Equestrian Sports New Zealand Hall of Fame inductee Colin Clarke. Photo / NZ Herald
When showjumping was a mainstay of agricultural shows and equestrian events all over New Zealand, one pairing from Te Awamutu were the team to beat for almost a decade.
Colin Clarke and his horse Town Boy ruled the ring from late 1963 until 1973, winning more than 180 competitions and finishing with a similar number of runner-up and third-placed prizes.
The pair would be on the circuit for eight or nine months of the year, successful enough to live off winnings in what was described as an almost semi-professional career.
Now, over 50 years after his retirement, Clarke and Town Boy have been inducted into the Equestrian Sports New Zealand Hall of Fame.
Clarke grew up on his parents’ Pōkuru farm with his four brothers, twins Neil and Noel, Keith and Brian, and two sisters, Maureen and Bev.
All the siblings rode but Clarke said he wasn’t the best when they were younger.
“Neil was a top rider on the ponies,” he said.
His career changed when he bought Town Boy in late 1963. So did New Zealand showjumping, as the pair began competing.
It was normal at the time to jump thoroughbreds, which is how Town Boy got a start, but he wasn’t proving himself with his previous owner.
Clarke heard he was for sale after he had bolted from the ring with his rider in the saddle.
“He loved to jump, but he was hard to control apparently,” said Clarke.
“He was also 12 years old, which is quite old to start a jumping career.
“The woman who owned and rode him couldn’t keep him on track.”
Clarke said he asked around and everyone said to keep well clear of him. “So I bought him.”
The pair weren’t the biggest rider-and-horse combination in the ring, but Clarke said it was true, Town Boy just loved to jump.
“I had to keep control of him the whole time, let him know who was boss and when it was time to go.
“You couldn’t let him have his head or he would just scatter the rails.”
Their success began almost immediately and some in the equestrian world believe the team were unlucky not to have been chosen for Olympic glory at Tokyo in 1964 as part of the first New Zealand jumping team.
Despite that omission, Clarke said jumping took him all over New Zealand several times and to Australia twice.
Major awards included winning the North Island Points Prize three times (1966, 67, 68), winning the South Island Points Prize twice (1967, 69) and claiming the House of Blackmore Cup (1966), Sydney Royal Champion Showjumper (1968) and, in 1969, the Lowry medallion, Norwood Gold Cup and Olympic Cup for Horse of the Year.
Clarke captained New Zealand twice against Australia, competing and beating them twice in Australia (1967, 68) and once at home (1970).
In 1970, the duo broke the New Zealand showjumping height record twice – the second time at 6 feet 8.5 inches (2.04m).
Clarke said he didn’t think about it much at the time, and he was lucky in his career to only suffer one serious fall (not from Town Boy) and had come off relatively lightly, but when you are on the back of a horse who is clearing jumps over six feet, it is a long way down.
It was the height and speed, and regular winning ways, that brought out the crowds.
Clarke said he started getting recognised at events, even by overseas visitors, and Town Boy was also well known by sight.
“The Japanese loved us and used to come to the big events to watch us in action,” he said.
“They tried to get us to Japan, but we were both getting on a bit and it would have been hard for us.”
As it was, Clarke and Town Boy retired in 1973, even though they were still putting in good performances.
“I went to one event thinking we were just making an appearance to be told we were jumping,” he said.
“We hadn’t done any work. I had no idea how he would go, it could have been a disaster.”
“He went out and went clear.”
But Clarke didn’t want to keep pushing Town Boy, preferring to go out when he was still in good form rather than risk injury.
His last public appearance was when Clarke rode him at the Alexandra Racing Club Boxing Day Races – not in his role as clerk of the course.
Clarke, who still lives on a bit of land on Pōkuru Rd, said it was a surprise and an honour to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The award evening was held at Rydges in Auckland and Clarke said it was well attended and he enjoyed being back in the fold.
Dean Taylor is a community journalist with more than 35 years of experience and is editor of the Te Awamutu Courier and the Waikato Herald.