The 88-year-old died in a training incident on Tuesday December 12 at Hepburn Regional Park.

Mr Conroy and his wife Pat bred hundreds of standardbreds and he ultimately became one of the biggest devotees of the trotting gait in Australia. 

The funeral service held at St Peter’s Catholic Church in Daylesford on Wednesday drew a large crowd to celebrate Mr Conroy’s life. 

The church was full and the crowd spilled from its doors to stand outside. Mr Conroy was well-known and well-loved in both the racing and Daylesford community. 

“Look I wasn’t surprised (at the number of people) but I know dad would be,” daughter Anne Maree Conroy said. 

“Dad would be absolutely astonished that all those people turned out. He always used to say that if a young person dies it is a tragedy, but if an older person dies it is more something that you would expect.

“But it was still a tragedy to us that dad died at 88 because he was still so full of life, and so much in his prime, and at the head of our team. As far as our racing stable goes we all referred to dad. It was all about what dad wanted to do.

“So it was a tragedy to us that an 88-year-old man could get killed.”

Tributes from Daylesford residents flowed for Mr Conroy on Facebook. 

“He was always a welcome sight cantering up and down the bush tracks in my area,” Robyne Lawrence commented. 

Jayme Kawalek said she had many fond memories of Mr Conroy riding his horses, “always giving a friendly wave hello”.

Anne Maree said Mr Conroy would stop to talk to anyone and ask how they were going when he would jog the horses on the road. 

“The day after dad died I went out to jog Margaret Ruth (horse) and I said to my brother Peter, ‘I’m not too sure how long I should jog her for’,” she said. 

“Dad used to jog her for quite a long time. He said, ‘yeah, but you don’t know how long dad would be talking to someone or asking them what they were up to’. It made us laugh.”

Anne Maree will now put her father’s horses in her own name. 

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