Kōrero: Horse and greyhound racing

Harold Logan

Harold Logan

Garlanded and showered with flowers in a farewell ceremony, 14-year-old pacer Harold Logan poses before the New Zealand Free-for-all at Addington in 1936, which he won. By then he had become a folk hero, but he was eight years old before he rose to fame.

Harold Logan came from an obscure maternal line and was born in the yard of a rural Canterbury hotel in 1922. He changed hands twice before making his racing debut as a five-year-old. He won just twice over the next two seasons, and was then diagnosed and treated for a physical problem. From then on he became a public favourite, travelling around the country and winning 10 out of 12 races, culminating in the 1931 New Zealand Cup. Harold Logan also won the 1932 New Zealand Cup from a 60-yard (55-metre) handicap, setting a new race record. It seemed his career was over when he won only once the following year, but then he bounced back for a series of invitation races in 1934. These involved the great Australian pacer Walla Walla, and the emerging local hero Red Shadow. The seven events generated huge excitement and enthusiasm, and 12-year-old Harold Logan won five of them.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library, Making New Zealand Centennial Collection (PAColl-3060)
Reference: PAColl-3060-069
Photograph by Green & Hahn

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Te tuhi tohutoro mō tēnei whārangi:

Mary Mountier, 'Horse and greyhound racing - Harness racing: organisation', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/mi/photograph/39004/harold-logan (accessed 29 March 2024)

He kōrero nā Mary Mountier, i tāngia i te 5 Sep 2013, updated 1 Nov 2015