Longstanding trainers keep winning
Invercargill’s Murray Brown and Wayne Adams have been in the winners’ circle hundreds of times in more than 30 years of training racehorses.
The rural neighbours live 800 metres apart on Findlay Rd and have consistently produced winners over the decades.
Their combined win and prizemoney tallies stand at 789 and $5,312,178.
Just recently Brown trained his 250th Ascot Park winner.
Auckland race form analyst and journalist Garrick Knight said both men were respected nationally for their training achievements. ‘‘Both are very good judges of young horses.’’
Brown, 70, and Adams, 71, believed knowledge gained from others in the industry, such as farriers, feed merchants, fellow trainers and drivers, had helped them in their careers.
Having horses healthy and fit were major factors to winning, they added.
‘‘You’ve got to look after them and give them good buildups,’’ Brown said.
Both men have trained for syndicates, with Brown having 15 to 20 on his books in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Invercargill horse owner Cleland Murdoch was a big help to Brown when he switched from being a hobby trainer to a professional in the mid to late 1980s.
‘‘Cleland arranged and ran most of the syndicates for us in the early days.’’
Brown worked at the old Makarewa meat plant before going full-time horse training. Adams was working night shifts at Blue Sky Meats up to two years ago. Both men have scaled back their training operations in recent years.
Brown has trained top performers such as Beaudiene Bad Babe, Hemisphere, Highview Jude and Freeway Don.
A former successful cyclist, Adams will never forget taking First Glimpse to Melbourne and winning the El Dorado Gold Classic Series there with him in 1991.