LEADING Wodonga trainer Brian Cox has been killed in a truck accident in the Upper Murray which has left the racing industry in shock.
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The 65-year-old died when a cement mixer he was driving tipped onto its side at Talgarno.
Wodonga and District Turf Club president Kevin Richardson paid tribute to Cox, who won his hometown cup a record nine times and also won the Albury Gold Cup three times.
"His record with our club is unbelievable," Richardson said.
"He started as an amateur rider with his father Ollie in the early 1980s when he was a teenager and between them they had a huge amount of success as trainers.
"Anyone who trained their hometown cup nine times creates their own legend.
"We're all a bit stunned with what has happened.
"Obviously our sympathies go out to wife Janet and daughter Sarah.
"He lived right on the course and always kept an eye on things."
His first Wodonga Cup winner was Rebel Action in 1996 and his most recent being Minnie Downs in 2014.
Cox won his first Albury Cup with Lucky Enough in the late 1990s before Ekalaka won the race twice.
But his best training feat came during the 2002 Melbourne Cup carnival when he prepared three winners - Cool Azz, British Buska and Mooball - the equal highest number of winners with John Hawkes for the prestigious four days of racing at Flemington.
Cox's father was an undisputed legend of Border District racing and died in 2014, aged 83.
He was granted a trainer's licence from the Victorian Racing Club in August 1959 and trained for four decades after also starting out as an amateur rider.
The Cox stables in Wodonga were named after the best horse he trained, Burmonga.
Brian was in the final stages of a three and a half year suspension following a marathon inquiry which concluded in late 2016.
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