Leicester Spring (2 September 1908 – 31 May 1997) was a New Zealand

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er. He played three first-class matches for

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

in 1936/37. Spring was also a thoroughbred racehorse owner. He bought his first horse,

Rising Fast Rising Fast (1949 - 1978) was a champion New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who is the only horse to complete the Spring Grand Slam, winning the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup, and Cox Plate in 1954. He also won the 1955 Caulfield Cup and c ...

, for 325 guineas in 1950. Rising Fast won numerous Group One races in New Zealand and Australia, including the 1954

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melb ...

, and ended up winning 66,765 pounds in prize money. With the proceeds, Spring was able to buy a sheep and cattle farm at

Te Awamutu Te Awamutu is a town in the Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the council seat of the Waipa District and serves as a service town for the farming communities which surround it. Te Awamutu is located some south of Hamilt ...

, build a new house in

Whakatāne Whakatāne ( , ) is the seat of the Bay of Plenty region in the North Island of New Zealand, east of Tauranga and north-east of Rotorua, at the mouth of the Whakatāne River. Whakatāne District is the encompassing territorial authority, ...

, and expand his newspaper the ''Whakatane Beacon''.

References

External links

* 1908 births 1997 deaths New Zealand cricketers Auckland cricketers People from Waipawa Sportspeople from the Hawke's Bay Region New Zealand racehorse owners and breeders New Zealand publishers (people) {{NewZealand-cricket-bio-1900s-stub