Going, going, gone... end in sight for 44-year career
JOE Walls never envisaged horses taking him to all corners of the thoroughbred world and meeting the who’s who of the racing world.
Or that he’d have a hand in helping his good mate Sir Patrick Hogan find Sir Tristram the greatest sire in New Zealand history, and later assisting Hogan’s Cambridge Stud secure another champion stallion Zabeel.
But the final act in his remarkable career as auctioneer will come on January 31 at the New Zealand Bloodstock’s Thoroughbred Horse Auction Sales – more commonly known as the Karaka Sales.
In his four decades in the racing game, Walls has met and sold horses to legends like top Australian trainers Tommy Smith, his daughter Gai Waterhouse, and other superstars such as Bart Cummings, Colin Hayes, Lloyd Williams, Geoff Murphy and too many more to name.
‘‘I knew them all well – took them to dinner or lunch somewhere,’’ Walls said.
‘‘I can’t say how much I’ve loved being part of that and the great horses I’ve seen in the flesh and the great racecourses I’ve visited around the world, that’s been wonderful.’’
Horowhenua-born, Walls began his career as a stock clerk with Wright Stephenson and first put his skills to the test selling pigs. He joined the great Peter Kelly on the rostrum selling thoroughbred yearlings during the halcyon days at Trentham until the move to Karaka in 1988.
Garry Chittick, owner of Waikato Stud and one of the most influential men in the New Zealand breeding industry, said Walls would be much missed.
‘‘Joe was always extremely well known and well met, which in our industry is a real skill to have and something that I have been privileged to be a part of.’’
Walls will be back at Karaka fulfilling his role as chairman of New Zealand Bloodstock and, at sale time, aims to catch up with the friends and associates he has met in his four-plus decades in the racing game.