Racing: Pair have a touch of class

So you would like to have a go at training a racehorse. How difficult do you imagine it must be to get them through to winning a group one race?

Beyond difficult.

Against all odds if you manage it, start again and do it a second time.

But this time totally blindfold yourself for three months.

Because that's what North Canterbury's John Parsons has managed to achieve with Final Touch, stylish winner of Saturday's $100,000 NRM Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes.

Yes, the nearly blind Parsons has wife Karen to assist him, but remember the pair prepare a large team of harness horses as well as a highly successful galloping team.

Karen Parsons also spends half her time on the road travelling team members throughout the country.

This is a remarkable level of achievement and a stunning success story, but don't expect a gush from John Parsons or his wife.

This is South Island pragmatism at its highest level.

They shrug shoulders when asked how they are able to churn out the level of winners they manage under such handicaps.

It can be achieved only with superb horsemanship and this is a pair deserving of special recognition.

There are different levels of this remarkable achievement.

Like when Karen Parsons decided to send Australian mare My Lydia to reasonably unfashionable Kashani because she recognised a "click" between the two pedigrees that a relatively small group of breeders place faith in. John Parsons, of the old brigade that believes more in proper physicality and x-factor on sight, scoffed at his wife's off-centre methodology.

Final Touch was the result and now, nearly $800,000 down the road, John says little. John Parsons stayed home to look after a huge number of horses from both codes, while his wife took off north to tackle Saturday's feature.

"John left it to me whether I'd work her on the way to Pukekohe or to pussyfoot her after her tough run in the Couplands Mile the previous week."

Instinct kicked in.

"I had no intention of working her, but when she got off the float at Ohau halfway up I looked at her and thought I'd better do something with her."

No horse looked better in the parade ring on Saturday.

The South Island pair are truly remarkable.