Beryl Lee, the first woman to gain an Open Trainer’s Licence from the NZ Trotting Conference

Beryl with winner Fleeting Forbes.

In 1971, Beryl Lee was the first woman to be granted an Open Trainer’s Licence from the NZ Trotting Conference. Here, The Country’s Kem Ormond writes about Beryl’s lifelong love of horses, inspired by her father, Cecil Gordon Lee, and how she became a name in her own right.

You may have read an article I wrote about a month ago, about Cecil Gordon Lee, aka “Togo”, a farrier who shod bullocks in the World War I.

Togo had a daughter called Beryl, an achiever in her own right.

Beryl was certainly cut from the same cloth as her father and the common denominator between father and daughter was definitely horses.

Beryl Florence Lee was born on April 6, 1928.

From the day she was born, she had the most wonderful smile, which was noticeable in all her photos.

Growing up in Auckland, she wasn’t far from the trotting grounds at Alexandra Park, and this is probably where she came to notice horses.

The family moved to Cambridge in 1938, and this was where she attended school.

At the age of 13, she left school and started working with horses.

Togo was the local blacksmith and trotting trainer. He also trained a few of his own horses.

When Togo was busy and there were horses to be ridden, it was nothing for Beryl and her sister Loma to be up at 4am riding the young horses.

Eileen, Beryl and Loma Lee.

Beryl grew up driving her father’s sulkies in the paddocks and sometimes drove what they called a jogger, a two-seater, usually with her sister by her side.

They had a wonderful time, with some pretty close shaves which they never let on to their dad.

Life was busy for Beryl with Sunday being the only day she didn’t ride horses, but there were always plenty of other jobs to be done.

It wasn’t long before Beryl began attending races with her dad.

Beryl and Loma started getting noticed at the race meetings as it was still a rarity to see women handling large animals with such confidence.

Beryl and Loma were the first girls to help train trotters and worked with their father’s team of horses at Fencourt for many years.

When Togo retired from being a blacksmith he went to fulltime training.

By then Beryl was the only sister left at home, along with her brother Gordon.

Beryl riding high on Awamutu.

The horses were Beryl’s life, which was all she ever wanted to do. When her dad was in his 60s, he would start the day by milking the cow and seeing to the pigs and Beryl would feed and muck out the horses.

When Togo fell out with the officials at the trotting course due to them not making the tracks like he thought they should, he built his own trotting training track which made it so much easier for him and Beryl to train their horses.

Many of Togo’s and Beryl’s trotting horses could be ridden.

While most trotting horses are not saddle-trained, Togo just had this magic touch when it came to horses; he could read them so well and he passed this on to Beryl.

Come race day, it was Beryl’s job to make sure the horses were groomed and looking their best.

They sometimes hired a large horse transporter to get their horses to the races and sometimes they just took the old horse float.

Beryl always rode in the back of the horse float with the horses.

In winter, it would be bitterly cold, and Beryl would huddle up with an old horse blanket to keep herself warm.

Beryl and Loma often worked as a team.

It wasn’t long before the Lees were getting a name for themselves as trainers, especially as they were starting to get quite a few wins under their belt.

Oakhampton was one of the best-performing horses they trained, rising to the New Zealand Cup class.

Come 1971, and with the passing of her father, Beryl decided it was time to apply for a trainer’s licence.

On August 17, Beryl Lee made history by becoming New Zealand’s first woman to be granted an Open Trainer’s Licence, from the NZ Trotting Conference.

While she and other women had amateur licences which meant they could train their own horses, receiving a professional trainer’s licence meant she could train other owner’s horses.

Richard Turnbull, the secretary of the Cambridge Trotting Club during the 1970s was a top supporter of Beryl, providing references and support when she applied for her licence.

Beryl had always maintained it was because of the high esteem that her late father Togo had been held, that enabled her to be granted the open trainer’s licence but for almost 30 years she assisted with training her father’s horses, she well and truly served her apprenticeship.

Beryl was a hard worker, and it really was the love of horses that kept her going, it certainly wasn’t the money.

She lived off the smell of an oily rag and she had her mum to thank for always having a meal on the table at the end of the day for her.

Horses were Beryl's life.

Beryl trained two horses one called Auto Lee and the other Fleeting Forbes which won three races but unfortunately was dogged by lameness.

She also drove in the lady drivers’ races at Alexandra Park and took part in the first ladies’ harness trotting race in Waikato in 1979.

She chose to continue with her father’s racing colours which consisted of a brown shirt, white sash and cap and white trousers.

Togo would have been so proud of his daughter’s achievement in the trotting world.

Beryl passed away on July 23, 2010.

These memories of Beryl Lee were made possible by a Hospice Waikato volunteer Life reviewer. In June 2010, the recorded material was transcribed with photographs from Beryl’s personal albums, bound, and presented to Beryl’s family by Hospice volunteers. Ross Lee, Beryl’s nephew, kindly permitted me to read these memories and to write this article.