By Duane Ranger
The matriarch of the famous Butcher harness racing dynasty was so dedicated to God that she named a lot of the family’s horses after Bible names.
A devout Catholic, like her late Hall-of-Fame husband, John, COLLEEN MARY (NEE MCCORT) Butcher passed away peacefully at her Hamilton home on October 7. She succumbed to bowel cancer, aged 88.
Mrs Butcher’s Requiem Mass, which was held at St Peter’s Catholic Church in Cambridge, on October 10, attracted hundreds of mourners. Mrs Butcher was Mum to (oldest to youngest) Annette, Pauline, David, and Philip; Nana of 13; and Great-Nana of 12.
“Mum was Mum. The best mother anyone could wish for. She never really got too close to the horses’ work-wise, but her whole life was one of service to her family and Catholic faith. She loved her family, her church, and her netball.
“She recognised everyone for the individuals we all are, and had no favourites. She brought the best out of us all. Mum always made sure everyone was well-fed. She was renowned for her big roast meals, which she would do as a lunch meal on race nights, so Dad and workers weren’t hungry at races when they would not have time to stop to eat,” said daughter, Pauline.
“Mum even saw us kids as a meal. I was the lunch girl, a grazer. David was breakfast, and Annette and Phil were dinner,” she added.
Pauline and David were at their mother’s bedside when Mrs Butcher passed away.
Pauline said her mother had been very healthy, active and independent right up until April this year. She said she had two operations – the second on her 88th birthday (April 23).
“Initially her recovery was going really well, then things went down-hill in September. Her faith gave her the strength and tranquillity to accept that her time on earth was nearing an end and God would call her in his time.”
Born and raised on a market garden on Pukekohe Hill, Mrs Butcher was the fifth child of eight boys and six girls to Jack and Mary Anne (Maisie).
From an early Mrs Butcher she helped her parents look after the younger siblings while her mum was working in the market garden, and prepared vegetables etcetera for dinner. She cared for, cooked, and cleaned while still at primary school.
Pauline said that devotion to others never stopped throughout her life. She said she treated and cared for everyone equally.
“Prior to becoming ill, Mum was very active within the CWL (Catholic Women’s League), taking Holy Communion to the sick, and driving others to appointments.”
Hall-0f-Famer son, David, reiterated his older sister’s thoughts.
“Mum was the greatest Mum, Nan, and Great-Nan, you could ever wish for. She loved us with all her heart. She has left a huge hole in our family,” said the gifted horseman, who has driven 2,653 winners ($28.96m); and individually, and together with his later Father, John, trained 419 more ($3.35m).
Mrs Butcher was educated at the Pukekohe Convent School (now St Jospeh’s) where she was taught by the Nuns. When she left school she worked in a Pukekohe Book Store. She met John, also a devout Catholic, when she was 18. They married a year later.
“Dad was from Whakatane, and originally trained to be a jockey, but they said he would get was too heavy to be a jockey. That was funny because Dad never did get too heavy,” Pauline said.
In 1952 John left school aged 16 and worked for Norm Cunningham’s galloping stable in Whakatane. He then relocated to Pukekohe where he started working in harness racing stable with Max Allen in Pukekohe.
He was with Allen for three years learning his trade, and it was during this time he was with a workmate, who happened to ask a girl out. That girl had a friend with her named Colleen McCort, and John, being a man of few words, plucked up his courage and, went on the date as well. Colleen agreed to attend and so the courtship started on what was to become a lifetime love.
The newly married couple started out in Otahuhu.
“They then moved to Harrisville Road in Buckland (Pukekohe), and in 1973 they put the farm on the market, Mum told us kids not to worry it would take months before the place would sell if it got sold at all. But within a month the six of us we were on our new farm in Cambridge.
“Just before that, Dad smashed his leg in a race at the Cambridge track a track accident, and Mum did a lot of miles in the car travelling to and from Franklin to Waikato Hospital.
“Mum’s days were very long. She would be up early to sort us kids for school etc, feed the workers, drive down to the Waikato each night to visit Dad in Hospital and it was a much longer trip back in those days than today.”
John’s accident at Cambridge Raceway was catastrophic. He was catapulted into
the air across the racing horses to land on the running rail, injuring his shoulder and smashing, rather than breaking, his leg. He spent six weeks in Waikato Hospital.
When the doctors took the plaster off, the leg had not mended. His options were two years in plaster or a painful bone graft. He opted for the latter and progressed from a wheelchair to crutches to a walking stick over the next nine months.
Pauline added that her parents sold their 30-acre farm on Peaks Road, Cambridge to an 80-acre property on Pickering Road (also Cambridge) in the late 1970s, where David and his son Ben work their horses today.
Mum and Dad bought Desiree just after they got married she was the founding mare of their breed.
“While Mum didn’t do much with the working horses, she was very much involved with the broodmares, keeping an eye on them and taking turns with Dad getting up every few hours to check on the brood mares that were due to foal. She would wake Dad if she thought anything was wrong. Mum helped pull a few foals out over the years.
“Desiree was the only horse who was buried on my parent’s farm, and had a plaque to commemorate her. The mare died when she was 35, and I remember Mum being very sad. My mother spoke about Desiree a lot. All of her male progeny were given their names from the Bible,” Pauline said.
In a 2022 interview with this writer, Mrs Butcher had a memory sharper than a tack.
