Gavin Forbes, the owner-trainer of Lord Forbes, was in Nelson attending his badly injured son when the 4yr-old entire easily won the Wyndham Cup in a brilliant 3.58.6 for 3200m on Saturday.
Forbes travelled from Invercargill to Nelson the previous Sunday to be at the bedside of his son, who is in a coma in Nelson Hospital after a car accident.
Forbes left Lord Forbes in the care of friend and trainer Ray Faithful.
The win gave Faithful added satisfaction as he pre-pared the Wyndham Cup winners Feverish (2000) and Franco Novello (2003).
Lord Forbes, driven by Matthew Williamson, won by five lengths and lowered the track record by 4.6sec.
The previous record of 4.03.2 had been set by Tact Halsey in the 1996 Wyndham Cup.
The national record is 3.56.4 set by Changeover in the 2008 New Zealand Cup.
It was the 11th win in 80 starts for Lord Forbes, raced by Forbes and his partner, Rochelle Mathieson.
The $12,800 stake boosted his earnings to $117,429.
The favourite, Centreofattention, tangled badly at the start and checked Secondstospare, Beths Boy and Here Comes Homer.
Auditor General also tangled early.
It was a day of track records - Le Sol won the New Zealand Kindergarten Stakes in 1.54.3 for the mile; the trotter, Prince Harry, won over 3200m in 4.06.4, and Kotare Mach set a 3yr-old mark in 1.55.3 when winning a heat of the Southern Supremacy Stakes.
Prince Harry, trained and driven by Andrew Faulks, lowered the track record of 4.07.1 set by Springbank Richard 12 months ago.
Prince Harry was within 1.1sec of the New Zealand record set by La Coocaracha.
The previous track record for a 3yr-old was 1.56 set in 1999 by The Oyster Man.
Regan Todd, not Robert Butt as stated on Friday, drove My Man Dan, winner of the Hororata Cup on Friday night.
Todd is a junior driver employed by Mark Jones, the Burnham trainer of My Man Dan.
"He [Regan] is a top worker and I would be lost without him. I was pleased he was able to win with My Man Dan," Jones said.
My Man Dan has also won the Marlborough and Waikouaiti Cups in six starts since joining the Jones stable two and a-half months ago.
He will now be pointed at the Invercargill Cup on March 20.
Jones is also viewing a start for Crystal Star in that race.
