Like every little girl, Chanelle Dickie loved playing with dolls when she was growing up. She'd dress them in all sorts of different outfits, but with one main colour - pink of course, it's her favourite. Now that she's 22, Chanelle's plastic figurines haven't seen the light of day for years, confined to spending life in a box as a distant memory. She's turned her affection towards equines instead, something which also traces back to her early childhood, and nowadays it's the horses she dresses up, not dolls. Yep, you guessed it... in pink. "I like to be different," she says. "It's a personal touch, and I like to stand out rather than be plain and bland."

The centre of attention in this whole 'fashion statement' scenario is Chanelle's one and only racehorse, Dustin Bromac. The choices are pretty limited when it comes to 'clothing' for a 455kg pacer, but Chanelle's done it well by getting harness specially-made and even designing her own set of silks. Like or dislike the way he looks, at least Dustin Bromac is easy to spot when he's out there on the track. And besides, who could begrudge an obviously passionate young lady wanting to get involved in the sport, and make it even more fun at the same time. Dustin Bromac's starting to develop a bit of a cult following too, and not solely because of his racenight attire. He's been placed in all six of his starts since Christmas and three of them have been wins, the latest being a tough victory in quick time at Addington last Thursday night. "That was very surprising," Chanelle said. "We didn't think he had much chance of winning from his draw, and I wasn't even wearing any pink myself," she added, meaning that she prefers her outfits to contain something of her favourite colour if there's any chance of birdcage photographs.

Chanelle grew up on a 2500 acre sheep, deer and cattle farm in Kaiwera, near Gore, moving to Christchurch at the age of 11 when her parents Ivan and Helen sold up and headed north. She remembers being around horses from a very young age, and reckons she was "plonked on the back of a horse before I could talk". Taking to equines like a duck to water, there was always a pony or two in the paddock and her parents also raced the odd horse at times. "Mum was the horsey person, and dragged Dad into it." Once she was old enough, Chanelle got school holiday jobs with the likes of southern trainers David Mitchell and Murray Tapper. After high school finished she attended Canterbury University, and took just three years to complete a four-year Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology and Psychology. "I needed to do something," she says, "and that seemed like it would be easy and fun." During her time at Uni she landed a job at Bromac Lodge, learning all the ins and outs of weaning and yearling preparation for the Sales. Just a Summer holiday occupation to begin with, it developed into full-time employment 12 months ago once she'd finished her Degree. "I love it there," she said. "It's much better being at Bromac Lodge and doing what I get to with the horses, rather than going round and round in circles on a track."

Bromac Lodge is where she first laid eyes on Dustin Bromac, and it's fair to say that her involvement with the now 4-year-old Live Or Die-Diana Bromac gelding has been like a fairytale ever since. "It was the year I first started working there, and he was one of the first group of yearlings that came in. "He was still a colt at the time, and used to front-foot and bite people a lot. No-one else liked him because of that, but I always got on really well with him and worked with him every day. "I fell in love with the little ginga." As the Sales drew nearer and nearer, Chanelle's bond with Dustin Bromac strengthened even more, and she dreaded the thought that someone else was going to take him home. She even jokes that she thought seriously about "hiding him out the back" when prospective buyers came round to inspect Bromac Lodge's draft - so that they couldn't take a shine to him like she had.

One such visitor was Invercargill trainer Kirk Larsen, a regular purchaser of 'Bromac' horses over the years, and he too could see the potential in Dustin Bromac. Larsen soon realised that someone else had much bigger designs on the colt than him though, and in the end he did all the bidding on the Dickie family's behalf.
Chanelle remembers the occasion well... "I was very upset that day. "I'd pleaded with Mum to buy him, and finally she agreed but said we'd go to $20,000 tops.
"Something told me he was going to sell for way more than that though, so I made sure I said my goodbyes to him during the day." Chanelle's eyes welled with tears when it came time for her to lead Lot 216 into the ring. Every frantically-raised hand and shouts of "yesss" and "biiid" from the spotters was like a kick to the stomach as Dustin Bromac's price continued to soar; when the $20,000 mark came and went, her heart sank. Eventually knocked down for $30,000, she knew she'd lost him. But wait! Just as her and Dustin Bromac were about to leave the ring, Chanelle heard four of the sweetest words in the English language... "sold to Kirk Larsen". "I quickly glanced at Mum, and she just gave me the thumbs up and this real big smile.
"Unbeknown to me, when the bidding reached $20,000 she'd gone over to Kirk and said 'just get him', regardless." Overjoyed to say the least, Chanelle could handle this sort of temporary farewell, and gave the horse that she and her mother now co-owned with Larsen a hug and a kiss, whispering "see you soon" as Dustin Bromac stepped onto the float bound for a stint in Southland.

