Speech
New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Dinner
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Kia ora koutou, te manuhiri nau mai haere mai ki tenei whare. Tenei aku mihi mahana ki a koutou. Good evening everyone. Distinguished guests, welcome to the House and warm greetings to you all.
I specifically acknowledge: Peter Francis, President of the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association; Michael Martin, Chief Executive; the Hon Nathan Guy, Minister for Racing; Matthew Goodson, Chairman of New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing; and Sir Patrick and Lady Justine Hogan—tēnā koutou katoa.
It’s a great pleasure for Janine and me to welcome you all to Government House in Auckland this evening for this Diamond Jubilee dinner. We are gathered in honour of the New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Association and its Patron, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
A dinner to honour your Association and our Queen in her Diamond Jubilee year has a wonderful synergy. Her Majesty has a great love of horses, and especially thoroughbreds. And it’s some of those connections that I want to talk about this evening.
Let me say at the outset, I’ve no experience around horses. However, don’t despair! Janine is an equestrian enthusiast. She enjoyed horse riding, or more correctly pony-riding, as a young girl, and is educating me.
In March I had the opportunity to visit and open the Tauranga Riding for the Disabled Equestrian Therapy Centre. That was a neat event and it was great to meet both the disabled riders and their horses, and to learn of how the experience of riding a horse had changed the riders’ lives for the better.
As well as the physical therapeutic benefits that came from riding, it was fantastic to see the enhanced self-confidence each one gained from the mutual trust and care needed to ride a horse. As I said at the time, it reminded me of Sir Winston Churchill words, when he said: “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”
That sentiment is one that everyone here would be well familiar with. The New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association has represented the thoroughbred breeders for 65 years, promoting the industry and providing a unified voice on issues such as equine health, standards and education.
Yours is a significant industry. It employs thousands of people and generates significant export earnings. When the wider racing industry is added in, the figures are considerably higher again.
Tonight, we celebrate New Zealand’s thoroughbred racing industry as a world leader. The success of Kiwi-bred horses around the world, and especially in races “across the ditch” is phenomenal. New Zealand-bred horses have won 42 Melbourne Cups. The first New Zealand-bred winner was Martini Henry, 129 years ago in 1883; the first New Zealand-owned winner was Apologue in 1907; and the first New Zealand bred, owned and trained winner was Sasanof, in 1916. And they include, of course, the iconic Phar Lap, which won in 1930.
Sixteen New Zealand-bred horses have also been named Australian Horse of the Year since 1973, including Michael Martin and Susan Archer’s champion mare, Sunline, an honour she received three times. Tonight, I’m mindful of the auction of four stallion nominations for the Sunline Charitable Trust.
Tonight, we also celebrate your organisation’s association with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of New Zealand. Your industry’s success and standing was recognised by Her Majesty in 1990, when she opened your premises at the Ellerslie Racecourse and became your Patron. Of the 36 animal-based charities of which she is Patron, nine, including your own, are focused on horses or ponies. However, your association is the only horse-focused patronage the Queen holds outside Britain. Others that she supports include the Royal Windsor Horse Show, the British Horse Society and the British Thoroughbred Breeders' Association and so you are among esteemed company.
As I mentioned at the outset, horses are very close to the Queen’s heart. There are few topics that will draw her into a conversation like that about horses, especially thoroughbreds. I recently read a story that exemplifies her keen interest. Penny Junor, daughter of late Sir John Junor, long-time editor of the Sunday Express, recounted a lunch he and other editors enjoyed at Buckingham Palace. The lunch had been a quiet affair and, until the dessert was served, he had been ignored by the Queen. She wrote:
“My father scarcely knew one end of a horse from the other, but on the way to the Palace his office driver, who was a keen punter, had said, “Ask her if her horse Height of Fashion is going to win the Oaks.” He duly slipped it into the conversation and the Queen’s face suddenly lit up. She explained animatedly that the horse’s legs were possibly too long for the Epsom course but that its chances would be decided by whether it ran well at Goodwood. They were off.”
That love-affair with horses began when Her Majesty was just four. She and her sister Princess Margaret were given a Shetland pony named Peggy as a present. Some of the most iconic photographs of Her Majesty have been captured of her either riding a horse, or cheering on a winner. She has infused a love of horses throughout her family and she continues to regularly ride. Until 1986 she inspected the annual Trooping of the Colour on horseback and like many people gathered here, she is a keen thoroughbred horse breeder.
Her Majesty, whose Diamond Jubilee we celebrate tonight, is without doubt an inspirational person and a role model for service. She has served New Zealand and the 15 other nations where she is Head of State, as well as the wider Commonwealth, with dignity, warmth and generosity of spirit. Her dedication to her duties has inspired the deepest respect.
And so, on that note of reflection and celebration, in honour of Her Majesty, and in honour of your Association, I welcome you again to Government House this evening. I trust you enjoy our hospitality as we celebrate Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee year. Kia ora huihui tātou katoa.