Trotting

Trotting was to return to the Crookwell Show on Sunday the 15 th Feb 2009 and had enough nominations to put on a 7 race programme. However, the track became too rain affected and the races had to be abandoned.

Trotting disappeared from Agricultural Shows in 2004 and was very sadly missed. The Crookwell Show Secretary, Paul Anderson, has never given up hope of being able to bring them back as a regular event. Working closely with the local Harness Racing Industry as well as the governing authorities, his / their goal has been achieved.

The Crookwell A P & H Society is very proud of this achievement as it means Crookwell Show will be the very first Show to be able to feature Harness Racing on its programme. Similarly, it was the Crookwell Show which also became the first Show in NSW to include Horse events after the Equine Influenza catastrophe.

Crookwell Show has always featured quality Pacing events with so many locally bred Trainers and Drivers keen on supporting the show. In the above photo are three Hewitt brothers, David (white helmet), Mark (purple) and Bernie (red). Another leading trotting family are the Days of Goulburn, (Neil and Michael Snr). Both families have sons, daughters, nieces and nephews following in their footsteps and you might just get a chance to see them drive up close at the Crookwell Showground this year.
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The A P & H Trotting Committee has drawn up a programme for six races and have renamed the two feature races.

The Crookwell Show Cup will now be known as the Tom Hewitt Memorial - Crookwell Show Cup; and the race for two year olds will be known as the J.F. Spackman Memorial.

Tom Hewitt’s life revolved around trotting, farming and but more importantly, family and friends. He integrated all of those loves into a functional and stable life. (definitely no pun intended).

He began driving on local tracks at Grabben Gullen, Crookwell and Goulburn and had his first drive at Young in 1951 when he drove a mare “Inter Alir” for his father Harold. His father and grandfather had influenced him greatly in many aspects of his life and none the less that of trotting which the family had been involved in since the 1890’s.

Tom was responsible for getting many horses over the line first as a trainer, a driver and as trainer-driver. He won the Canberra Trainer’s Premiership five years in succession.

There were a prolific number of winners all over Australia that were either bred at his property “Karamia” at Lost River or sired by one of his notable stallions.

Some of the horses Tom raced were Storm Bird, Karamea Value, King Ranchio, Taketa, Rhythm Rancio, Nikalong Shadow, Supa Nik, Nika Time, Shadow Dream, Nika Moment and Passing Shadows.

The best of his horses was undoubtedly “Nikalong Shadow” who won 10 out of 18 starts as a two year old and a total of 45 races over a seven year career. The highlight of which was to compete in the Final of the 1989 Inter Dominion in Perth. At stud, Nikalong Shadow has sired 72 individual winners to date. During 2008, Tom’s mate Nikalong passed away. On Boxing Day 2008, Tom got to see the last of Nikalong’s progeny born. Sadly, a couple of weeks later, Tom passed into the next life.
His contribution to the Trotting industry has been immense and his legacy will probably be best noted by the fact that his three sons Mark, David and Bernie, and daughter Jenna are all prominently involved in Harness Racing. At least six of his grandsons are now licensed harness drivers with winning credentials on TAB tracks.

Jack Spackman spent his lifetime around Harness horses. He had a very special way with young horses and we are proud to be able to host a race bearing his name. Jack was a Past President of the AP & H as was his beloved son, Bob who sadly passed away late in 2009.