Kilmore Racing Club, KRC, has awarded a life membership to Maxine Brain at its recent annual general meeting.
Dr Brain has been a board member of KRC and its predecessor Kilmore Harness Racing Club since the late 1990s and has fulfilled all senior positions on the board – culminating in the chairperson’s role from 2017 to 2021.
She said she was proud to have received life membership and was pleased to have been acknowledged for her work.
“It took a little while for it to sink in, I was totally surprised and wasn’t expecting anything before they awarded it to me,” Dr Brain said.
“The next day it really sunk in, it was a very pleasing acknowledgement of what I’ve done. Not that you do it for anything else other than the love of what you do, but I was really taken aback and very proud to have received it.”
KRC acknowledged Dr Brain for her role on the board, serving with the upmost of integrity and distinction, while also ensuring both harness racing and thoroughbred racing was portrayed and promoted in a positive manner to all patrons and participants.
Dr Brain has worked with some of the best trainers and horses in Australasia and spent time offering her services as the on-course vet at Moonee Valley harness meetings.
At the same time, she operated her private practice and raised two children with her husband John, all while continuing to volunteer her time and expertise at KRC.
Dr Brain said she was involved in KRC for her love for horses and the racing industry.
“I love the horses. I love working with the horses and it’s probably more my life than a job or a career,” she said.
“I just wanted to give back to the horse community because I was making a living out of the harness horses and the racehorses, so I wanted to put something back into it.”
Dr Brain was also appointed to the Harness Racing Advisory Council, with her industry-first focus and ability to deal with complex and difficult problems to understand the core issue and show empathy and understanding of all facets of the industry invaluable to the industry and KRC.
“It’s been a great group of people to work with over the years and I’ve seen people come and go, the chief executive [Ben Murphy] at the moment is doing a brilliant job and my fellow board members have been really good – there’s been some good friendships from it,” Dr Brain said.
“I’d like to see the club be a more predominant venue in the future, I’d like to see us get more race meetings and be acknowledged as a premier country racing club.”
