The “larger than life” founder of the North Harbour Trotting Club will leave this earth without any fanfare.
Bruce Lloyd will not be having a public funeral. Instead he will be farewelled privately by family this week. Mr Lloyd died in North Shore Hospital on Monday morning (May 9) – just 20 days short of his 80th birthday.
“It’s quite ironic that a man so public and loved by many wanted to disappear without any big ordeal. Bruce did eulogies at other funerals and has attended many more over the years. He insisted that he had no funeral. He wanted me to promise him that he will go quietly,” said Margaret, his wife of 36 years.
She said her husband had suffered a stroke in October last year which meant he could no longer train horses.
“He was in hospital for three weeks this time and he seemed to progressing – and then we got a phone-call at 7.30am from the Hospital suggesting we come and see him. By the time we got there poor Bruce was dead,” Mrs Lloyd said.
Mr Lloyd formed the North Harbour Trotting Club at dairy Flat on October 1 1985. He also trained, bred, and owned standardbreds.
He obtained his trainer’s licence in June 1983 and since then Mr Lloyd 67 winners from 1,182 starters. His horses placed 155 times and he won just under $400,000 in stakes.
His first training success came at Hutt Park on May 31, 1980 when 12th favourite and $32.30 shot, Johnny Treylor won in the hands of then junior driver Joe Barnes.
His last winner came via the one-win trotter, Knead The Dough and junior driver Jack MacKinnon at Thames on January 10 this year. MacKinnon took over the training when Mr Lloyd was sick and the 4-year-old has since been sold to Australia.
Mackinnon had nothing but praise for the late horseman.
“Bruce was a great man that will be sorely missed, he has helped me out so much over this last year and I couldn't have done a lot of the things that I have achieved without him. Our shared love for trotters saw us spend many hours over at the stables bouncing ideas off each other.
“One of the highlights of my career so far was when knead the dough won at Thames. Bruce has been sick for a while before I started training from his place and I always told him that I was going to win a race for him and to do it on that horse that we put so many hours into getting him trotting right was a very special moment,” MacKinnon said.
Mr Lloyd never trained any more than three winners a season but his wife said the best horse he trained was the 1978 Great Evander entire, Rick Evander, who won six races and $34,375.
Mr Lloyd was born in Ngaruawahia and educated at Otahuhu College. His family relocated there because his father (Selwyn) was one of the bosses in the boning room of the Otahuhu Freezing Works.
“Bruce’s Dad (Selwyn) had gallopers and one of his horses named Yardgar won a Great Northern Steeplechase. Believe it or not Bruce used to ride track work until his legs got too long. From an early age he was also horse mad,” Mrs Lloyd said.
Mr Lloyd worked in the cosmetic industry when he left school.
“He could sell snow to Eskimo. People couldn’t say no to him. They seldom let him down and he was not afraid to ask. When he became a company director we shifted to Dairy Flat and bought 10 acres. That was in the mid-1970s.
“We lived in a caravan and Bruce bought the property so he could train greyhounds. He had dabbled with them before and wanted to go boots ‘n all again. In fact Bruce never did anything in halves, he always went in with all guns blazing,” Mrs Lloyd said.
She said the property was equipped for greyhound training and things took a different direction when Mr Lloyd attended the Alexandra Park Standardbred Sales.
“I remember the date being February 2, 1976 because Bruce and his mates bought the horses and when his friends asked me about it I said ‘what horse?’
“”It was called Mark Scott and was passed in the first time and then when he was brought out a second time the auctioneer said the first bidder can have it for $500.
“Bruce obviously jumped at the opportunity and hasn’t looked back since. Jimmy Smith trained Mark Scott. By 1978 we had stables and a track on our property. Bruce was never one to muck around,” Mrs Lloyd said.
Mr Lloyd is survived by his daughter Megan and several “equine grandchildren,” his wife Margaret said.
By Duane Ranger