Southern move working for Tiger Fire

A move to a quieter environment has done the world of good for Tiger Fire, who is emerging as one of the most exciting stayers in the South Island this summer.

Since his move to the stable of Winton trainer John Phillips, Tiger Fire has won four of his eight starts, including his last three in a row, and he’s now being targeted at the time-honoured Invercargill Gold Cup (2600m) on February 18.

Tiger Fire began his racing career with Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman in Cambridge but was unplaced in six starts, often due to problems at the start.

“He had a nomination in for the Derby, so it’s obvious Murray had a bit of an opinion of him, but they had a few barrier issues with him – he was missing the kick quite badly there,” Phillips said.

Better’s contest the $50,000 Group Two Premier Mares Championship at Addington tomorrow night.

The daughter of Bettor’s Delight is just one of a number of Mid Canterbury chances out for success at the first Addington meeting of the season tomorrow night.

Bettor Be Sharp gives Sarah O’Reilly a strong hand in the junior drivers’ event.

The pacer, trained by her father Gerard, has been excellent this time in with three placings and a win from the last four starts and was victorious when last produced on the track prior to Christmas.

Talented trotter Maui will be out to ensure his Ashburton win last week was no fluke when he steps up in grade in a strong intermediate grade trot from a wide draw for David McCormick. The ever-consistent, Sonoma Tyron also features in the same race and looks a knockout chance from her handy barrier draw.

Ricky May also looks to have a handful of chances to continue his good start to the year with maiden pacer, Field of Poppies a leading contender during the middle stages of the programme in a wide open fillies and mares non-winners event.

May takes the drive on Boudica in the Group Two event with the pair out to cause an upset.

“He had been gelded by the time he came down here and it’s a bit of a quieter environment, and he’s enjoyed that. We haven’t had any barrier problems with him since he got here.

“He’s out in the paddock most of the day, and later on he comes into a box, and he’s a pretty happy fella. There’s three or four trotters and three or four gallopers going around. It’s a bit different than having more than 100 going around like at Cambridge.”

Phillips was chosen as a South Island trainer for Tiger Fire due to his association with bloodstock agent Stuart Hale, who bought the horse at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale at Karaka in 2020 for $100,000.

Ashburton Bowling Club

Our Open Triples 2 bowls – sponsored by Skip2it – took place mid-week on the 18th.

The top placings were: 1st: B Mayson, P Whinham, P Brooks – 3 wins, 23 ends, 50 points, 2nd: R Bennett, M Quinn, C McFarlane – 3 wins, 23 ends, 49 points, 3rd: R Gurberlet, G Sparks, B Kellett –3 wins. 22 ends, 41 points, 4th: R Hazeldene, J Argyle, C Cleghorn – 3 wins, 20 ends, 31 points.

At the Friday Triples held at Hampstead on the 20th, the Ashburton team of M Hill, P Collins, T Pearce came 1st with 3 wins and 17 ends. Well done, gentlemen!

From a small attendance, the winners of our Saturday Rollover triples on 21st were G Taylor, K Walker, N Stuthridge, L Curd, with 2 wins, 10 ends, and in 2nd place were C Bird, T Watson, M Flatman with 1 win, 9 ends. Well done all!

A couple of February dates to note –Friday, 3rd – Friday Triples sponsored by Toyota and NBS at 12.30pm.

And Wednesday the 8th, 2-4-2 Open Pairs, sponsored by Milestone Financial & Truscott Hamilton at 12.30pm.

Things are ticking over at Ashburton Bowling Club, even whilst the holiday season is still upon us.

Good bowling to you all!

Ashburton Golf Club

We had a massive field last Saturday for the 2023 Club Opening day and what a day we had.

All players were welcomed to the 2023 season with a wonderful speech by our club patron Bill Hetrick, who, though not playing at the moment is still looking as sprightly as ever and always gives a good stirring speech.

On the course we played a pairs ambrose and you could here the laughter across the holes. When the dust had settled we had some amazing scores.

I don’t have the full list of results to hand as of writing, but I do know that the winners of the AC Browne Cup for mixed pairs were Karen McRae and Hamish Niles with a superb net 60, that is some amazing shooting, well done Karen!

Then the Smith Salver for best men’s pair went to Jeff Hewitt and Craig Bain who shot 9 birdies on their way to a 63. Jeff and Craig were playing behind us and it seems you can never get out of their firing line. The boys were beasting their drives. It’s a bit emasculating when you have just played your third shot and two drives come bouncing past you.

Well played chaps, top golfing. After golf finished we had our auction for the racers in the final of the Property Brokers shootout, and Hamish was in fine form again, teasing money out of people who didn’t know that they had any. There were some good early bargains to be had and then we had some massively inflated prices.

