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T hough Bill Darrah rode
steeds during his days in
Tairua and on his own farms,
he didn’t zero in on breeding
and racing horses (specifically
the trotting gait rather than the
pacing gait) until after he retired.
Bill's first stellar steed was
named Elizabeth Bay. She won
the first race for him in 1989,
and he soon got more serious
about his new hobby, grading a 300m training track on his property at
Kopu. She went on to win 8 times, and gave him a number of foals,
including the high achiever Iwi Alex (won 10 races and $107,511).
In 2009, reinsman Dale Moore was interviewed and commented, "The
best horse I've sat behind would probably have been Bill Darrah's
trotter, Iwi Alex." Elizabeth Bay's last foal (at age 27!), Iwi Baldy, also
earned his oats in 2014; ten starts garnered a win, place and show.
Bill chose to stick to the breeding and
training, letting others take on the
race itself. And health and weather
permitting, daughter Jan Collier tells us
he continues his early morning training
sessions. “With 22 winners to his
credit, Dad reckons he still has time for
one more winner from his stables”.
We asked about his small track. “I
find that after training on the tight
curves... they really open up and go
for it on race day. And just 45 minutes
training per day – slow and steady –
wins the race!”
Photos from
New Zealand Herald
Left: Eva with parents
Charles and Mary
Beach in front of their
general store in Tairua.
A young Bill Darrah
on an important form
of transport in the late
1930s – his bicycle.
52 COROMANDEL LIFE 2015 SPRING/HOLIDAY
Bill and his trotters
Patricia, Raewyn, Peter, Janis and Wendy. They purchased a neighbour’s
property increasing the original farm from 80 acres to 160. Bill ploughed
by horse, planting crops of maize followed by turnips then grass seed.
They started with 50 milking cows, then increased to 80. Milk was taken
by horse and cart in 20 gallon cans (200 pounds of milk) to the Huirau
Road dairy factory. Horses to work the land and a bicycle for travel into
Thames was all Bill had as transport those first years.
Saving £715 over the years, from raising and selling porkers, allowed Bill
to purchase his first David Brown tractor. He shares, “I rode my bicycle
to Paeroa and drove the tractor home with it strapped to the back!” This
one was traded in for his next David Brown in the ’50s, “Still have it,” he
says, “in the shed at Kopu.”
All the children worked on the farm, and Eva notes “the older ones
looked after the younger ones as they came along. Milking, hay making,
picking maize, helping raise the calves – all part and
parcel of being raised on a farm then”.
RETIREMENT AND THE TROTTERS
They retired from the farm to a home in Thames in the
late 1970s. “My plan was to buy a motor home and
travel the length of the country,” says Bill. “But Eva
said, ‘What a good idea, but I’m not going’. So that
put an end to that.”
It was then that Bill renewed his interest in horses
by breeding and training trotters. Twice daily Bill still
drives to his blocks in Kopu where he tends his horses, hens and cattle.
Eva volunteered at the Thames Hospital when first coming to town. Now,
at age 96, she continues as the homemaker, taking care of the cooking,
cleaning, washing and lovingly tending her garden of bromeliads and a
display of potted plants and shrubs.
Eva would have to be counted as one of the best cooks in Thames. New
recipes are collected and tried frequently, and there’s never an empty
cake tin in her house. She is often found cooking for family and visitors
who call in, and those “just in need or need of spoiling”.
Bill and Eva have been fortunate to be able to keep active and maintain
good health while welcoming 4 great-great-grandchildren, 27 great-
grandchildren and 21 grandchildren to their family.
Whether or not it was ‘love at first sight’, it is clear these two were meant
for each other. As Bill said in the NZ Herald interview video we watched,
he was happy to be married 74 years to Eva... “She’s the best thing that
ever happened to me”.
NOTE: One of those great-grand-daughters of the Darrahs is Alyce Rowe,
Harcourts realtor in Pauanui and CL advertiser. She and Mum Leann Rowe
shared their recipe for Seafood Chowder, a Christmas family tradition. See
Bill sits astride Grey, mustering cattle with dogs Harsant and Rowdy on
the Cory-Wright property at the base of Paku Mountain in Tairua.
Bill and wife Eva would be in dairy farming for many years,till taking up
horse training and breeding as his retirement project.
The Market Leader in
New Zealand Real Estate
...at home in Pauanui
Come down and
meet Kerry and Alyce
to discuss all of your
property requirements
whether selling
or buying . . .
Kerry Trainer 021 236 5978 | Alyce Rowe 027 469 4338
Shop 21, Pauanui Centre | 07 280 0678