Murray Brown’s outstanding training career may have ended but his colours are still making their way into the winner’s circle.
The outstanding Southland horseman enjoyed another victory when Lauren Pearson produced Ted to win for driver Nathan Williamson at Winton on Saturday.
Ted transferred to Pearson’s stable earlier this year when Brown closed the doors on his Ascot Park barn after establishing himself as one of Southland’s best trainers during his 35-year career.
Brown won 551 races and just about all of Southland’s feature and cup races over that time and has many career highlights to look back on fondly.
"There are plenty of good memories to choose from and a few bad ones — you know what horses are like," Brown said.
"Beaudiene Bad Babe would have to be the best of them, she could do it all.
"She never knocked herself around.
"She was just the perfect horse."
"We had a heap of good ones over the years — Highview Jude, Freeway Don and horses like Awesum Teddy."
Though he is not hands-on any more, Brown’s horses will continue to be seen in Southland.
"I qualified a 2-year-old filly by Bettor’s Delight and we have a brother to Ted as well as a Sweet Lou foal."
Brown races Ted with Andrew Grierson, of Woodlands Stud, with whom he struck up a racing connection many years ago.
The Sweet Lou 4-year-old had not been handed much racing luck leading up to his Winton victory, but he had been running home strongly in his recent races.
"He has always had speed, but he hadn’t shown that at the races," Brown said.
"But he is getting better. They ran home in 27.6sec [400m] and he would have gone better than that coming from behind them."
The feature race went to another Sweet Lou pacer.
Canterbury raider Picadilly Pete won the Central Southland Cup for trainer Matt Purvis and driver Matthew Williamson.
