The iron man of racing bristles at any suggestion he is too old to be out jumping fences, writes MIKE DILLON.
What made Ken Browne want to continue jumping horses over fearsome fences at age 67?
Only one thing - passion.
The passion that made him an icon in his sport did not diminish with age.
Browne rode his first winner in July 1952, and his love and desire to be still out there doing it was just as strong on Tuesday when he suffered his life-threatening neck injury.
Ken Browne was not the father of jumps racing in New Zealand - he WAS jumps racing.
It is doubtful the jumps game would even have been viable in the northern area in the past five years without him.
Many races would not have had sufficient numbers were it not for the Ken and Ann Browne team members.
But the most remarkable feature of Ken Browne was that he was still out on the racetrack a quarter century after his contemporaries retired.
Ken Browne not only did it longer than anyone else, he vehemently objected when someone suggested his time had come.
Three years ago several officials suggested he discontinue race riding because of his age.
They backed off when an indignant Browne threatened to take them to the Human Rights Commission.
As a teenager, he ran away from an Auckland boarding school and went back to his family's Cambridge farm.
He never left the property and his involvement with jumping horses has made him a multi-millionaire.
Browne has been one of New Zealand's biggest horse traders to overseas markets, particularly in terms of numbers.
His credo was: "Always leave a bit in the trade for the buyer, they'll be happy and come back for more."
Racing completely dominates his life, and he has been made an MBE for his services to the sport.
His enthusiasm for the rising human stars in training and riding and the coming jumping icons in the game he loved knew no bounds.
He was prepared to give anyone who showed any interest in the game a big leg-up.
His wife, Ann, is his co-trainer and greatest supporter.
She is a former raceday amateur jockey and rode almost as many horses up the famous Kenny Browne Hill in training at their Cambridge property as her husband.
This year's Westbury Farm Auckland Cup winner, Our Unicorn, did much of his preparatory work on the same hill for fellow trainer Alan Jones after failing to find form when trained in Australia.
Browne's staff were expected to show the same dedication to work as him, but you will not find one who did not show respect.
"They were like my second parents," said Michelle Hopkins, who won the Wellington Steeplechase on Flash Hunter for the stable before more recently moving north to become a member of the Trevor and Stephen McKee stable which prepares champion mare Sunline.
"Ken has been wonderful to me," said one of his major riders, retired jumps jockey Brett McDonald, these days training in partnership with Jones.
Racing: Passion eternal for true stayer
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