Daylesford veteran trainer Bob Conroy died in a training incident on Tuesday morning at Hepburn Regional Park. 

The 88 year old leaves behind an indelible mark on the industry.

Daughter Anne Maree Conroy, a harness racing driver, paid tribute to her father, who she described as lively in his actions and opinions, kind, generous and interested in other people, and very proud of his family and friends.

“Dad was tough as nails, he had been injured many times in his life and always bounced back,” she said.

“I thought he had nine lives and it's taking a while to sink in that he won't come back this time.

“He was extremely generous in his time, expertise and money, he would share or give you the shirt off his back and I'm proud to say the rest of my family is like that too.” 

Anne Maree said Mr Conroy would share his knowledge of horse training with anyone who asked for his help. 

“Dad was fearless with horses… and active right up until the end,” she said.

“He was handling young horses from their birth, he was an expert at shoeing, breaking in, and sorting out problems with horses, diagnosing lameness.”

Ballarat and District Trotting Club chief executive officer Paul Rowse described Mr Conroy as a gentleman who had been “so genuine” throughout his career and whose name and legacy would continue on.

“From the club perspective it is a very sad time with him being so active… our heart goes out to the family today,” Mr Rowse said.

“He has just had an amazing life with so many great stories and I reckon that nearly everybody in the trotting community in Ballarat would have a story about Bob, to us his name means trotting around this area.

“I couldn’t imagine anybody having a bad word about Bob, he was just an unbelievable gentleman, we can only say his legacy will live on.

“We, like many others, will sit back and reflect on Bob’s good times… it’s a tragic day in the sport but he would have passed away doing what he loved and spent the majority of his life doing.”

Mr Rowse said he had no doubt son Glenn and daughter Anne Maree would continue their father’s legacy. 

Mr Conroy and his wife Pat bred hundreds of standardbreds as he ultimately became one of the biggest devotees of the trotting gait in Australia with a stable made up almost exclusively of trotters.

Mary Beverley provided him with some of his earlier successes, with her biggest being the 1973 VFL Dullard Cup for trotters with Mr Conroy in the sulky.

Not only did she make her mark on the track, but also as a foundation mare for the Conroys.

She left five winners in a family which went on to produce Laurels winner Lucy Lastic (12 wins), which has in turn gone on to leave the likes of pacer You Lazy Boy (17 wins) and handy trotter Girls Go First (9 wins), which continues to race.

Mr Conroy is particularly well remembered for his deeds with top class trotter Amazon (25 wins and $100,000 in earnings), which was one of Australia’s best squaregaiters of his day.

Amazon had a stunning 1984, winning the Australasian Trotters’ Championship, EB Cochran Cup and Chris Howe Trotters’ Cup. He also time trialed in 1:57.7.

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He also trained smart trotting mare Miss Universe, which enjoyed a stellar career with 20 wins and raced in the top flight.

Mr Conroy had numerous highlights, including no less than seven Ballarat and District Trotting Club trainers’ premierships (1974-75, 83-84, 84-85, 85-86, 86-87, 90-91 and 96-97) and getting four starters into a feature final at Moonee Valley in 2004.

When news broke of his death yesterday, tributes flowed in on social media. 

Mr Conroy was described on Facebook as a “true gentleman” who was always “up for a chat”. 

“Fond memories of Bob as a child visiting the stables with dad, and later him allowing me to drive and ride the trotters. An introduction that has set me on my current path. A great loss to Harness Racing. Condolences to the Conroy family,” wrote Kerrie Hymers.

“Sad news. My sympathy to the Conroy family. Bob used to stop sometimes when we lived at Sailors Falls and give the kids a ride on the sulky when they were little and I always enjoyed our chats when we met in the forest,” posted Matthew Phelan.

YOU CAN READ MORE OF THE TRIBUTES BY CLICKING ON THE POST BELOW

Mr Conroy had the distinction of training the first winner on Ballarat’s new 1000m circuit in 1993, with his daughter Anne Maree taking the reins on Times A Marching.

Although the bulk of his success was with trotters, he did also oversee the career of star pacer Lincoln Star, which won the 1978 Bendigo Cup.

In latter years Mr Conroy was rarely seen at the track on race days, leaving racing duties to son and daughter Glenn and Anne Maree.

However, his substantial influence remained, as shown in his support for the establishment of monte racing in Victoria.

He helped getting montes up off the ground through the presence of Optimum, which in 2012 was one of the circuit’s star performers.

Anne Maree rode Optimum to victory in an exhibition race on Ballarat Cup night in 2012 and went on to take out a feature series.

Smart trotting Margaret Ruth provided Mr Conroy with his last winner at Geelong on Saturday night.

A son of the late Tom and Rose Conroy, Mr Conroy is survived by wife Pat, and sons and daughters Julie, Helen, Peter, Glenn and Anne Maree.