They belonged to legendary Elmore horseman Neville Welsh and they were being worn by his reinsman son Clinton.
Clinton was driving the pacer Hameldaeme - a Scottish saying for ‘Home Will Do Me’ - which was having only his third start in a race and was the reason why his father had made a comeback to the training ranks at the grand old age of 83.
A three-year-old gelding by Betterthancheddar, Hameldaeme worked to the front early and pulled clear of his rivals in the run to the judge, with the Leigh Sutton-driven Cheez and the Laura Crossland-trained and Coby Crossland-driven Hurrikaani filling the minor placings.
Neville had intended to retire three years ago, but when he started breaking in Hameldaeme he was pretty impressed.
He initially intended to sell him and, while there were a couple of prospective buyers, they weren’t prepared to pay what Neville was asking, which wasn’t over the top.
But when Clinton started preparing the horse to try and qualify for a racing career, he thought his father was actually underestimating Hameldaeme's price tag.
He suggested his father should make a comeback to training and give himself something to get up to each morning.
Neville agreed.
Hameldaeme displayed his ability on debut when he finished second at the April 9 Shepparton meeting to the Glenn Douglass-driven Pray Tell, beaten only two metres in 1.57.2 mile rate time over the 1690m trip.
Hameldaeme performed under expectations from a horror draw at his next outing at Kilmore on April 29 when the Emma Stewart-trained Yambukian started what turned into a hat-trick of impressive wins.
So when reflecting on that fact, Neville was a bit more comfortable about his assessment of Hameldaene.
The way he won at Echuca suggested there are likely to be a lot more moments when the Welshes will be talking about the one that didn’t get away.
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