Harness racing has lost one of its most heart-warming characters with the death of Morrie Molloy.
Molloy, a part-owner of champion trotter Monbet, died on Monday, two and a half weeks after suffering a heart attack. "We saw him last week and he had had a pacemaker put it but he wasn't happy," said Monbet's trainer Greg Hope.
The Hope family had known Morrie for over 30 years, since Greg leased trotter That's That to race off Molloy.
Morrie had got into the racing business through Max Bowden, whose Christchurch business was above a cafe Morrie owned.
"He met Max and ended up breeding a few by Clever Innocence," remembers Hope.