Telfords went deeper with Telford’s father, Henry and brother John training trotters in Palmerston North. When Lou and Andrew Robertson’s father James was forced to relocate poverty stricken to Palmerston North, he re-established their blacksmithing forge where much of his work came as a farrier. Creation of the new Manawatu and Awapuni Racing Clubs, saw many of James Robertson’s clients come from the racing industry with new stables springing up around these tracks. Lou and Andrew Robertson’s parents, James and Jane were neighbours of Harry Telford for a short period in Awapuni.
These strong racing communities of Palmerston North, Hawkes Bay, Lower Hutt, Auckland and Christchurch are central to this story and Telford’s connections later in Melbourne. Due to their fluctuating finances, they all supported one another at one stage or another. This included Harry Telford. It is also important to understand, Telford may have been a battler who struggled with his finances all his life, but it is equally important to know that he was very well liked within this group. Most who knew him personally tell of a completely different individual depicted by the press. Before life was crushed out him towards the end, any who commented on the private personality of Harry Telford, paint a picture of a chatty conversationalist, quick to laugh with an endless interest in the world around him. They also tell of a man walking over broken glass for you if one needed assistance. He endeavoured to pay his debts, that were often dragging through his life like an unshakeable ball and chain. While Telford carried gambling debts, so too do most trainers. Harry Telford, also like many trainers, was a chronic gambler and, on most days, he was not a particularly good one.
* St. Alwyne sired Ard-na-ree out of Collarene
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