By December he was at the trials, qualifying first-up when he won a 2-year-old Heat by three lengths, and 10 days later he ran third on debut at Wairio. Chanelle never missed a beat. "Every single race," she says, answering how many times she went to watch him. "It was a lot of flights, and very expensive. But he's my baby." Eleven months and as many starts later, Dustin Bromac cleared maidens when scoring by a couple of lengths at Addington on the First Night of the 2008 Cup Meeting; it was one of the proudest moments of Chanelle's life. He then went to Auckland, and despite a couple of average efforts on the early nights of their Cup carnival, in came a big offer from across the Tasman. "$200,000," says Chanelle, who could hardly believe it herself. "We received the offer on Christmas Eve, and had til lunchtime on Christmas Day to make a decision. "I didn't want to sell though, so we just came to an arrangement with Kirk about buying his half-share and transferring the horse north once he'd had a spell." The handover occurred at the Forbury meeting on May 7 last year, Dustin Bromac arriving on-course in Larsen's truck but leaving on a different one as he headed north to his new home after a very good second to Telemecanique. The 3-year-old raced every month from then on through to the Cup Meeting, putting together a very consistent formline and dotting it with further victories at Addington in July and October.

At some parts things weren't so flash though, because in both starts prior to Dustin Bromac's October win he walked away with a 'P' next to his name after twice having to be pulled up with broken gear. Frustrated by the whole saga, this is when Chanelle first came up with the idea to 'redecorate' her pride and joy. "He kept breaking hopples, and I wasn't going to go through that again so I got some pink ones made by John Earl in Winton. "Then I thought I may as well get new colours too; we rang Hyland Racing Colours in Australia, because Dex (Dunn) told me they were the best brand. "It was a bit of a rushed job to get them made before Cup Week, but I wanted them done by then so that his driver could wear them on Cup Day." Chanelle's silks are described as hot pink (of course), with a large white tiara and cuffs - keeping with the theme of her 12 acre property in Weedons which is named Tiara Lodge, and not surprisingly has "a bright pink mailbox" and plenty of other splashes of the colour around. Nathan Williamson (once), Dexter Dunn (four times) and Shane Walkinshaw (three) are the reinsmen who've had to wear the silks in Dustin's eight starts since. And despite their lukewarm reactions at times, Chanelle has a theory... "They might think 'oh my god' and roll their eyes about it, but secretly I think they actually love it," she says with a smile. "All up his gear's probably cost about $2000 so far, and I'd like to get a pink cart and pink wheels for him as well. "I've just got to convince Mum now."

To a lot of people, Chanelle's known as 'Barbie' - a nickname that's been around for much longer than Dustin Bromac's new look on racenight. "It's just since I've been up here, really, and is probably because I'm so into pink," says the former Southland lass, adding that she "still gets hell" from friends about rolling her r's. "I'm just a normal girl who's got a fascination with the colour pink," she reiterates, believing that having completed a University Degree well ahead of schedule must surely exclude her from the "ditzy blonde" category, as she puts it.

All in all, life if pretty good for the much-loved Dustin Bromac... he's got a great trainer, some of the best drivers at his disposal, and a very enthusiastic 22-year-old human mum that comes to see him at least once a week - one that would never sell him either, not for all the money in the world! "He's it. He's part of the family," says Chanelle, who's been in the cart with other horses but not Dustin. "I'd much rather tie a rope to each side of his head and jump on his back than sit in a sulky behind him. "And I try and ride him as much as I can. He loves it, and is so quiet."
Riding is something that Chanelle is pretty skilled at, as is Showing and Dressage as well. She took a 4-year-old Village Jasper mare - one that she only broke into saddle three weeks ago - along to the N.Z. Standardbred Annual National Show held in Yaldhurst on Sunday, and it ended up winning the Supreme Champion Best Presented Award for the entire Show, beating some 80 other horses from all over the country.

So, next time you're at the races in Canterbury, if you see a horse all done up in pink then rest assured it's probably Dustin Bromac. His owner 'Barbie' won't be far away either; she'll have something pink on, or could also be recognised by another one of her fashion accessories - 'Paris', a Pedigree Long-Haired Chihuahua that'll be either trotting along beside her or nestled in her handbag. 'Paris' goes to most country racemeetings, and to work every day. But don't let appearances fool you, because Chanelle is one smart cookie. She loves her animals, horses like Dustin Bromac especially, and perhaps her eccentric ways are just an indication that the 'child within' is still alive and well. Maybe we could all take a leaf out of that book...