When Inverell trainer Dean Smith's health took a turn for the worse, he phoned his mate and fellow trainer Wayne Oakenfull and encouraged him to purchase the four-time race winner, Zaidin.
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And it paid off.
Zaidin claimed Sunday's $45,000 Inverell Cup with Ben Looker aboard in his second start under his new trainer.
It was an exciting race with Zaidin fending off Stirling Osland's Buffet Buster by a whisker for the win.
The race was tight across the board with the first seven horses finishing within two lengths of each other.
Oakenfull, and a group of Inverell locals, took on the ownership of the horse after his September win at Murwillumbah under Smith and then set him up for his hometown Cup.
The win made it back-to-back Inverell Cups for Oakenfull after claiming the 2022 prize with Renegade.
Post the 2023 race, Oakenfull was quick to credit Smith and share the accolade with him.
"Dean was very sick through the winter months, he had a bad lung infection, he ended up in hospital," Oakenfull said.
"The last start he gave this horse he won a bonus race over at Murwillumbah.
"He said to me he was going to sell him and I should buy him because he is a promising little horse but at the time, Deano was sick.
"I took his advice and bought him, I have always liked him - he is a lovely little horse - so this win today is as much Dean Smith's as it is mine.
"That is the truth."
It didn't take long for Oakenfull to decide the seven-year-old would be a contender for the Cup.
He entered him in a trial where he beat Hyland Bay who was coming off three straight wins including the Guyra Cup.
"When he beat him, that gave us the confidence to go on for the Christmas Cup at Ballina but he was the third emergency," Oakenfull said.
"I didn't think he was going to get a run and he only just scraped in the morning of the race.
"He ran third, it was a terrific run, and today [Saturday] we were confident without being cocky."
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