What's in our name?
- Nick Hudleston
- Jul 30
- 2 min read
What's in our name - Lantern Davis?
'Boydie' Herbert Moss Davis (1879-1969) and one of his racehorses, Dark Lantern 2, who won the French 2000 Guineas (Poule d'Essai des Poulains) at Longchamp in 1928.
Born in New Zealand only 40 years after European land grabbing fully got underway, Boydie was a very charismatic Kiwi from an enterprising family of brewers also passionate about horse racing.
Regularly travelling the globe, in post WW1 years he undertook scouting visits to the USA, England and France, finding horse racing ever more popular, with Epsom Derby day attracting 500,000 crowds, most walking hours to the course. This was 'Peaky Blinders' era, the real Billy Kimber & Darby Sabini gangs fighting it out trackside.
Also, the Scotch whiskey trade was struggling from the 1915 Immature Spirits (Restriction) Act, US prohibition and wartime loss of workforce and leadership.
If there were two industries Boydie and his brothers knew, it was horse racing and the brewery and distillery sectors!
Playing to these strengths, in 1923 Boydie, his wife Molly and young family sailed for England, setting up home and stables in Kent.
Establishing whiskey exports to the New World, he began procuring and training horses, developing his products and services strategically.
Initially racing journalists questioned this unknown Kiwi, but within a couple of years they'd named him "the Whistling Trainer" because of his unique habit of whistling his horses to victory from the winning posts.
Naming our business after Boydie and his favourite horse seemed fitting. He researched his markets thoroughly, developed his products meticulously, used specialist advisors to fill gaps, planned his contingencies, and delivered his customers' requirements, in spades. And he was fun.
He was innovative in his methods, an early adopter of technology, and was adept at pivoting quickly to suit unexpected challenges, being highly resilient.
