The Star: October 19, 2023

The Star Thursday October 19 2023
24
RACING
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Harness racing icon ‘Dobbie’ finds
• By Barry Lichter
IAN DOBSON, one of harness
racing’s most successful owners
of all time, died on Monday
morning – on his 90th birthday.
Dobson, whose name is synonymous
with the champion pacer
Christan Cullen, started winning
races in 1986 but, incredibly, was
only now enjoying the best run
of his life.
In a February interview before
cleaning up at the annual harness
racing awards, Dobson said
“the horses keep me going. I’m
having a bit of fun and I don’t
think I’ve ever had such a good
run.”
Dobson was a notable absentee
at Addington last Friday when
his three superstars Akuta, Don’t
Stop Dreaming and Muscle
Mountain went within a whisker
of repeating their unmatched
treble of last December when, in
a golden 90 minutes, they bagged
three Group I races, the $250,000
New Zealand Derby, the
$100,000 Ace Of
Spades and the
$86,500 Trotting
Free-for-all.
Long time
close friend Noel
Kennard said
Noel
Kennard
“Dobbie” always
tried to be on
course but in the
last month his health had gradually
slipped.
“I went in to the rest home
with his son Stuart to watch the
races with him but for the first
time he wasn’t with it at all.
“Up ’til about a month ago
he could walk unaided and his
memory was brilliant. If we
talked horses or money he knew
exactly what you were saying.”
Dobson’s passing brings to a
close one of the most spectacular
ownership chapters in harness
racing – he won 385 races in
New Zealand alone, with 73 individual
winners, including 31 at
the very highest Group I level.
But while his newest trotting
sensation Muscle Mountain has
been the most prolific, with 29
wins, Dobson still rates Christian
Cullen as his number one
champion.
“Christian Cullen was my best
horse,” Dobson said in February.
“I still own him – he’s alive
and well at the age of 28, at the
best old people’s home in New
Zealand, Dancingonmoonlight
Farm.”
Dobson’s first foray into
ownership in 1984 wasn’t so
successful. He shared in a mare
called Jam Cover – named after a
business he had which made jam
WINNING TEAM: Ian Dobson with, from
left, his daughter Lynne, partner Janice, and
Muscle Mountain’s trainers, Nina and Greg
Hope.
covers – who placed three times
from 14 starts.
But he had been racing horses
with some success for 10 years
– his first winner was Lord
Christopher at Hutt Park on
September 2, 1986 – before Cullen
came along, winning his first
race on November 22, 1996 at
Addington.
By the time Cullen retired in
June 2000, with recurrent leg
problems, he had captured everyone’s
hearts with his arrogant
pacing style, winning some of
the most coveted prizes in harness
racing, including the New
Zealand Cup, Auckland Cup and
Miracle Mile.
When he left trainer Brian
O’Meara’s stable he became the
country’s champion sire, giving
Dobson more prizes than he
could fit in his trophy cabinets.
Kennard recalls how Dobson
prized the collection so much,
he even contradicted the red
sticker ban on his Redcliffs home
to rescue the collection after
the earthquake demolished his
house in 2011.
But among the racing trophies
were also plenty of golfing
memorabilia as Dobson for
many years was a scratch golfer,
Kennard said.
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