A fatal fall that claimed the life of his most promising horse Hot ‘N’ Hazy almost prompted trainer Danny Williams to walk away from racing.
The support of the industry got him through and in the past few weeks, the pendulum of luck has finally swung the other way for the Goulburn horseman in the form of Shelby Sixtysix.
Beaten at the Sapphire Coast in January and a Highway Handicap winner two starts ago, the gelding ran the race of his life to finish runner-up to Eduardo in the Challenge Stakes last weekend, relegating Nature Strip to fourth.
Shelby Sixtysix showed it was no fluke at Rosehill on Saturday, backing it up with a popular victory in the Group 3 Maurice McCarten Stakes (1100m).
An emotional Williams is making sure he savours the ride, having learned to appreciate the good times more than most.
“The last couple of years we have been thinking about giving it away numerous times,” Williams said.
“Financially, we’ve been struggling and the loss of that horse (Hot ‘N’ Hazy) was really hard to take because at that stage, we were already going through hard times so that just made it all the tougher.
“Racing has really been a support for us and really backed us up.
“I’m just blown away. I can’t believe it. It’s incredible.”
The fun might not be over yet with Williams confirming he will nominate Shelby Sixtysix for the Group 1 The Galaxy (1100m) at Rosehill next Saturday.
The gelding has been relishing the wet tracks in Sydney and with more rain forecast this week, he should again get his favoured conditions.
Ridden by Tommy Berry, Shelby Sixtysix ($6.50) ended the unbeaten streak of Rule Of Law ($3.10) to score by 1-1/4 lengths with Gravina ($2.70 fav) another three-quarters of a length back in third.