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Tracking down New Zealand's hottestcommodity in the sporting world is noeasy task, especially when you want toengage him about something other thanwhat makes him famous.

Still, the chance to reminisce abouthis time in the harness racing industry wasa pleasant distraction for Ricki Herbert ashe prepared for the team he coaches, theWellington Phoenix, to kick off their A-League Football campaign recently.

The hype has only just died downfrom the Football World Cup where theHerbert-coached All Whites punched wellabove their weight and left South Africaunbeaten.

Despite overtures from offshore,Herbert has recommitted to New ZealandFootball and the Wellington Phoenix andthus he was able to talk to The HarnessEdge about his time in harness racing.

After returning from playing footballin England in 1986, Herbert tried his handat different things with wife Raewyn,including a courier business, before decid-ing to join his father Clive at his stables.

“I think it was kind of out of left fieldto be honest,” said Herbert.

“I hadn't really had any experience inthe game. But the chance to do somethinginteresting with Dad was a big draw card.

“The key thing was that it gave methe flexibility to stay with football as aplayer/coach which is what I wanted todo.”

During his time as a South Aucklandhorse trainer, Herbert was player coach forhis local Papakura City FC from 1990 to1992 as well as nearby Papatoetoe AFCfrom 1993 until securing the job coachingCentral United in the National SummerLeague in 1996.

After taking New Zealand's All Whites through an unde-feated World Cup challenge, coach RICKI HERBERT seesparallels to his time training horses. By Garrick Knight

From Training Horses To Coaching Athletes

It was at that point he said goodbyeto harness racing, but not before nearly adecade of involvement with good success.

Herbert's father Clive takes up thestory.

“He decided to come in to thehorses with me, which was really goodnews at the time,” noted Clive.

“He basically served his horseapprenticeship with me and got all his rel-evant qualifications through our stable.”

Not surprisingly, Herbert Junior wasquick to succeed in the racing game.

“We had a really good team.Redcliffe Pass won nine races.Unfortunately he got badly injured andhad to be put down,” said Clive.

Ricki agrees that Redcliffe Pass wasone of the best he was involved with.

“Redcliffe Pass was a horse that Dadand I bought and kind of syndicatedthough good owners and friends of ours.We had a lot of success with him.”

The son of Pass With Care wassourced from the late, great Derek Jones(MNZM) as a three-win horse in April1989 and went on to win six times andplace a further eight for the Herberts.

He ran fourth in the $150,000 GreatNorthern Derby at just his third start forthe stable before being put aside for aspell.

He even returned to his roots inAugust 1990, traveling back toChristchurch and defeating arguably NewZealand's greatest ever race mare, BlossomLady, in a free for all standing start.

Ricki was reminded of Redcliffe Passnot five days before our interview whenthe Wellington Phoenix played a scrim-mage match against an under 20s teamat the now defunct Hutt Park Racewayon the outskirts of Wellington.

“We actually played there on theweekend. It was kind of eerie being backthere seeing how it is now. I remember itwell because Redcliffe Pass ran fourth inthe Wellington Cup there one year.”

The appropriately named CaptainRiki was another personal favourite ofRicki's.

“Captain Riki was obviously namedafter me and he was a good horse.Franco Gold was enormous and very, verytalented as well.”

Giant (17 hands) trotter David Moss

was trained by the Herberts for a periodin 1994.

“David Moss was a strong part of it.Dad traveled to Australia with him anddid most of the work with him. He was agrand old horse,” said Ricki.

They took over his training not longafter he won the prestigious Group 1$100,000 Dominion Handicap atAddington in November 1993.

Previously the father/son combina-tion had looked after David Moss fororiginal trainer, Southlander John Cox,on the horse's previous North Island cam-paigns, but this arrangement was to bemore permanent.

In December, at just his second startin the Herbert stable, David Moss low-ered his own national record for 2,700m

by running 3.27.4 (2.03.5 mile rate) off a40m handicap.

He then won the Group 2 $40,000New Zealand National Trot on AucklandCup night before embarking on anAustralian campaign.

The son of Gekoj avoided theInterdominions on the tight Harold Parktrack in Sydney, opting instead to con-test, and win, the Group 1 AustralianTrotting Championship at Moonee Valleyin Melbourne.

He shaved an unbelievable 2.8 sec-onds off the track record that night, com-ing off a 45m handicap in the process.

A win on the $35,000 Dullard Cupwas recorded next before returning toNew Zealand to win the $25,000 NZTrotting Championship.

