Horowhenua StarFormer top jockey Herbert Norman Rauhihi died early last week surrounded by family in Foxton. He was 86.
After a celebration of his life at Poutu Marae, he was given one final lap of the Foxton Racecourse.
He is survived by wife Barbara, children Derek and Helen, Leighanne and Shane, Dee and Julia, and grand-children Jordan, Nelson, Courtney, Jayden, Amy and Tayla. Jockey Herbie Rauhihi meets the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh after winning the Captain Cook at Trentham on March 14, 1970. Photo Ken Lush, Race Images Collection
“Herbie” as he was known to family and friends, was born in Te Awamutu on February 20, 1939. He left school at 15, as he’d always wanted to be a jockey, to start an apprenticeship in Te Awamutu with trainer Jack McDonald’s stable.
His first winner was aboard Flying Enterprise at Paeroa on December 17, 1955.
After completing his apprenticeship, Herbie moved south to Ōtaki where he rode for Hayden Bergerson, Percy Burgess and Clem Bowry. It was then he met his wife Barbara after offering her a ride to work. They married at Poutu Marae in Shannon and settled in Foxton.
He rode Fans to finish third on in the 1969 Melbourne Cup, although it was with Awapuni mare Young Ida, trained by the late Eric Temperton, that he formed a formidable team in the early 1970s. Together they won the Desert Gold Stakes, Great Northern Oaks, Manawatū Challenge Stakes (twice), Manawatū Century Stakes, Awapuni Gold Cup (twice), Thompson Handicap and Whanganui Cup. Young Ida also finished third in the Cox Plate and was placed in the Caulfield Cup.
Other notable wins were the 1959 Great Northern Derby (Gitano), 1963 Grand National Hurdles (Cretan), 1966 Foxton Cup (Laramie), Canterbury Gold Cup (Baloo.)1967 Whanganui Guineas (Pasa Doble) and Canterbury Metropolitan Handicap (Fans), 1968 Wills Champion Stakes (Rajah Sahib), 1969 George Adams Handicap (Carlsberg), Hawke’s Bay Cup (Domodossola) and Manawatū Hunt Cup (Agra). He also won the Masterton Cup and Foxton Cup in 1971 on Ayub Khan, the 1973 Winter Cup on Ragham, the 1974 Gold Trail Stakes on Zarushka, and the following year on Princess Patrice.
In winning the 1970 Captain Cook Stakes at Trentham aboard Every Post – at odds of 60-to-1 – he got to meet Queen Elizabeth, who presented him with the trophy.
“I always admired Herbie,” said long-time friend and champion jockey Noel Harris. “He would show me and tell me what I was doing wrong, and without his help I wouldn’t have been the rider I was.
Herbie had a great love for the horses and riding, a passion he would continue well past his retirement as a jockey.
“Even when he gave up race riding, he was still riding trackwork in Foxton,” Noel said. “Most people when they give up riding, that was it, but not Herbie. He was a legend to me.”
Noel says he was a likeable person and great family man.
“One thing I can remember on the funny side of things, was driving with him one day to the Hawera races. There weren’t any riders declared so we turned around and went to the movies, which was a double feature western.”
Herbie rode 495 winners – fittingly his 495th was at Foxton.
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