A midweek maiden race at Ballarat doesn't hold the glitz and glamour of a spring carnival event at Flemington.
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For Janet Wicks, the City of Ballarat Maiden Plate will always hold pride of place at her Huntly home.
After almost a decade as a hobby trainer, Wicks and her husband Phil celebrated their first win when My Boy Greg broke through for his maiden victory at Ballarat last week.
Juggling full-time employment with the grind of training a small team of thoroughbreds is hard work and My Boy Greg's win, quite rightfully, brought tears to Wicks' eyes.
"I was shaking, I was trying to hold backs the tears... it was just joy,'' Wicks said on Tuesday.
"We're up at 4.30am to work and feed the horses, then I jump in the shower to get ready for work.
"It's hard work, but we love it. Phil is the backbone of the operation. He does an enormous amount of work.
"It's a real partnership."
The love of horses is what drives Janet and Phil.
Janet was heavily involved in equestrian competitions from a young age, while Phil followed his father into the harness racing industry.
Phil, who drove his first winner as a 16-year-old, and Janet trained and raced some trotters up until a decade ago.
"The prizemoney fell out of the trots, so we decided to have a go with the thoroughbreds,'' Phil said.
After losing a couple of "nice horses" to career-ending tendon injuries, a visit to Chatswood Stud in Seymour to check on a mare they had in foal proved to be a fruitful trip for the Wicks'.
"My Boy Greg was an unbroken three-year-old colt in the paddock at Chatswood Stud and they didn't want him, so we bought him,'' Phil said.
"We broke him in and he looked the goods from the start."
With the help of highly-rated Bendigo track ride Ashley Massese, Janet and Phil got My Boy Greg to the race track.
Janet and Phil named the colt after Chatswood Stud owner Greg Willis.
"The horse is not overly big and Greg is not tall, so we named him My Boy Greg,'' Janet said with a chuckle.
"Greg and his son Nick follow the horse and they love him.
"What we love about the horse is that he just tries all the time.
"He should have won last preparation, but twice he ran second to David Hayes horses that were owned by China Racing Club.
"It's pretty hard for a little operation like us to be up against a powerful stable like that, so we were pretty chuffed to run second."
Champion jockey Damien Oliver was in the saddle to guide My Boy Greg to victory at Ballarat.
Oliver gave Janet and Phil a glowing endorsement of the colt.
"Damien said he'd be willing to ride him again,'' Janet said.
"We were so chuffed about that. We were so excited to have someone of the quality of Damien ride him once."
At this stage, My Boy Greg's next run will be at Seymour in 0-58 Handicap over 1200m next Thursday.
"His work (since the win) has been terrific and he's fitter now,'' Janet said.
"He's no star, but we love him."
