Inverell trainer Shane Edmonds and his wife, Trudy, received an early Christmas present last year when the owners of Free Billy entrusted the nine-year-old gelding to them.
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For a while, however, it may not have felt that way: the picnic meeting specialist finished last in his first run under Edmonds, at Gunnedah on December 19.
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A second place in the Inverell Cup on January 1 was promising, but then the horse did nothing in his next five runs - punctuated by seven-week and 13-weeks breaks.
Moree-based Peter Sinclair had trained Free Billy before he was relocated to the Edmonds' property outside Inverell, where they have three horses in work.
Trudy Edmonds will soon receive a trainers licence. To be sure, the couple and Free Billy are a country-battler triumvirate.
And after the veteran gelding won the $22,000 Gwydir Handicap (1200m) at Moree on Thursday, Edmonds launched an impassioned plea for Free Billy to race in The Kosciuszko, at Royal Randwick in October.
"He beat some good horses there yesterday [Thursday]," Edmonds said. "That was a good open field.
"Like I said on Sky, if there's any horse that ever deserves to be in a Kosciuszko race, it's definitely a country horse like him.
"I know that the horses [that typically take part in The Kosciuszko] are maybe racing in better quality than what he's racing in, that's fair enough.
"But, you know, when we're talking about a country race, for country trainers and people that are battlers, you wouldn't get a better picture, or a better story, than this horse racing in The Kosciuszko."
In a bid to improve Free Billy's chances of contesting the world's richest race for country-trained horses - $1.3 million - Edmonds plans to race him at Coffs Harbour early next month.
The Kosciuszko runners are nominated by winners of The Kosciuszko sweepstakes, who share in the prize money of their nominated horses.
Edmonds said: "I understand it's a $1.3 million race and people want the best horses. But, you know, sometimes it's not always about the money.
"I think the horse can definitely be competitive in a race like that [at his best]. I mean, the way he raced yesterday [Thursday] was, you know, outstanding."
Ridden by apprentice Clayton Gallagher, Free Billy beat Heaven's High (Ben Looker) by just under a length, with Mysticism (Kirk Matheson) third.
Free Billy has 17 wins from 84 starts, for more than $232,000 in prize money.
