A new Rowe Cup champion will be crowned at Alexandra Park tonight.
The $200,000 feature has three trotting millionaires in Oscar Bonavena, Muscle Mountain and Queen Elida all vying for more Group 1 glory, but none of the 12 horses that will line up at 9.28pm have won it before.
Since the first Rowe Cup in 1918, there have been an elite group to have won it multiple times. The great Lyell Creek is the only trotter to have won three times and two-time winners include Sundees Son (2019-2021), I Can Doosit (2011-12), Single Cash (1968-69) and Pohutukawa (1962-63).
Before them there was Fantom, who came from royal pacing stock, and won the most prestigious northern trotting race in 1943 and 1944.
The story of Fantom and Harry Styles
By Dave Di Somma, Harness News Desk
After disappointing at his early attempts to be pacer, Fantom (U Scott – Fantine) was given away by his trainer Roy Berry as a hack to an old bloke who just happened to be called Harry Styles.
He was the clerk of the course at Hutt Park (and clearly had no idea his name would later be associated with a 21st century pop icon)
It’s been reported that Styles worked out that Fantom could trot and to help him improve his technique he put logs down at intervals and made the horse trot over them.
This account has been questioned over the years (but it makes a good story).
The decision was made for the horse to go back to Berry who trained at Yaldhurst in Christchurch.
Fantom’s owner Sid Kelly died in 1943 having seen him win one race, at Trentham. His horses were then sold and Fantom was bought by John McKenzie, of Roydon Lodge fame. McKenzie of course was well acquainted with the stock of U Scott – he brought the star stallion out to New Zealand from North America.
McKenzie’s private trainer George Noble then went about developing a champion.
At the time Noble said “he was a light framed little fellow, about 15.2 hands, a nice bay colour and a very safe trottr.”
“He had a very peculiar way of going in his preliminary – he sort of shuffled along – but once you clicked him up it was a different story.”
In December that year he won the Rowe Cup in 4:35.4 beating Echoist (Leo Berkett) and Steel King by a length. It was a rare Rowe Cup success for such a young horse with the only other previous three-year-old winner being Garner in 1932.
He repeated that success a year later coming off 24 yards to again beat Steel King and Forewarned by a short head in 4:33.2.
Such was his longevity and ability that Fantom trotted a world record 4:16 for two miles (3200m) first up as a 10-year-old! He had four starts as a 11-year-old before being retired as the winner of 13 races from94 starts stretched over nine seasons.
Among his 13 wins were the NZ Trotting Stakes the Dominion Handicap, and a qualifying heat of the Inter-Dominions. He also won over two miles against good class pacers at Auckland.
“He was, without a doubt, the gamest horse I ever sat behind,” said Noble.
