Vale Neil Brady

Multiple Group 1 winning trainer-driver Neil Brady has died in Dubbo, New South Wales.

Renowned for his black, white spotted, and orange sleeved coloured silks, Brady was a polarising figure.

Often outspoken and no stranger to run-ins with officialdom, he was an equally aggressive driver. Always keen for the front, he had a lot of success with a number of topliners including Elect To Live and Franco Ice.

From 1983 to 2005 he trained 239 winners from 1859 starters, and also drove 153 winners from 1277 drives. In 2005 he left for Australia though he did return for a while in the mid 2010s.

Elect To Live, who won 19 of 32 starts and over half a million in stakes, was 2000/01 Horse of the year.

Among his other star performers were Stylish Sweetheart (12 wins), Franco Ice (20 wins), Sweet Talking Man (12 wins) and Watch Me Trot (14 wins).

He won 10 Group 1 races, on both sides of the Tasman.

Brady was one of the first trainers in this country to embrace beach training, basing himself at Pakiri Beach, 90 minutes north of Auckland.

A handy sportsman in his younger days Brady was an All Black trialist, North Island representative, and 50 times an Auckland representative, mainly at fullback. (1968-74).

Neil Brady was 79.