Harvey Wilson has been successful in a number of New Zealand’s major jumping races, but before he was training racehorses, he scaled even greater heights in the show jumping arena.
Growing up in the Wanganui region, Wilson was surrounded by horses, hunting and racing, but serious competition came later in his teenage years.
“My parents rode, not extensively, but they hunted, and my father was an amateur rider and rode in the point to points in those days,” he said. “He was involved in the Waverley Racing Club for a long while.
“I didn’t do much in ponies, I probably didn’t start competing a lot until I left school, and it all snowballed from there.”
Wilson became one of the country’s top riders and competed on the international stage, including his selection for the Olympic Games on three occasions.
Based in New Zealand at the time, Wilson travelled to compete in Montreal in 1976 but was unable to fulfil his place on the team. Eight years later, he was back in the frame and represented New Zealand at Seoul in the individual and team competitions and emulated that effort in Barcelona in 1992.
On home soil, there are few trophies without Wilson’s name engraved, and the same could be said for his wife Ann. They were the first husband-and-wife to win an Olympic Cup at the New Zealand Horse Of The Year Show, and in 2013, they were inducted to the show’s Hall Of Fame.
“I initially went (overseas) in 1976 with the team that was going to Montreal for the Olympics, with John Cottle and Joe Yorke,” he said. “I didn’t get to the Olympics, our horses got travel sickness a wee bit, so we competed in England over that summer, and I met Ann during that time.
“Ann was on the Junior British Event Team, and she then was on the Senior British Show Jumping Team.
“I came back to New Zealand and had a couple of nice horses here, so I took them back to England, we got married and competed over there for about three years after that.”
During that period, Wilson experienced one of the greatest moments of his decorated career, winning the inaugural Commonwealth Cup alongside a number of Kiwi heroes in equestrian sport.
“Winning the Commonwealth Cup at the Royal Windsor Show was a highlight, it was a team’s event between England, Australia and us,” he said.
“The team was made up of Mark Todd, Bruce Goodin, Maurice Beatson and myself, and I was lucky enough to be the captain, so I got to meet the Queen when she presented the prizes.”
Even in their time show jumping, thoroughbreds were an integral part of the Wilson’s operation, with Ann’s star Olympic Cup winning-mare Imperial sourced out of the John Wheeler stable.
“Most of our good horses were thoroughbreds, we both won the Horse Of The Year on thoroughbreds and they’re great show jumpers,” Wilson said.
“If you find the right one, they are very genuine and they get on with it.
“We had to sell some of the horses to make ends meet, but some were too good to sell. We sold a lot of horses to Japan, they were good buyers of a nice, sensible thoroughbred.”
When he wasn’t busy riding at the Olympics, Wilson loved to go hunting, and once he and Ann settled back in New Zealand, he became master of the Egmont-Wanganui Hunt Club.
“I always hunted as a child, and continued to all the way through,” he said. “When we came back and settled here, I was the master of the Egmont-Wanganui Hunt for 20 years, starting in the mid-eighties.
“We were lucky, we had a very strong hunt, great people, good huntsman and a good pack of hounds. It was great fun.”
After competing at the top-level in show jumping for a long period of time, Wilson turned his focus to racing in the early 2000’s, something he had followed with interest through his career.
“I always was keen on racing, I had a thoroughbred horse initially in the seventies that I pre-trained for someone who was then given to me, so I gave him to my good friend Kim Richardson to train,” he said. “He won quite a few races, he won six in a row one winter.
“Once we were show jumping, we didn’t do much racing, but in the last few years, we’ve got more and more involved.”
While they may not have been too aware of it at the time, the couple struck gold with their first purchase, an aptly named filly called Barcelona. The daughter of Desert Sun won four races, and the first of those in Wilson’s care was the Listed Tauranga Classic (1400m).
“She was a filly we bought at the sales and Kevin Myers trained her initially, we raced her together with Ange (Illston) and Ann,” Wilson said. “I think Kevin got sick of me nagging at him, so he said to me it might be best I train her.
“So she came home and we trained her, with Kevin and Ange still in the ownership. She was a handy mare, she had a few Group placings and our first win with her was actually in a Listed race at Tauranga.
“We probably didn’t appreciate it as much as we should have, because we hadn’t done much racing at that stage. We thought, ‘this one goes pretty good’ and had a bit of fun.
