By MIKE DILLON
"I'll cry if I win on Monday, but not today."
It was a simple sentence, but it said a lot about Ann Browne as she walked away from the presentation after winning Saturday's $50,000 TV Guide Hurdles at Ellerslie with Smart Hunter.
There is nothing wrong with crying from the emotion of victory in a major sporting event, but Ann Browne knew if she let go, too much would come out.
The last four weeks have been the toughest of her life.
Daily she has been making the trip from Cambridge to Auckland to see her paralysed husband Ken.
At the same time Ann Browne has been supervising and helping to train 40 horses.
Browne has been on Smart Hunter's back all week as he was being prepared for New Zealand's most famous hurdle race.
It took an enormous amount of grit on her part to hold back tears immediately after the race and to make a victory speech.
There is a sensitivity in Ann Browne which perhaps runs counter to the tough, steely business of jumps racing.
"I didn't think I could do that," she said quietly walking away from the victory dais.
"I made a speech once when Ken stayed home from the races, but I didn't think I'd manage this one under the circumstances."
This race was all about courage.
* The courage Smart Hunter had to come back from the dead after looking beaten when Esprit Du Nord headed him on the home bend.
* The courage Michelle Hopkins showed to ride to instructions with what would have been viewed in any other scenario as an impatient ride.
* The courageous way Hopkins presents a horse to a fence.
* The half century of courage Ken Browne showed to develop New Zealand's greatest jumping dynasty.
* The courage of Ann Browne in the face of adversity.
After spending nearly a decade working for the Browne stable, Michelle Hopkins is now employed by the McKees at Takanini, but she says she owes everything to the Brownes.
Asked for a comment as she unsaddled Smart Hunter, Hopkins looked directly down the barrell of a television camera and said: "That's for you Mr Browne, for everything you've done for me. I hope you enjoyed it."
It was the first time a woman had ridden the winner of the famous race.
Nearby Takanini trainer Kevin Hughes stood shaking his head in admiration.
"You have to give Michelle 10 out of 10 for courage."
No one disagreed.
Ann Browne left the course shortly after the race to visit her husband in the critical care unit at Middlemore Hospital and present him with the race trophy, but not before a smaller presentation in Ellerslie's Winners' Circle room off the birdcade.
Ann Browne had been concerned about her husband's depression and lack of interest in the horses, a natural sidebar of what he is experiencing.
She is encouraged though by the knowledge that huge improvement is expected when Browne is allowed home at the completion of his rehabilitation.
"Kenny's very stubborn and doesn't want to be where he is.
"I know there won't be much improvement until I can get him home."
Racing: Emotions high as Smart Hunter wins
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