Te Akau Winter Tale Time

We hope you enjoy some interesting racing stories over the winter - this courtesy of award winner racing journalist David McCarthy ....

The Strange World of the Turf - Second Sight ?

Elizabeth Clanton sat fearfully in the kitchen in her little house in Hope near Nelson in 1883 awaiting the return from town on business of her husband, William. Though neither she nor her husband followed racing, she was anxious to know the news from the Richmond racecourse.

Earlier in the day Mrs Clanton had seen a vision which frightened her almost witless. In it her brother Jem Roberts, formerly a horse trainer in Blenheim, was walking along leading two horses while his apprentice jockey Allan Hain was riding a horse along in front of them oddly enough dressed in his street clothes. In the vision Roberts suddenly called “Jack, Jack!” and as he did so the vision disappeared.

What terrified Mrs Clanton was, that on returning from the Nelson meeting to Blenheim after the previous year's meeting, Jem Roberts had suddenly taken ill. Within two days he was dead.

She knew that Hain, who was always called “Jack” by Roberts, was riding at the Nelson meeting that day. So she was most relieved when her husband arrived home to say nothing
dramatic had happened at the races. He had called in to the Richmond Hotel on his way home for a beer with some who had been on the course and nobody had mentioned any drama.

But Mrs Clanton's vision was more accurate than her husband's information. Hain had fallen from a horse early in a hurdle race. He got up quickly, walked 200m to where the horse was and remounted. At the last fence however the horse became erratic and Hain fell unconscious from the saddle almost into the arms of the clerk of the course. He was rushed to nearby Stoke Hospital suffering severe delayed concussion and died that evening.

The Clantons were so moved by the vision they made a statement to a local newspaper about it and before long the story was headlines all over Australasia.

So how could the vision be explained if at all?

The only real clue was that Hain had been injured in a fall at Hastings two weeks previous
and had been advised not to ride at Nelson something Mrs Clanton may well have known. But the real mystery surrounded her clear memory of “Jack” Hain riding in his street clothes just as his dead boss called his name.

For Mrs Clanton could not have known that Hain's friends had insisted before he was rushed off to hospital that his riding gear was removed and he was dressed in his best suit!