Spring 2010 • The Harness Edge Downunder

RICKI HERBERT – From Training Horses To Coaching Athletes

A young Ricki Herbert, who combined training horses with hisdad with his playing and coaching career, is shown herelooking after one of their horses in a photo courtesy ofHarness Racing New Zealand.

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Spring 2010 • The Harness Edge Downunder

RICKI HERBERT – From Training Horses To Coaching Athletes

At that point, David Moss returnedto Cox for good, but not before theHerberts had experienced a dream run of success at the height of theirpowers.

“We had a season there where wehad a high number of individual horseswinning races,” said Ricki.

“It was rare that we would comehome from the races without a horsethat had featured in the money. We hada really good spell.”

You would think a three-start maid-en would be an obscure horse to remem-ber, but a certain filly sourced in 1987could be deemed a valuable pre-cursorto Ricki Herbert's future success in thefootball coaching ranks.

“Ricki was very gifted in his abilityto look at a horse and say 'yes I'll have ashare in you' and have it turn out well,”said Clive.

This ability to spot talent from a rawproduct was no better underlined thanwith Mostly Milieu.

“There is always a strong element ofluck and I kind of agree with Dad onthat,” said Ricki.

“I remember I went and leased onefrom National Bloodstock; a little marecalled Mostly Milieu.

“She was nothing when I got herbut I raced her a couple of times andthen sold her for good money. She wasbeaten a head at Ruakaka, I actuallythought she had won but she didn't.

“I think we had one other placingwith her then an offer came in fromAustralia and we sold her. I was lucky tohave a small right-of-purchase on herwhich meant I made a profit.”

It is that innate ability of Herbert'sto spot potential early on that has ledhim to success with mostly non-profes-sional football players.

“There are a lot of synergies between training horses and coach-ing footballers, and I suppose I understand it better because Iused to play at the highest level as well. Most importantly horsesrequire care and attention, and it is no different with footballers."

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Spring 2010 • The Harness Edge Downunder

RICKI HERBERT – From Training Horses To Coaching Athletes

The Herberts had such good successthat by 1991, the time came to expand.

“We had a heap of them and Rickiwas lucky in that he had shares in a lot ofthe better ones,” said Clive.

“Mike Barry leased us a propertynext to Roy Purdon, which I think is nowoperated by John Green.

“I put Ricki in there and it was areally good set-up; he was training x-amount of winners for us on his own.”

“Vance Lustre wound up a C9 beforehe went to America. Ricki was responsi-ble for him; he was his favourite horse.”

Ricki looks back fondly on his time

training next to the Purdons and said heformed friendships he holds today.

“To look across there and see thePurdons and Tony Herlihy was a privilegeand I have kept those relationships allalong.

“When I do go to the races I makesure I say hi to Tony.”

By his own admission, Herbert doesnot get to the races enough these days,not as much as he would like to, anyway.

“I probably struggle to get toAlexandra Park as much as I used to. ButI do watch them whenever I can.”

When you strip back all the layers,

training a team of horses is not much dif-ferent from preparing a team of footballplayers for a match.

The fundamental goal is to have theathletes peaking at the right time foroptimum performance.

Herbert said he can draw parallelsbetween the two and definitely gar-nered a lot of information from his timetraining horses that has helped him withhis soccer preparation.

“There are a lot of synergiesbetween training horses and coachingfootballers, and I suppose I understand itbetter because I used to play at the high-est level as well.

“There was a million people aroundthat could prepare a horse better thanme for racing at the highest level but bywatching and learning you are able toidentify the same ideas.

“Always keeping a horse fresh was akey element to success and managingthe volume of work they did betweenperformances was important.

“Most importantly horses requirecare and attention, and it is no differentwith footballers.”

Spending ten minutes talking toRicki Herbert is all you need to appreci-ate the mana he commands from hisplayers, no doubt the basic reason hegets the results he does.

Clive said it is an endearing part ofhis son's personality and the main reasonhe is so proud to be his father.

“Ricki and I have always been verygood friends, we are close and I couldnot be more proud of him. Shirl(wife/mother) and I both are immenselyproud.

“He's never changed, he's never hada big head.

“I was blessed to be able to watchhim play in the World Cup in Spain in1982 and through the courtesy of mydaughter I was able to travel to SouthAfrica and share the most recent WorldCup with him,” said Clive.

“We have had some very specialmoments. Not just on the footballgrounds. I just saw the amount of respectthe local African people have for him.

“That kind of thing is rare nowadaysbecause, to be honest, it's not a friendlyworld anymore.” �

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Inspections are welcome. To make an appointment please contact

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TEL 07 871 7521 FAX 07 871 7519 EMAIL sandy@breckonfarms.co.nz

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