New Zealand racing has lost a highly respected and popular administrator with the passing of Ian Boyland at the age of 81.
He was a former long-serving Secretary of the Wanganui Jockey Club and came from an accounting background to take up the role in 1971.
It was a notable and bold appointment as Boyland was then the youngest Secretary in the country and served until 1997.
“I first met Ian at a secretaries’ conference at Ellerslie in 1977 and he was representing the Wanganui contingent,” long-time friend and colleague Tony Enting said.
Enting was formerly with the Counties Racing Club before moving to the Waikato Racing Club and a secretarial post he held for 34 years.
“Ian was always a very sociable fellow and very well-liked by everybody in the industry, that’s for sure, a great mate to sit down with for a chat and a beer,” he said.
During that era, clubs took their own nominations and acceptances, and meetings in the River City thrived under Boyland’s stewardship with northern stables regularly in attendance with multiple runners.
“One of the first things Ian said to me was, ‘now listen young fellow, just remember a good secretary always knows his nominations’,” Enting said.
“Back then, we would take hand-written nominations, we could take 700 to 900 entries for a meeting.
“They were taken about two and a-half weeks before the race meeting, so stables tended to put in their whole racing team and sort out later where they wanted to go.”
The affable Boyland was at the helm when Wanganui played host to a two-day Queen’s Birthday meeting, run on the Saturday and Monday with a popular dinner and dance on the Sunday evening.
Its spring meeting was also formerly staged on consecutive Saturdays and featured the then Gr.3 Trust Bank Central (1600m), Listed Wanganui Cup (2040m) and Listed Wanganui Guineas (1600m) and opening two-year-old event of the season.
Formerly known as the Jackson Stakes and Tim Rogers Stakes, the Trust Bank was run at weight-for-age with home-town hero Veandercross, Bonecrusher, Horlicks, The Phantom, Shivaree, Secret Seal and Axeman featuring on the honours board.
It was subsequently downgraded to Listed status and now run as the AGC Training Stakes (1600m).
Boyland shone in a promotional role, regularly visiting local and northern trainers to sing the praises of Wanganui and was well known for his hospitality on the eve of race meetings.
“He was the Wanganui Jockey Club and a great man for enthusing visiting trainers to race at Wanganui, the likes of the late Bill Sanders and then his son Graeme and many others,” Enting said.
Boyland’s administrative skills were acknowledged as one of two New Zealand representatives on an Asian study tour to Japan and gained first-hand experience of the industry in Australia and the United States.
He also shared in the ownership of a number of horses, including Young Pirate with great friends, the late Dave MacNab and George Bristol who were both past Wanganui Jockey Club Presidents.
Trained by MacNab, he won the 1993 edition of the Listed Duke Of Norfolk Stakes (3200m) at Flemington in the hands of 10-time Group One-winning jockey, former Sky Racing Channel presenter and now Racing Victoria apprentice Jockey coach Alf Matthews.
Young Pirate also placed at Group Three level in the Manawatu Cup (2300m) and Waikato Guineas (1600m), finished fourth in the Listed Geelong Cup (2400m) and was subsequently unplaced behind Vintage Crop in the Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m). – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