It seemed like a ceiling had been set with many runners going for a similar price, until the final lot came up for grabs. Hilary was looking to purchase herself, but it looked like a fellow left hander wanted her as well. The ceiling was then smashed with Hilary finally buying herself for nearly double the second favourite.

Thanks to all buyers and to Hamish and Arkright for keeping the books. This Saturday we have Men’s opening day playing fourball best ball for the Jim MacKenzie trophy.

Pick your partner and pop along or let Matt matchmake for you, he seems to have a good knack of putting the right players together.

Then Sunday morning we have the great spectacle that is the Property

Brokers Shootout final taking place.

Tee off will be at 10am, all finalists report for 9.30am please.

Come on down to watch the start, at least. It is great fun to watch the 19 finalists all wait their turn, some calm as you like and some shaking like constipated dogs. The first hole takes around half an hour to complete and for one person that’s the end of the game. We should be coming down 18 at around 4pm. We have a drinks and food buggy following us round and if any of you fancy helping out for a few holes, we always need counters and marshalls to keep the game moving, just give Paddy a shout.

That will do for now, see you around the course. Good golfing.

Ashburton Horticultural Society

President Joy welcomed 11 members to our Garden Group’s January meeting which was held at Domain Pavilion. Three of our members each spoke on growing dahlias. John spoke on lifting and splitting in May, replanting, staking, labelling and picking out buds.

Graham spoke on standard required for showing and pest control, Brian spoke on staging the dahlias for show and all the different varieties. All three members are involved with the National Dahlia Show at Tinwald Hall next month.

Table show results – 8 exhibitors, 74 entries, Graham Gunn – 8 firsts, 5 seconds, 2 thirds, John Hoogweg – 4, 1, 2, Joy Jaine – 4, 2, 0, Cyril Keen – 2, 2, 0, Anne Gamblin – 2, 1,1, John Johnson – 3, 0, 0, Brian Glassey – 1, 2, 0, Trevor Gamblin – 1, 1, 0.

Premier Award: Graham Gunn, Class 19 – 1 dahlia bloom medium or large – Tioga Dawn.

Raffle was won by: Cyril Keen. Next meeting will be on Friday 24th February 2023 at 2pm, Domain Pavilion, Walnut Avenue. New members and visitors welcome.

Ashburton MSA Petanque Club

2023 Club days have started well although the heat last Thursday so most players pull the plug after two games. We had eight of our players take part in the Arthur Diaper Triples at Ascot a week ago with Jan Guilford being in the winning team, and Karine Crum’s team finished 3rd.

Last Saturday we had seven players take part in the Alan Pickard Triples at Ascot and was won by two of our players Kate Marriott and Bruno Falco. Jan Guilford and partner were 3rd. Ellen Pithie, Karine Crum and Mavis Thompson were placed in the Plate, and Shelagh Field in the Bowl. A good effort to all concerned.

We have received the South Island Ranking List and out of the 40 players ranked, 10 were from Ashburton. 25 per cent is to Ashburton’s credit. Jan Guilford was the top woman, and Karen Bensdorp the second ranked woman. Well done all of you. Our club days start at 1.15pm now so you are welcome to join us at the earlier time. Over the school holidays you might like to make it a family outing and you would be most welcome.

Ashburton Pakeke Lions

President Jim Young welcomed members, partners, and visitors to the traditional January Burns Night meeting. MC Jim Martin asked members to stand as Piper Bill Doak piped the top table into the meeting.

A special welcome was extended to District Governor Jules Ellis and Michelle. Lion John read the apologies and welcomed the Social Ladies. President Jim reminded members of the Remembrance Service for Mary Smith who passed away recently, and who contributed so much to this club over many years.

Lion Malcolm reported on the upgrade to the Domain Bridge and the Bus Kiosk. Lion Trevor reported on the forthcoming Social Events including an outing to the Court Theatre on the 4th March and the usual Coffee Morning. Also a clipboard requesting names for Meals on Wheels in the month of March was circulated.

The District 202J Convention is to held in Fairlie from 31st March to 2nd April and members were urged to attend this wonderful event. Lion Bob then recited the Selkirk Grace.

bie Burns poem in appreciation of the Haggis.

Members then all joined in with the singing of a medley of well known Scottish songs with solos from Jim, Peter and Diane accompanied by Moira on the piano.

The tasting of the Haggis took place and a Scottish quiz with 20 questions was then answered by members. Raffles were drawn and the Tailtwister Lion Jim collected fines from members. The meeting closed with the singing of Auld Lang Syne led by Piper Bill.

Ashburton Toastmasters

The final toastmasters meeting for 2022 included the staging of a local 5 to 7 minute speech contest where the top two go forward to Area Level to compete for the international speech contest.

