Selwyn_Times: October 25, 2023

Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Wednesday October 25 2023 Selwyn Times
NEWS 15
nal finish line on 90th birthday
“After one tournament he won,
he was flown to Germany to pick
up his prize, a Mercedes car.
“Golf meant a lot to him.
He played and beat Michael
Campbell at Kauri Cliffs one
year.”
Dobson went on to breed and
race a horse with Campbell who,
named Cambo, won first-up at
Timaru in September 2007.
“He also caddied for Gary
Player and I remember Dobbie
telling me the story about how
Player asked him for a club
and Dobbie said, ‘No, that’s the
wrong one. Trust me, I know’. He
was proven right.”
Dobson, a good all round
sportsman, proved a generous
benefactor for golf, paying for an
extension to the Christchurch
Golf Club and funding initiatives
to help juniors progress up the
ranks.
Dobson didn’t always have
money. He came from very
humble beginnings, growing up
in the Depression, biking to work
where he earned 10 bob a week as
a plumber.
Dobson lived on 10 per cent
of his income, saving the rest,
and eventually set up his own
business, before moving into
buying real estate.
“On the one hand he was very
scrupulous and on the other
incredibly generous with his
passions.”
Kennard admired Dobson
for his unrelenting calmness in
racing, which routinely threw up
setbacks.
“When his horses lost, not
once did I ever hear him criticise
BEST:
Christian
Cullen beats
Iraklis to win
the 1998
New Zealand
Trotting Cup.
SPORTSMAN: Ian Dobson was also a keen golfer, caddying for Gary Player (left) and once
beating champion golfer Michael Campbell, with whom he raced Cambo.
the driver. And when Muscle
Mountain got taken out at
the start (badly checked) at
Addington recently he copped it
on the chin, saying it was just one
of those things.”
Dobson took the same c’est la
vie approach early on to Muscle
Mountain whom he bred and put
through the ring as a yearling,
only to pass him in for $40,000.
“He wasn’t prepared to let him
go for that. If the horse was no
good and he ended up losing, so
be it.”
Muscle Mountain was clearly
the best of the 10 trotters Dobson
raced, giving him his first Group
I win as a breeder when he took
the NZ Trotting Championship
in April 2021.
Dobson raced 10 trotters who
collectively won 64 races but
most of his success came with
pacers.
His first Group I win as
an owner came in 2009 with
Joyfuljoy and, while he enjoyed
scores of winners in the
intervening years, he had to wait
until April 2021 for the next one.
Dobson is survived by
his partner Janice, son
Stuart, daughter Lynne, four
grandchildren and seven greatgrandchildren.
Lynne Dobson said she will
remember her dad as a great
father and family man.
“We didn’t have a lot of money
in those days – there were no
huge family holidays – but we’d
go away a lot to the West Coast
and the country race meetings.
“He was quite hard on me but
very fair and brought us up to
show respect.
“I remember him saying: ‘What
you do in life is look after your
family and work hard’, which I’ve
taken on board.”
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