RACING HISTORY: Mototi Island was once the home of top class horse breeding. PHOTO: FILE
New Zealand in the 1920s was a completely different landscape to today.
The country had a population of just over one million citizens, was governed by the (conservative) Reform Party, the first radio station was established and one of the best thoroughbred racehorses in New Zealand went to stand at stud on Motiti Island.
Surveyor, who was a chestnut son of Nassau and Pedometer, was believed to be broken down when he was brought by Mr WH Paterson for 110 guineas at a Papatoetoe sale in 1922. The then 4-year-old proved to be sound and turned out to be one of the greatest sale ring bargains of the time, going on to win 13 races including the Wellington Cup and WRC Champion Plate.
Published in 1972, Horses, Courses and Men, written by Gray Prebble, details a century of organised horse racing in Tauranga and tells much of the story of the Motiti Island thoroughbred stud.
The tale of the Motiti Island Stud farm, had its beginnings in the Auckland horse-bus business of William 'Dad' Paterson, who purchased land on the Island that stands off the coast of Mount Maunganui in 1897.
Originally purchased to breed horses for the Paterson horse-bus business, a thoroughbred stud was established, as horse-drawn public transport faded into the pages of history. Around the turn of the century, Paterson became a well-known personality in Tauranga with his distinctive long white whiskers.
By 1913 there were over 50 mares on Motiti Island. In 1916, Thurman was purchased for the Bay of Plenty stud immediately after his purchase from Australia. By this time Paterson's son WH (Bill) Paterson had taken over the running of the Island.
While it is inconceivable today that a thoroughbred stud requiring regular transportation of horses could operate effectively from Motiti Island, nearly a century ago freight and passenger transportation was a completely different scenario to today.
Then it was infinitely easier to travel by sea to Coromandel and Auckland than by road to Rotorua and the Waikato. Flat bottomed scows plied the Bay of Plenty coastal route with regular calls to Motiti Island.
Carrying a good horse's weight of 8 stone 8lbs, Surveyor won the 1925 Wellington Cup ridden by JB O'Shea.
Papers Past detailed a United Press Association report of the 1925 Wellington Cup.
"The winner led all the way with Landslide, Pantler, Limelight and Deucalion prominent. Stork improved his position half a mile from home. Surveyor led into the home straight and Gold Light made a brief challenge and dropped back. Surveyor won by two lengths with Gold Light a nose in front of Landslide. Stork was fourth and Musketoon fifth. Time 2 minutes 24 seconds."
A New Zealand Truth report of the day said "there is not a more capable jockey in this country than Jack O'Shea when it comes to riding a race in front. To be frank he steals them".
"In the (Wellington) Cup he jumped Surveyor out and took the lead. He set the pace up going down the back, a pace that suited his mount and the rest of the field did not wake up to his tactics. John and Bill Paterson - owner and trainer - owe a lot to Jack's judgement and they cannot fail to forget him."
Surveyor also won the prestigious WRC (Wellington Racing Club) Champion Plate in 1923 and closer to home annexed the 1923 Tauranga Cup at the Gate Pa course. The first reported running of the Tauranga Cup was in 1898, with the feature races the Tauranga Cup, worth 50 sovereigns, and the three mile Hunt Steeplechase for a purse of 25 sovereigns.
As the thoroughbred stud flourished, WH Paterson expanded his racing interests and on one occasion took a horse to Australia and backed him to win a king's ransom of five thousand pounds.
Surveyor was an outstanding success as a sire, living to 22 years of age and proved to be one of the most successful colonial bred sires of the day, leaving numerous good horses who won both on the flat and over fences.
From the early 1930s, the horse numbers declined on the Motiti Island Stud. Early in WW2, the remaining horses were shipped to the mainland and shortly after a complete dispersal sale ended the fairytale chapter of the Motiti Island stud farm.