Racing and the Cancer Society will pay their own tribute to Sir Colin Meads on Saturday when a horse which he part-owns races on the first day of the three-day Hawke's Bay Spring Racing Carnival in Hastings.
Race No 5 has been renamed the El Roca Sir Colin Meads Trophy, and promising filly Sophie's Choice, part-owned by Sir Colin and Lady Verna Meads, will carry the No 5 saddlecloth and Cancer Society colours in tribute to the All Black rugby great.
Sir Colin, who died on August 20, a year after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, was farewelled by thousands at a funeral in Te Kuiti yesterday.
Now in its fourth year, the Daffodil Raceday is a fundraiser for the Hawke's Bay Cancer Society, but it won't be the first time the racing fraternity has honoured Sir Colin in Hawke's Bay. Daffodil Raceday a year ago finished with a race named the Wishing You Well Sir Colin Meads 1400.
The No 5 is seen as particularly symbolic, for it was the jersey number Sir Colin wore in about half of his 55 test matches, after playing the first 26 from 1957-1964 in what were then the All Black forwards' middle row numbers of 9, 10, 11 and 12.