KEY POINTS:
Graeme Sanders doesn't ever want to see Prize Lady again.
Not in a racing scenario.
The game little mare provided Sanders with one of his biggest thrills in a lifetime of racing in winning yesterday's $700,000 SkyCity Auckland Cup, but he wants her to retire.
"It's been a
long hard battle to get her back after she bowed a tendon in Queensland two seasons ago and she can't do any more on a racetrack," said Sanders, so emotional immediately after the race he clenched his teeth to hold on to things.
There were a few reasons for that - owner Joe Wallis was too sick to attend or offer any indication on the mare's racing future.
Also missing was Sanders' daughter Debbie Sweeney, due to give birth to his grandchild next week and similarly not well enough to be at the races.
Her husband Mark Sweeney, an injured sidelined jockey for Sanders, stayed at home to support his wife.
Also missing from the immediate celebrations was the stable apprentice Craig Grylls, who had a pin inserted in a broken leg last week, otherwise he may have been the Auckland Cup winning jockey.
The talented Grylls, who rode 61 winners in what seems like a blink, couldn't stop beaming as he stood to the side with his retired jockey father Gary, a longtime close mate of Sanders and regular stable jockey.
"That was a real buzz just watching her win," said Craig Grylls.
In the official presentation Sanders paid tribute to the work Craig Grylls and fellow apprentice Daniel Hain had done with Prize Lady.
"She hasn't been easy because you have to manage her leg carefully.
"She broke down in the tendon running in the Queensland Derby after finishing fourth in the Queensland Oaks the week before."
Sanders and wife Gael have always been big on family and this was a close-knit affair despite the fragmentation of the family members.
Their 35-year-old son Craig, an accountant, embraced the emotion.
"I've never seen dad so emotional.
"I thought when Magic [Winner] won the Easter Handicap here it was the most emotional he could ever get, but he's at least at that level right now."
Sanders' benchmark for excitement has always been his remarkable juvenile Ballroom Babe.
"This is on a par," he said.
Sanders said he could see some positives with Prize Lady going into the race, but it fell short of overall confidence.
"I was confident she would see out the 3200m. And, yes, the rain helped her a little.
"The biggest thing was to get her into the race with the lightest possible weight because of her size. She's delicate, but she's tough."
Mark Du Plessis brought Prize Lady along at the right time to collar pacemaker Kajema in the home straight and the little mare clung gamely to her advantage to stave off the favourite Pentane by a long neck.
Sanders passed his wife a celebratory drink in Ellerslie's Winners' Circle hospitality room and took a big breath.
Sometimes at the top level of horse racing a defining moment can hit connections suddenly.
"You know," said Sanders, "there is a lot of satisfaction in winning a race with a horse like this.
"We've had to look after her [leg] for so long now."
* Not everyone is a winner in horse racing.
The face of top rider Opie Bosson told the story as he passed within metres of Graeme Sanders as the co-trainer of Prize Lady was being congratulated on his success in the big race.
An ashen Bosson was carrying the saddle he had just taken off fine stayer Envoy, who had to be put down after snapping a hind fetlock in the home straight.
It was a tragic end for the topweight, who won last year's Wellington Cup.