Vale Murray Brown

by Jonny Turner

Murray Brown is being remembered for being much more than a brilliant trainer by the southern harness racing community.

Brown passed away after a battle with illness in Invercargill on Monday, just a matter of metres from the track where he showed his incredible skill for four decades.

To harness racing fans, Brown is known as the talented trainer of over 500 winners, headed by the Group One-winning star Beaudiene Bad Babe. The trainer’s trophy cabinet is filled with feature race trophies, including many of Southland’s Cup races, several times over.

To those who knew him well, he will be remembered as a master horseman, a fierce competitor, and someone who made time for others. Among them is Cleland Murdoch, who formed a great friendship with Brown and raced horses with him over the entirety of the trainer’s career.

“He had the ability to engage with anybody,” Murdoch said. “He didn’t suffer fools, but he always had time for anyone, especially young people.”

Brown’s winning tally of 551 started with Whatabay in April of 1985. The trainer learnt his trade from former leading Southland trainers Henry Skinner and Bryce Buchanan. Brown worked horses part-time before moving into the sport professionally, going on to be Southland’s leading trainer seven times.

“He seemed to have a knack for getting the best out of horses,” Murdoch said. “He was extremely good with fillies. He would say it’s not rocket science - you feed them and work them, and if they don’t front up, you change something. He was never frightened to try something different. He trained a lot of winners in a time when there were fewer meetings and the training ranks were very competitive. And he did it while training a smaller team.”

As well as being outstanding with young equine stock, many successful harness racing trainers and drivers spent time working under Brown’s tutelage. “He was always willing to offer advice, and he got a big kick out of helping people,” Murdoch said.

Brown was a talented sportsman, which surely added to his competitiveness as a trainer as well as his skill with equine athletes. “He was competitive but always fair. He was good at rugby, he was really good at tennis, and he played socially right up until four or five years ago.”

Beside Beaudiene Bad Babe (22), Awesum Teddy (10), Freeway Don (10), and Highview Jude (9) sit at the top of Brown’s list of winners.

Andrew Armour (162) drove the most winners for the Invercargill horseman, ahead of Clark Barron (40) and Brown’s great friend John Hay (34), with Brent Shirley (31) and Brent Barclay (27) next.

Brown served in a number of administrative roles in the southern harness racing industry, including spending more than three decades on the committee of the Invercargill Harness Racing Club.

Brown’s funeral will be held at Ascot Park Racecourse on Saturday.