The grand old lady of New Zealand harness racing told me she clearly remembered the day when John paid £500 for Desiree at the 1958 Yearling sales in Auckland.
She recalled that moment 66 years ago like it was just yesterday:
“U Scott was a great racehorse and was the popular sire at the time. He left two greats – Caduceus and Highland Fling. I remember John liked the family of Desiree’s dam, Mischievous.
“John knew she had a U Scott filly in the Sale, so he bought her. It was a big investment because 500 pounds was a huge amount of money back then. In those days you could buy a house for £2,000,” Mrs Butcher said in June 2022.
Desiree is the great grand-mother (five generations) of the last horse that Mrs Butcher bred. That being the 2017 Changeover – Desidi (by Live Or Die) gelding, Zarius, who was trained by her grandson, Zachery, who is one of New Zealand’s most talented reinsmen.
“It’s sentimental when Zarias wins because John never got to see him race. That is why I like to get on-course as much as I can. I enjoy watching family. John passed away in 2016 and the horse was born a year later. He had the last three foals out of the mare put to Changeover.”
Mrs Butcher said it was rewarding to see Desiree’s bloodlines still shining through after more than six decades.
“I’m so pleased that the family John chose all those years ago is still producing winners even though my husband is no longer with us. Abdias is the most successful horse that we bred from the line, but there were many. You have to remember that Delightful Lady is also part of this family,” Mrs Butcher said just over two years ago.
She added that Delightful Lady, the 1973 Tudor Hanover mare, who won 47 races, including numerous Group Ones ($472,705) was out of the 1960 U Scott mare, Desilu – who in turn was a full sister to Desiree.
Mrs Butcher said many good horses from the family had passed through the Butcher stables over the years. They included New Zealand Cup favourite – Tobias, Caledonian Garrison, Mathias, Josias, Zedechias – all in the 1960s,1970s and 1980s, and the 1987 Surmo Hanover – Desrain gelding Abdias, who won 10 of his first 11 starts in the early 1990s.
More recently several good horses have been prepared by the stable and sold on. The best of them was multiple Group One champion Smokin Up, who went on to amass 74 wins and 54 placings from 153 race appearances ($2.6m).
“It all started from John and now the family has taken over. I’m very proud of them all. I only just found out recently there’s a ‘Butcher Fan Club’ in Australia. It all comes down to John, whom I still miss every day,” Mrs Butcher said.
John passed away in Hamilton on September 6, 2016 aged 80. The couple were married for just over 60 years. John was one of the North Island’s top trainers and trained well over 200 winners in the 1960s,1970s and early 1980s.
He teamed up in partnership with son, David, in 1988 and went on to train another 343 winners and joined the elite trainers 500 winners club during that time.
Mr and Mrs Butcher have both been honoured for their contribution to harness racing at the North Island awards.
Mrs Butcher is the Mum of leading drivers David and Phil, while four of her grandsons, Zachary, Benjamin, Stephen and Shane, have tasted success as reinsmen.
“David and Philip were jogging horses when they were 10 and got their trials licences at 16. There wasn’t much racing for women back in those days, but I do remember there was a ‘Ladies Derby’ once a year and while Dad was a bit reluctant about letting Annette drive in it, he set one of his horses for the race so she could.
“He gave Annette instructions to stay wide because he didn’t trust the other drivers (all novices it was the only time women actually drove at the races). She stayed wide and finished third,” Pauline said.
She added her mother was never the type of person to keep still for too long.
“She was ‘doer’ and something always needed to be done it seemed. Her Christmases were both amazing and memorable. There were a lot of McCorts involved and she was the mastermind behind the family $2 treasure hunt, for kids and adults, to keep the cost down she said, each family was to bring six presents or more if they wanted. She would pick up presents during the year, she ended up with about 200 presents herself one year.
“Dad was none too pleased because Mum and Dad had to hide them all. Dad resorted to throwing bunches into the bushes like a lolly scramble. Kids loved it because they would keep finding presents weeks and months later. And you got to trade with everyone at the time if you didn’t like what you had. Much laughter and some suspect bargaining happened,” Pauline said.
“Christmas was about family, and everyone was welcome, adults and kids sat at the table together, and the table was full of food, no one left her table hungry. We had to come back Boxing Day to finish the leftovers!” she added.
She said her mother’s passion was netball.
She played when it was nine-a-side. Mum was an umpire and reached New Zealand level. She passed her local, and regional theory and practical exams. She also passed her New Zealand theory but she never went on to complete her practical because of the time it would take her away from the family – and the boys were still young at the time.
“I know for a lot of teams she was their preferred umpire. She blew her whistle loud, spoke clearly, and allowed the game to flow – playing the advantage rule really well. And she knew how to handle the sideline, if they got too obnoxious she would offer them the whistle, and tell them she was always happy to learn from an expert.
“They never took the whistle and stayed quiet after that. She loved watching netball right to the end of her life. Mum was a strong woman and usually took things in her stride.
“I remember once she was involved in a car accident, and after Dad had got everyone out of the car fearing the smell of petrol meant the car could catch fire, Mum returned to the car to get her cardigan and everyone else’s, because they might get cold later. That was our mum” Pauline said.
Mrs Butcher was of Maori descent. Her whakapapa was Tainui Ngati Tahinga. Her Pukerewa Marae is located 15km west of Te Kauwhata, almost on the coast.
