New Zealand horse Fay Fay won Hong Kong's biggest race on Sunday, delighting the Wanganui couple who bred him.
Peter and Barbara Smith watched the live television coverage as the four-year-old claimed the Mercedes Benz Hong Kong Derby - his sixth win in 11 starts - and took his earnings to over $2.2 million.
"We've seen every race Fay Fay has been in, and winning the Hong Kong Derby is a really major achievement - it's our biggest winner in a long while," Mrs Smith said.
She was slightly rueful that the owners, Alexander and Nancy Wong, had snapped up the horse for just $13,000 at the Karaka sales three years ago.
"It was a small price but he had a blemish on one leg - a vein was showing - and they like them to be perfect, even though it has never affected his performance.
"They got a bargain."
Fay Fay, who has done all his racing in Hong Kong where he is trained by John Size, is by Falkirk, a horse that was owned by Wanganui man Alan Burnet and is now at stud at Windsor Park in Cambridge.
The dam is Glamaine and Mrs Smith said she would be giving birth to another foal in the spring.
"It is a very good result for the New Zealand breeding industry."
The Smiths own a farm at Papaiti which has been in the family for generations. Once a sideline, horse breeding has become a bigger and bigger part of their business over the years.
Mr Smith's father produced 1936 Melbourne Cup winner Wotan and Fay Fay can be traced back to Wotan's mother.
"We sell a lot of horses to Australia, some go to Singapore and now Hong Kong is becoming a major buyer of New Zealand racehorses."
Sunday night's win by Fay Fay will only increase that demand for NZ stock, as the number of stakes races won by New Zealand bred horses in Hong Kong this season is now 10 - double that of the next country.
"He has been a rising star in Hong Kong but we were worried that he had drawn the outside gate. However, he overcame that really well and it was exciting to watch," Mrs Smith said.
With champion jockey Douglas Whyte on board, Fay Fay settled one off the leader, Bullish Champion, for 2000-metre feature race before extending in the final 200m to hold off Tucuman to win by a neck.
Trainer Size commented: "It's always nice to win a big race and in Hong Kong the big race to win is the Derby.
"Fay Fay won a race very early as a two-year-old, which is probably a bit unusual for a Derby winner.
"Through injury he had more than 12 months off but that has probably stood him in good stead as I've been able to step him up at his leisure and he made steady progress to the point that he got into the Group 1 races."
Said Nancy Wong: "I bought him very cheaply in New Zealand and he has done so much for us - I'm very proud of the horse.
"You can never expect a horse is going to be a Derby winner, so to win it is something special."
Fay Fay extended New Zealand's record in the Hong Kong Derby, with New Zealand bred horses winning six of the last nine runnings.