Macfarlane beat all of his peers, who were on hand when he was presented with the award at the annual Racecourse Managers Association Conference in Hastings recently.
Macfarlane played down his achievement and said it was a case of his long service being rewarded.
"It was just my turn. If you go to enough of them you are going to get one eventually" he quipped.
Macfarlane said beating the managers of top thoroughbred tracks, who in some cases had nearly unlimited budgets with which to to operate, made the win special.
"You are up against all of the good galloping managers, because harness-only tracks are a minority.
"All the other managers have both [codes] or just galloping."
The conference allowed managers, who often work in relative isolation, to compare notes with their peers.
Racetrack managers can often bear the brunt of feeling from racing industry members when nature or weather conditions
cause tracks to be troublesome or unsafe, Macfarlane said.
"If you have a bad track, you take it personally and you think what else could I have done.
"That has an effect on people."
Macfarlane has plenty of experience to draw on beyond his 12 seasons in charge of the Forbury Park track.
Macfarlane has worked in stables across Australasia from the age of 15.
Before turning to track management, he had tenures with former top trainers Cecil Devine and Jim Dalgety.
With Macfarlane at its helm, Forbury Park has risen to be ranked as one of the best harness racing surfaces in the South Island.
Its sand-based surface was upgraded with a mix that will be trialled for use at the Harness Jewels.
The mixture, which was sourced from Oamaru, has received the tick of approval and was recently used to prepare Addington for next weekend's signature race meeting.
