It took an international raider and the bob of a head to deny Ben, Will and JD Hayes their maiden Cox Plate triumph at the weekend.
The Euroa-based Lindsay Park Racing stable watched on with sky-high elevated heart-rates as their star galloper Mr Brightside finished an agonising second in one of the most thrilling and memorable Cox Plate instalments in recent memory.
It took all of the 2040m in the Group One race at Moonee Valley to decide who would clinch the 2023 edition, with Mr Brightside denied victory in a photo finish to eventual winner and Hong Kong superstar Romantic Warrior.
Mr Brightside was given a peach steer by jockey Craig Williams.
The gun hoop sat the talented six-year-old off the pace and raced up on the rails, only to go down at the winning post by inches.
It was a cruel blow for the Hayes boys, who had their father David and mother Prue trackside for the great race.
“It was devastating for us as we thought we’d won,” Ben Hayes said to racing.com following the Cox Plate.
“We all thought we’d won, so then we find out we lost.
“It was tough. Hard to process for a while ... there are no regrets. He put in his absolute best. We wouldn’t change anything.
“It was a great ride. Everything went right and we were just beaten by a better horse.
“Our horse had every opportunity. Craig (Williams) rode him 10 out of 10. We just got beaten on the line by a champion.”
The runner-up finish came on an afternoon that consisted of two winners for the Euroa talents.
Bold Bastille saluted in the Inglis Banner ($500,000) for two-year-olds, followed by Apulia in the Group Two Vase ($400,000) in race seven.
It was the first time that Ben, Will and JD trained a winner while in the company of their Hong Kong-based parents.
It seems Mr Brightside is set for a stint in Hong Kong, with the stable eyeing off another rematch with Romantic Warrior.