Peter Wolfenden

Peter Tom Wolfenden MBE (24 January 1935 – 18 February 2023) was a New Zealand driver and trainer of Standardbred racehorses. He won the New Zealand drivers' premiership 14 times, including eight consecutive years from 1974, and twice won the Australasian Drivers Championship. He represented New Zealand seven times in the World Drivers Championship in harness racing, placing second in 1977 and third in 1971. He had 1762 career race wins in New Zealand as a driver, and 798 as a trainer.[1]

One of his most notable wins was in the 1963 New Zealand Trotting Cup, when he trained and drove New Zealand's top pacer Cardigan Bay.[2]

In the 1982 New Year Honours, Wolfenden was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), for services to trotting.[3] He was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.[4]

Wolfenden died on 18 February 2023, at the age of 88.[5]

  1. ^ Wolfenden wins big at North Island Awards Archived 24 June 2013 at archive.today. 2 September 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2013
  2. ^ Harness Racing in New Zealand – New Zealand Trotting Cup results Archived 1 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "No. 48839". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 31 December 1981. p. 40.
  4. ^ New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame — Peter Wolfenden. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  5. ^ "Vale Peter Wolfenden". Harness Link. 19 February 2023. Retrieved 19 February 2023.