Our Spitfire still bringing the fizz for Brown barn

The Brown harness racing family from Kapunda, in South Australia’s renowned Barossa Valley wine region, have their own “corker” – not from the vineyard, but from the racetrack – in the form of evergreen trotting mare Our Spitfire (Majestic Son).

The nine-year-old recorded another strong win for longtime participants Peta and Terry Brown in the Aldebaran Park Trotters Handicap at Globe Derby Park on Saturday night (July 26).

“She’s my pet and I just love her. The win was her 16th for us and she’s just been the perfect bread and butter horse for our family,” Terry said.

“Both our son Nick and myself have driven her to wins. She really is the loveliest mare you could get, and she just keeps going around each week giving her best despite her being as round in condition as I am!” he laughed.

Known affectionately around the stables as “Lucky”, Our Spitfire is owned in New Zealand by Frank “Snowy” Weaver and his wife Marilyn.

OUR SPITFIRE REPLAY

The couple bred the mare, who won twice at Cambridge in 2019 before being sent to Brett Lilley’s Melbourne stable, where she added three more victories.

“Ryan Hryhorec then got the horse over here and didn’t have a lot of luck because she kept galloping and was pulling her head off,” Terry said.

“I saw her for sale on Trading Ring and I thought the horse might go okay, despite having a few problems. After speaking to Frank on the phone, he decided to let us have a go with her.”

The Browns have found a winning formula with Our Spitfire, carefully managing her racing to suit her quirks.

“We restrict Our Spitfire to only standing starts as she’s absolutely hopeless in mobile barrier races,” Terry explained.

“I think she’s had just one win from 41 attempts in mobile races and it wasn’t for us. She can pull very hard, but if she’s in a standing start, she just pings out and gets into her rhythm really quickly.”

Despite having never met the Weavers in person, Terry said the connection is strong.

“We’ve never met them, but we talk frequently on the phone. They just love her to death and send nice text messages. Frank is one of the best blokes you’d find in the world, who had a nice trotter back in the day in Pride of Petite (trained by the Purdons in New Zealand),” he said.

The Browns operate a family stable of 10 horses, with everyone playing a role.

“It’s a family affair. Apart from Nick and I, there’s my wife Peta and daughter Charli, who is also doing very well at the pony trots,” Terry said.

“Charli has a few years to go before she can drive at the races, but she’s pretty keen and tells us that she will be doing all the driving one day!”

While Terry was in the sulky for Saturday’s victory, Nick will take the reins today (July 28) when Our Spitfire returns to the track.

“Nick has had success with her, but one of our other consistent ones (pacer) Bettor Be Lively is his favorite,” Terry said.

“Those two horses hate each other, but they seem to end up going everywhere together. I think Our Spitfire has one more win than him and $5000 more in stakemoney.”

“And I reckon ‘Lucky’ has a great chance of getting another win to her name (this afternoon). We are so proud of her overall record – 21 wins, 32 seconds, and 17 thirds from 181 starts for over $122,000.”

For complete race results, click here.

From Terry Gange for Harnesslink