“It’s only now that we appreciate how good she may have been.”
In the years to come, it came as little surprise that Wilson would excel in the jumping caper, producing It’s A Wonder to an outstanding win the Grand National Steeplechase in 2019.
The eye-catching chestnut had romped home in the Koral Steeplechase, but driving rain had turned Riccarton Racecourse to a bog during the week, and Wilson admitted there was doubt in his mind heading into the feature.
But, as history shows, It’s A Wonder took his place and bolted in by no less than 23 lengths.
“He won the Koral very well, he led most of the way, jumped super and we were lucky to have Shaun Phelan on him, who is a great rider,” Wilson said.
“On the National morning, it was very wet, and he didn’t particularly like the really heavy track. The thought did pass through our mind to scratch him, because it was too wet, but we didn’t and he seemed to cope fine.
“He won the National really well, it was a great moment.”
Now rising 15, It’s A Wonder is enjoying life in retirement, having been with the Wilsons since he was purchased as a juvenile.
“He was passed in at the Ready to Run sales, and we bought him from Sam Beatson,” Wilson said. “He was a really nice type of an Istidaad horse.
“He could be quite tough and did pull hard in his work, but he was a super jumper and just a really nice horse to have around. He’s still on the farm with us, he looks a bit old, but he’s doing well.”
In the same year, Wilson very nearly did the National Week-double with Bad Boy Brown, who went down by the barest of margins in the Grand National Hurdles.
The son of St Reims got revenge on his Riccarton defeat back in the north a month later, reigning supreme in the Great Northern Hurdle at Ellerslie.
“One day at the Woodville races, Karen Zimmerman was saddling him up and I’d said to her, that would make a nice jumper for us,” Wilson quipped. “That was just jokingly, but Karen ended up giving up training a few months later and she rang and offered us the horse.
“We trained him for John and Liz Hancock from Martinborough, he was a tough little horse. He wasn’t the best jumper, but he was just a good horse.”
The Wilsons have also enjoyed success with the likes of Password, Dr Hank and Justa Charlie, while talented flat galloper Cruiser was stakes-placed on four occasions.
“We trained Justa Charlie for a lot of local people, which was great fun,” Wilson said.
“He was a very consistent horse, he ran second in the Hawke’s Bay Hurdles and won the Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase. Will Gordon rode him quite a bit and was on him that day, winning that was a great thrill.
“Cruiser was by Captain Rio and we bought him at the sales. He was plagued a bit by unsoundness through his career, but he was a handy horse that won a few flat races for us.
“We had a lot of fun with him too.”
A background in show jumping was always going to give Wilson an advantage in educating his horses, a system he continues to follow with each prospective jumper.
“We enjoy the jumpers, there is a lot of satisfaction in teaching them to jump and getting them fit on the hills,” he said. “We like to do a lot very quietly, in the arena and going over small fences so they can learn where to put their legs and what not.
“The jumping side isn’t so easy for me now, I’m getting a bit older, but we have Nicole Sinclair riding a bit of work for us and she jumps the horses. We’re lucky to have her.”
In his current string is progressive stayer and recent winner Comedy, while a more recent addition, Jerricoop, impressed in his hurdling debut at Trentham on Saturday. No matter the result, their horses are always looking a picture at the races, something he credits largely to Ann.
“We’ve only got four in work at the moment, but it’s not a bad number for us now at our stage of life and we do it all ourselves,” Wilson said.
“I guess the turnout comes a little bit from showjumping, we don’t go overboard with it, but Ann looks after that side of it, and we like to turn them out as well as possible.
“If you take a horse to the races that looks really well, but it doesn’t go so well, then it’s not quite so bad.”
While happy to keep their numbers small, Wilson is always on the lookout for a promising jumper and hopes to see the industry continue to thrive in years to come.
“They aren’t very easy to find, but we’d like to get another jumper,” he said.
“It would be very disappointing if jumps racing didn’t continue because not only is it a lot of fun and a lot of people enjoy it, it’s a great avenue for a lot of horses. Many horses, once they’re finished on the flat, won’t be suitable to be sport horses, but they are good jumping horses.
“There are a lot of senior jumping trainers at the moment, so it would be good to see a few more of the younger brigade getting involved. It’s a lot of fun and financially rewarding if you’re lucky enough to have a good horse.”