1852: Father of the New Zealand Turf

July 25, 2024

By AHNZ

Today in New Zealand history, 25 July, 1852, the Spray arrived in Nelson carrying 33 important horses from Sydney. Henry Redwood Jr. was first among several Nelsonians to found hose-racing and during his lifetime referred to as ‘The Father of New Zealand Racing’. He was also one of our early Catholics who recovered the standing of that particular Christian denomination although not nearly as much as his brother in that respect¹.

A very wealthy man whose family had done well in the new colony. He was also ‘father’ of pigeon shooting, one of the first to import a steam plough, and owned his own steam yacht. Redwood sold half his horse stud to Canterbury grain magnate George Stead for a very successful 15 year partnership. In 1890 Redwood faced bankruptcy and sold out to Stead who, in the same year, purchased the Christchurch Press newspaper.

“In 1875 G. G. Stead (1841–1908), the famous racehorse owner, bought a half-share in Redwood’s racing stud. Under the partnership agreement Stead managed the business side while the training was put in the hands of E. Cutts. The horses were raced in the name of one or other of the partners. This arrangement, which proved immensely successful, lasted into the 1890s and was terminated when Stead bought out Redwood’s share of the stud. During his lifetime Henry Redwood was known as “the Father of the New Zealand Turf” and New Zealand owes to him the importation of some of the best racing strains in the country.” – An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, A. H. McLintock (1966)

“Henry Redwood was prominent in the thoroughbred racing industry. He was called the ‘Father of the New Zealand Turf’ and established a stud at Hednesford, likely the first in New Zealand. He imported the stallion, Sir Hercules, along with other bloodstock from Australia and France.” – Wiki

Redwood’s 1852 horses brought in on Spray today became the foundation of our bloodstock industry of which much famous breeding and racing has come. A much more civilised contrast with how New Zealand farms got their sheep and deer which cost the lives of many people and animals in the process. Ref. 1859: Cameron and Macdonald, AHNZ

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1. Francis Redwood, Archbishop of Wellington
Image ref. Henry Redwood Jr, Nelson Provincial Museum. The Prow
Ref. Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Papers Past
Ref. Obituary, Wanganui Herald (1907)

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