Moonlite Blood and driver Robbie Close delivered a poignant victory in the Remembering Murray Brown Leading Southland Trainer Mobile Pace at Addington yesterday, providing Loburn trainer Andrew Stuart with one of his most meaningful racing moments.
Stuart had a special connection to Brown through his early harness racing education, making the victory all the more significant when Close guided Moonlite Blood to success wearing Brown’s colours.
“If it wasn’t for him I probably wouldn’t be in the game,” said Stuart.
The race unfolded perfectly for the five year old Art Major gelding, who settled three back in the running line for the majority of the event.
Close made his move at the crucial moment, peeling three and four wide at the 400-metre mark before sustaining a winning challenge to score by one and a quarter lengths from runner-up Santanna Mach.
“It’s one of my biggest thrills in racing,” said Stuart.
“He trialled well last week and I saw there was a good race for him today, so I called Marilyn to ask if it’d be okay to wear his colours. Unfortunately he passed away before he could see it, but he was obviously helping today.”
It was also the Andrew Stuart Racing Stables Day meeting, and Moonlite Blood was the only representative from the stable to race.
“I’ve got great staff and we all play a part,” he said.
“We thought it was a perfect race for him, and things fell into place today which is wonderful because it’s a very sad time for a lot of people in the industry because Brownie was close to a lot of people.”
Moonlite Blood has now won two from fourteen, while Stuart has trained three hundred and twelve winners.
“We will look to race him through the winter. He is a nice horse. He’s been a slow maturing type of horse, like a lot from that family. He’s definitely got speed and ability.”
Other highlights on the programme included Father Mike winning race one the NZB/Loburn Sawmill – For All Your Timber Needs trot, giving Tinwald trainer and driver Lawrence McCormick his second victory for the weekend after Vertigo won at good odds on Friday night at Addington.
McCormick worked for Stuart when starting out as a junior driver, driving his first winner for Stuart behind Bramley Town in 2008 at Marlborough.