Buddy Maroun with another legend, his evergreen sprinter Golden Loom, who was fondly known as “Goofy”
In the heyday of South African racing Buddy Maroun was not one of the big yards in contention for championship titles, but he was always one of the most talked about trainers due to his unconventional practise of running horses often and he was also one of the greatest trainers of sprinters this country has known.
The reasons for running his horses often was actually to aid soundness and was a technique used by his father Robert, who believed competition exercise could be more beneficial to horses’ form and soundness than conventional reliance on lengthy training gallops.
The legendary longevity of his horses’ careers proved the worth of this theory and in fact one of his horses won a Gr 1 on his 110th start, almost certainly a world record.
Having private training facilities coupled with his dedication and attention to detail was the other reason his horses had long careers as he was thus able to harrow and till his training tracks every day according to his own schedule.
Thirdly, he was a horsemen second to none who rode all of his own work and the bond he developed with his horses meant he knew exactly what they required.
He was known to have ridden 50 horses work in a single day.
Buddy shunned the politics of racing and was more interested in being with his horses than socialising, but he nevertheless commanded immense respect from all industry people.
He passed away on his birthday on February 17 2008 under tragic circumstances while on a thoroughbred buying trip to Argentina, leaving SA thoroughbred industry people reeling in shock.
The two tributes paid to him below provide a good summary of the special place he earned in South African racing.
