The first was to bring Bago Bye Bye back to the Hastings or the second was to roll the dice and see what happened.

The decision to keep the two-and-a-half year old over in New Zealand paid dividends when he charged home to win the Christchurch Casino Cup on November 15.

He had the rails run in the last half a lap to charge home and win by a length to claim his first Group 1 race.

“He’s been over there for six months because when you get offered the money you take it,” Watts said.

“It was a massive thrill to watch it with friends and family and the party wasn’t too bad either.”

Watts said they were lucky the dog was trained by Dave Fahey who is one of the better-known trainers from around New Zealand.

“He’s the best trainer over there so we’re lucky he went to the best and he’s got the best out of him. He’s grown a leg basically,” he said.

Watts, who part-owns the dog with Paul Crossingham, said there were still plenty of nerves as the dogs lined up in the boxes.

“It was more relief him winning over there more than anything because we knew he had ability,” he said.

“I’ve won races at Kempsey before and you get the same buzz – but to win a group one … not too many people do it.”

The win was Bago Bye Bye’s 13^th victory from 19 starts at an impressive winning strike rate of 68 per cent.

He has now won his last six races in a row and 12 of his last 13, setting a new track record twice.

“He’s had 10 starts for nine wins over there and he’s broken the track record twice as well so we know he’s got ability,” Watts said.

“He’s sound, he’s only two and a half so we know he’s got another 12 months of racing left in him if he stays sound.”

Watts, Crossingham and Fahey have already planned races in Australia following his next race – a Group 1 event – at Whanganui in a fortnight.

“Around Christmas time we’ll bring him home to target some of the Australian races,” Watts said.

“There is a lot more prize money in Australia; you’ll hopefully see us in Sydney and Melbourne with him.

“Hopefully there’s more to come; it’s life-changing to win a Group 1 race to be honest, but we may as well bring him back and see how good he is.”

Watts said while it was important for a dog to have a good trainer, there was one element above all else that played the most significant role.

“We just got lucky,” he said.

He didn’t rule out a race at Wauchope in coming years.

“You never say never; we’ll see what happens.”

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