Pat Finnegan - a walking encyclopaedia of NZ horse racing history

23/9/2008

When Pat Finnegan (1941-43) headed into the Auckland Star racing department several decades ago to settle a bet over a piece of racing history, little was he to know that his life would change.

Pat won the bet and was hooked on researching racing statistics.

Pat Finnegan (left) and John Costello - co-authors of 'Tapestry of Turf, The History of New Zealand Racing'.

Years later he can look back on a writing career which includes co-authoring the magnificent ‘Tapestry of Turf’ which traces the history of New Zealand horse racing from its earliest days through to 1988, the writing of ‘Racing with Radio Pacific’ and ‘100 Years at Wingatui’.

As well as currently completing a sequel to ‘Tapestry of Turf’ with John Costello, Pat is also working on the compilation of a statistical record covering more than a century of winning horses, jockeys, trainers, and sires.

In his earlier years, Pat was a sportsman of considerable talent – making the 1st cricket XI in his first year at Otago Boys’, representing Hawkes Bay as a 16 year old and going on to play for many years for the champion North Shore senior cricket side in Auckland through the 1950s.

He was also a more than useful rugby player and played golf off a five handicap before work on ‘Tapestry of Turf’ took all of his spare time. Pat worked for more than 20 years with Wiseman’s Sports Stores and played a large part in the organisation of New Zealand’s earliest professional golf tournaments.

His interest in racing dates back to his childhood when his publican father, Daniel Joseph Finnegan (1919) raced a number of – mainly slow – gallopers. Pat himself had success with a faster mare Royal Bourbon in the late 1970s.

‘Tapestry of Turf’, a tome of more than half a million words and 250 illustrations, covers the period from the arrival of the first thoroughbred in 1840 through to the mighty deeds of Bonecrusher in the 1980s. All the great gallopers are included – Lurline and Carbine, Desert Gold, Gloaming, Phar lap, Kindergarten, Mainbrace, Rising Fast, Balmerino, Showgate, McGinty and Bonecrusher.

The most successful sires, greatest horsemen and influential and visionary administrators are all given their dues as the book unravels the evolution of the sport in New Zealand – from an amateur day out to a billion dollar industry. The sequel promises to be equally spectacular.

Pat’s uncle Francis Winton Finnegan also attended Otago Boys’ from 1915 to 1917.

Pat lives in semi-retirement in Fairlie.