KEY POINTS:
Trainer Mark Todd kissed Willy Smith, co-owner Merran Hain was so overcome she could barely talk and jockey Matt Cameron was breathless.
But probably the most stunning feature of Willy Smith's $300,000 Century City Developments Wellington Cup win on Saturday was the total lack of disappointment from Todd over his decision to give the racehorse training game away.
Even in what is certainly his finest moment outside his dual Olympic equestrian golds.
Sure, winning the 2003 Oaks with Bramble Rose was a special achievement - a trainer's first group one success is a benchmark.
But the best 3-year-old is the best 3-year-old and will, bad luck aside, generally win.
Preparing an older horse for a group one 3200m handicap is a much more exacting exercise.
Most would think that giving up training top-class racehorses for victory from the magnificent multimillion-dollar Cambridge farm the Todds have just sold to move to the quiet roads of Rangiora would be a difficult adjustment.
Todd welcomes it.
That doesn't mean he wasn't excited on Saturday.
As he says, he never meant to become involved in training to the extent he's ended up with and finds the grind unattractive.
"These moments are too few," he said in the birdcage.
"Training is 90 per cent hard work and disappointments and, if you're lucky, 2 per cent are days like this."
If Cameron found it difficult to speak after taking his saddle off Willy Smith, Todd had plenty to say on his behalf.
"That was an absolute fabulous ride.
"I've got so much admiration ... he did exactly what I told him to last week [in the Trentham Stakes] and it was perfect today."
Willy Smith is a big, long striding horse that needs to be kept balanced and Cameron did a beautiful job of allowing him plenty of room and keeping him relaxed until he picked him up around the home turn.
He almost looked to be too far off them at the 350m, but Cameron didn't panic, he kept Willy Smith balanced and allowed him to build his own momentum which, remarkably, looked to be still building as he swept past Mirkola Lass in the last four strides.
Hain, who races Willy Smith with her brother Murray McPhail, was allowed her excitement.
A big offer was made for Willy Smith as a younger horse and Hain, desperate to keep racing the horse, had to buy out a third ownership member.
Richard Dee selected the big stayer, who was passed on to Todd when Dee decided to give training away two years ago.
Now the horse will be finding another stable when Todd and his family move to the South Island.
Todd has six broodmares and says he will seek a few more to breed from and eventually race the progeny.
"I've no doubt we'll be back here at Trentham - it's just that I won't be training them."
But the road show is not quite at the end of the road - there is the $700,000 SkyCity Auckland Cup only a few weeks before the planned Todd move.
A decision on that race has not been finalised, but it will be a surprise if the big Ellerslie race is bypassed.
Mirkola Lass ran the race of her life and Everswindell showed she has a big staying future in finishing third.
"She didn't quite settle as well early as I would have liked - a good run," said rider Noel Harris.
Hayden Tinsley was livid, and still is, over the ride of Chad Ormsby on Genebel, who sat outside Envoy and, according to Tinsley, laid on the topweight for more than half the race.
"For the entire length of the home straight the first time and around the bend into the back Chad was laying in on top of us.
"Early I had David Walsh inside me and I had to take measures to stop the pressure from me putting him over the rail, then I had Darryl Bradley inside me.
"For 600m Darryl and I were both screaming at Chad to stop it."
Tinsley said it was impossible to say how much in distance the problem cost Envoy.
"Over 3200m with that weight (58kg) you need to find your position then put them to sleep for at least 1600m. Envoy had no chance to do that - he was fighting that horse the whole way."
Stipendiary steward Cameron George did not have quite the same opinion as Tinsley after watching the video replay.
"Certainly Envoy got annoyed by Chad's mount, but apart from one, maybe two small incidents, they weren't touching."
Tinsley doesn't agree with that. "I came away shaking my head. I said to Chad in the jockeys' room: 'I don't know what world you're in'.
"He was determined to get my horse beaten. Envoy could have been right in it with a clear run."