Matt Marshall scored top marks for his speech ‘The obstacle is the path’ and David Eason was placed second with his speech ‘Money equality.’ Coby Snowden came in third with her speech entitled ‘Find yourself.’

A general comment overall was that all participants furnished speeches of high calibre.

The highlight in the second phase of the evening was a special toast by Mike to Jeff Withington paying tribute to Jeff’s 24 years in Toastmasters. Jeff’s toastmasters journey began in Blenheim in 1999 with the Sunbelt Speakers club.

In 2004, Jeff moved to Ashburton and continued his involvement at all levels until present day.

One of the highlights during this period was being named Area Toastmaster of the Year in 2015.

Jeff plans to take a break from Toastmasters to pursue other interests.

District Governor Jules addressed those present on the importance of the role that Lions International and our local Lions Clubs have in our community. He emphasised the importance of fellowship and the four Cs being Care, Compassion, Commitment and Community. He also pointed out that Robbie Burns was a farmer, interested in drama and was a humanitarian just like many members in this club.

After a very imformative and inspiring address which involved some of our members to speak, Jules was thanked by Lion Jim.

The induction of two new members was then carried out by DG Jules, Richard Mabon sponsored by Lion Jim Young and Neil Gibbs sponsored by Lion Bob Crane.

These new members and their wives Christine and Jessie were warmly welcomed by members into the Pakeke Lions Club.

The Scottish theme for the night opened with three local Highland Dancers, Lucy, Leah and Brianna, who delighted everyone with their precise highland dances.

A poem The Star ’O Robbie Burns was read by Moira Whiting.

The swirl of pipes, played by Lion Bill Doak then sounded with the piping in of the Haggis.

The Haggis was addressed by Bob Frame who recited the traditional Rob-

■ Bowls Allenton Bowling Club

On Tuesday 17th evening pairs was played and results were as follows:

First Martin Watson, Trevor Johnson 3 wins 14 ends 33 points, Second Gregg Kellett, Logan Ford 3 wins 12 ends 21 points, Third Joc O’Connor, Liam O’Connor 2 wins 15 ends 35 points, Fourth Les & Tracy Fickling 2 wins 15 ends 35 points, Fifth David Hickman, Neville Alexander 2 wins 14 ends 26 points.

Upcoming Events: Friday 27th Allenton Friday Triples 12.30pm, Saturday 28th Club Day, Tuesday 31st Ladies Club Day morning, Allenton evening pairs 5.30pm, Good bowling everyone.

The first Ashburton Toastmasters meeting for 2023 was held on 18 January led by toastmaster Adi.

There were two formal speeches on the agenda. The first speech titled ‘Looking towards the future’ was delivered by Adi where he spoke about the previous year’s performances in terms of different participation perspectives. Supporting his content was a PowerPoint presentation to illustrate the information he had gathered.

Adi’s opening remarks explored why people take on Toastmasters and the summary asked what may be on the horizon for the club in 2023.

Adi’s speech was evaluated by Robert. Mike’s speech, ‘Moments of truth’, was a workshop-style presentation. He discussed why people choose Toastmasters to gain public speaking skills and personal growth benefits. What sort of impression do visitors or prospective members experience? The importance of ensuring they have a positive inviting impression.

Part of this workshop involved working in two sub-groups to address searching questions that highlight areas that require strengthening for the future starting in 2023.

Meetings are held fortnightly in the Doris Linton Lounge, Ashburton RSA, starting at 7.30pm.

The next meeting will be on 1 February 2023.

Guests and visitors are most welcome.

Sports Results Draws

80. 75– 79: John Low 90 by a lot, Don Law 90. 80 +: Mike Gray 94, John McArthur 97. Winner of Merrett Salver: Peter Walker

Twos: Rod Carson, Wayne Ross, Jim Latimore Brent Holmes, Tufuga Sa, Barry Jury

Reminder to all Ashburton Vets Players visit to Vets golf at Ellesmere on the 2 Feb 9.30am start, bring own lunch.

Our next Ashburton Vets Game is February 7th Heartland Champs 1st round at Tinwald.

■ Golf

Tinwald Golf Club

■ Golf

Ashburton Vets Golf

Results of play for Ashburton Veteran Golf January 23rd played at Mayfield. 70 years: Peter Walker 76, Barry Jury

Tinwald Women’s Golf Draw 31st January - Gwen Forbes Salver 9 Holes Sylvia Williams Tray: Report 9.00 for meeting. Start 9.30. Starters V. Prendergast D. Wells, Cards S. Gutsell. Kitchen L. Marsh. Roster convenor J. Bruhns.