It’s 30 days until the running of the IRT New Zealand Trotting Cup at Addington raceway on Tuesday, November 12 so why not look back at the winner of the great race 30 years ago.
In 1994 it was Bee Bee Cee
By Dave Di Somma, Harness News desk
Bee Bee Cee can lay claim to an unusual New Zealand Trotting Cup statistic.
He raced in three New Zealand Cups and finished at the bottom and the top of two of them.
He won at his first attempt against a star studded field 30 years ago in 1994. In contrast he was pulled up in the 1997 Cup and in 1996 he was 14th, the same year that Il Vicolo won the second of his two New Zealand Cups.
After pottering around with horses for over 20 years Colin Calvert trained his first and only New Zealand Cup winner with the first horse he ever trained. In fact Bee Bee Cee was his only winner.
“I learned from observation,” the self taught Calvert once said.
Calvert had his own approach. Bee Bee Cee had 12 wins from 14 workout runs before even getting to the races!
Originally from Southland he moved to Chertsey in Mid Canterbury as he searched for more opportunities for his star pacer.
And it certainly paid dividends.
In 1994 he decided on a cup build up of four races and six trials, winning the Hannon Memorial along the way.
In the Cup Bee Bee Cee was unfashionable compared to his rivals, starting the seventh favourite in the 14-strong field.
There were four millionaires in the race – Chokin, Blossom Lady, Christopher Vance and Master Musician – and all but Master Musician were previous Cup champions.
But on Tuesday, November 8 1994 it was not a good day for the all powerful Roy and Barry Purdon training combo, with Chokin, Christopher Vance and Montana Vance all failing to figure.
Bee Bee Cee and Jim Curtin made a safe beginning, and was in a great spot, only to find themselves three and then four back the fence.
All the time Master Musician moved up wide from the 1900 and went clear on the home turn.
Bee Cee Cee was then extricated from a tricky spot and roared home to win by an ever increasing length and a quarter in 4:01.5, paying $14.65 for the win.
“I thought my fella was too far back but I jumped the fence, no trouble, when the Cup was mine,” Calvert was quoted at the time.
It was third time lucky for the then 34-year-old Curtin and the first of his two New Zealand Cup wins. He drove Terror To Love in the first of his three new Zealand Cups in 2011.
Bee Bee Cee backed up his Cup win three days later, defeating Master Musician (again) to become the 24th horse at the time to complete the Cup – Free For All double.
Bee Bee Cee retired after the Cup in 1997 with a record of 14 wins from 49 starts and stakes earnings of $416,430.
