The couple’s horse Zimfandel took out the day’s richest event, the c0-c1 graduation final.
There were two additional celebrations that came with the easy win, delivered by trainer Bruce Negus and driver Dexter Dunn.
The pacer is Murray’s first horse, though Jo has been involved with several horses before.
"We bred him; he foaled in our front paddock.
"We are really pleased, he has come on really well."
Negus was in awe of Dunn’s performance to get the horse home in the $10,000 final.
Negus had some nervous moments when he expected his horse to be handier in the running, but credited Dunn for a tactically brilliant drive.
The win helped Negus secure the title of top trainer at the two-day Waikouaiti meeting, with five wins.
Rain poured down on runners in yesterday’s second event at the Otago venue, which is renowned for its hot summer race meetings.
Emerging from splashing rain after the race, with a beaming smile, was veteran Edendale trainer-driver Alex Milne, who steered Matai Katie to victory in the c0 maiden trot.
He was greeted with a kiss from his wife, Karen Milne, on his return to the birdcage. The couple bred and race the winning trotter.
"It was worth getting wet for that," Milne said.
Matai Katie’s career path to the winner’s circle has been unusual.
The trotter has rich bloodlines, full of New Zealand pacing royalty.
Matai Katie is by champion pacer Elsu from Christian Cullen mare Matai Gigi.
The pacing blood does not stop there: she has a host of good pacers in her pedigree tracing all the way back to her sixth dam, Matai Song.
Matai Song is the dam of the Milne family’s Southland pacer Matai Dreamer. He won 17 New Zealand races before being exported to North America.
Initially, Matai Katie’s career did not go where her bloodlines would suggest.
She qualified as a 2yr-old pacer before going on to place in a 1.57.7 mile rate in that gait. But as her pacing career progressed, her body started to resent the gait, which led to her switch to trotting, Milne said.
"She would go good one week and it would take her ages to get over it."
Milne did not initially have plans to breed from Matai Katie but he is thinking he might after she has become a race winner. He will just have to decide between now and the end of the mare’s racing career whether to send her to a pacing or trotting stallion.
In what has been typical scene at Otago harness racing meetings this summer, the third race was run under glorious sunshine only 30 minutes after race 2’s downpour.
This time, it was the turn of veteran Tomahawk trainer Ali Malcolmson. His trotter Mr Majestic out-toughed his rivals on the wet Waikouaiti grass.
- Jonny Turner
