Davey Jones, a leading Hawke’s Bay trainer during the 1950s and 1960s, died last week just 12 days short of his 93^rd birthday.

Born in Hokitika, Davey Jones moved to Gisborne at an early age and then left home at age 14 to seek a career as a rodeo rider.

He was hugely successful at Hawke’s Bay and Poverty Bay rodeos and was national buck-jump rider for three years in a row.

 Always a showman, one of his rodeo tricks was to come out of the chute riding a steer backwards to the applause of the large crowd in attendance.

 A man renown for turning his horses out in immaculate condition, Davey Jones proved successful at producing the entire range of thoroughbreds, from two-year-olds to hurdlers, with his first winner being a horse called Beeline.

 He was meticulous in everything he did with the horses he trained, so much so that his daughters Dianne and Leanne say to this day that they used to spend hours caring and grooming his horses so that they always paraded at their very best on race day.

Davey Jones was the top Hawke’s Bay trainer for several consecutive years during the 1960s, with his best season being in the 1964-65 season when he prepared 31 winners.

 Considering that thoroughbred racing back in those days was mainly restricted to Saturdays and Wednesdays it was an impressive tally.

The best horse Davey Jones trained was Froth, winner of the 1959 Auckland Cup.  The daughter of Faux Tirage, bred at Hawke’s Bay’s Oreka Stud and owned by the Lowry family, also won both the New Zealand Oaks at Riccarton and Great Northern Oaks at Ellerslie while her other wins included Wanganui’s Jackson Stakes.

He prepared a string of big race winners during the 1960s including Dalvui, winner of both the Hawke’s Bay Cup and Jackson Stakes in 1967 and the 1968 George Adams Handicap at Riccarton.

Gillin, a horse that had unsoundness issues due to his large stature, was another top horse he trained in the early 1960s with his wins including the 1964 Winter Cup at Riccarton.

Other successful horses followed during that decade including Mackley, Riverview, Agricole, Shut, High Disdain, Reciprocal, Pique, Humber and Frivole.

Pique, who was owned by the Holden family of Poukawa, was one of the first horses Davey Jones took to Australia and won two races in Sydney.

Humber won the Masterton Cup and went on to be a successful hurdler while Frivole was the winner of five races and  finished third in the 1969 New Zealand Oaks. She was a daughter of Froth and a half-sister to Frill, who went on to become the grandam of the 1889 Japan Cup winner Horlicks.

Davey Jones never trained a big team but had a great winning strike-rate with the horses he had in his care.

 He resurrected his training career in the 1980s and produced Whitole to win both the Hawke’s Bay Cup and Manawatu Cup in 1985 before he finished third in the 1986 Wellington Cup.

Dare was one of the best horses Davey Jones trained in his latter life, with her eight wins from 18 starts including the Group 2 Te Aroha Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes and Rotorua Challenge Stakes.

He took his daughter Dianne into training partnership in 1987, with their first success together being Incredible at Woodville in November that year.  The partnership prepared Etoile D’Or to win the Group 3 Bakharoff Stakes at Awapuni and Group 3 Wellington Stakes and she also finished third in both the Group 1 New Zealand Oaks and Group 2 Royal Stakes at Ellerslie.

Davey Jones was still pre-training and agisting thoroughbreds on his Southland Road property up until a couple of years ago and was a true horseman in every sense of the word..

He is survived by his wife Dulcie, son Peter and daughters Dianne and Leanne.