It is one of the greatest fears of every horse trainer. Now John Dickie is hoping it becomes a reality for him.
Nothing dents the professional pride of a trainer harder than to have their stable star lose all form, only to suddenly regain it after changing stables.
But that is exactly what Dickie hopes happens with Last Sunset.
The Cambridge horseman had been fighting a losing battle with the horse he rates the best he has trained.
A superstar 3-year-old two seasons ago, Last Sunset has spent more time galloping in the last 12 months. The odd glimpse of his brilliance has been hidden behind a cloud of disappointments that changes to his training and a small army of vets have not been able to remedy.
So Dickie swallowed his pride and sent the stallion to leading trainer Mark Purdon. The results were obvious at the Alexandra Park workouts on Saturday.
Last Sunset trotted faultlessly to easily win the main heat, in the process booking a ticket to Melbourne for the Nights Of Glory carnival.
That means taking on Lyell Creek. But with the Australian trotters so inferior to our best squaregaiters, Last Sunset only has to trot up to his best form to be the second favourite for $A100,000 races like the Dullard Cup on February 10 and the Australasian Trotting Champs on February 24.
All of which would upset Dickie if he didn't own half of Last Sunset.
"It was my idea to send him to Mark's place because I think he needed a change of scenery," said Dickie.
"I suppose being a professional trainer I wondered what sort of signal I would be giving by sending this horse to Mark.
"But if the horse was owned by somebody else and I thought he needed a change, then I would have told them to do the same thing.
"Racing is a business and this is a business decision."
Dickie believes Last Sunset's form loss may be because of his two most valuable assets.
"I think it has been a stallion thing and maybe that is why he needed the change of scenery.
"But we bought him as a stallion prospect because of his American bloodlines and I wouldn't geld him now. Not that you really can with a horse this age.
"I hope to stand him at stud one day and obviously that will be a lot more appealing if he can return to his best under Mark."
Even if Last Sunset does return to his best, he won't be returning to Dickie's stable.
"I made that quite clear to Mark, I wasn't sending him up there for Mark to get him going and then for me to take him home and train him again.
"Providing things work out he will be staying there for good."
Last Sunset will leave for Melbourne this weekend and will go head to head with Lyell Creek under mobile conditions in the Dullard Cup.
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Last Sunset is not the only former age group trotting star lost to the Waikato.
Former flying filly Cabaletta has joined Barry Purdon's stable after racing below her best for trainer Sean McCaffrey this campaign.
The daughter of former 3-year-old trotter of the year Chiola's Lass had not been racing up to the quality of her work in recent months and will join Mountain Gold as an open class trotter in Purdon's stable.
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Brian Hancock will go looking for another easy kill with Courage Under Fire at Bathurst tomorrow night.
Hancock is starting to believe a statement made by former trainer Bruce Negus that the little pacer is a far better horse after a few confidence-boosting wins.
So the 5-year-old will race against mediocre opponents in a country class race tomorrow night as his final lead-up to the $A250,000 Victoria Cup on Saturday week.
Racing: Trainer finds changing stables right formula for Last Sunset
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