So excited is Harley Payne about his "absolute champion" Yes Yes Yes, he is daring to dream big - gushing that he hopes the two-year-old is "our Winx".
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Payne will be at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday to watch Yes Yes Yes contest the world's richest race for two-year-olds, the $3.5 million Golden Slipper (1200 metres).
He will be joined by fellow Armidale identities Garry Russell and Jim Dedes, as the winner of three of his four race starts - including the Todman Stakes (Group 2) at Randwick on March 9 - attempts to overcome the widest barrier (19) and deliver a dream result for the trio.
They are the members of the aptly named Golden Table, a table at the St Kilda Hotel, where Payne is the publican, who own or have owned shares in 12 other race horses.
Prior to Yes Yes Yes, the best was Cliff's Edge, a four-year-old stallion who has won $1.53 million.
Payne said: "We've had horses for 10 years, and to have this one [Yes Yes Yes] ... he's an absolute champion, I believe, an absolute champion."
Yes Yes Yes is now trained by Chris Waller in Sydney, at the same stable as Winx and champion colt The Autumn Sun, who both run at Rosehill on Saturday. Waller has not won a Golden Slipper.
Yes Yes Yes had been trained in Melbourne by Darren Weir, up until he was banned for four years in February for possessing electric-shock devices. Weir was still training the horse when he was a late scratching from January's $2 million Magic Millions, on the Gold Coast.
"He's had six weeks to settle into Sydney, maybe a little bit longer, and he's really just adjusted [well]," Payne said, adding: "Chris Waller is just a professional, No.1 trainer ... hopefully Yes Yes Yes will be our Winx."
"It's [the Slipper] the biggest two-year-old race in the world," he added. "So if he can knock that over from a wide barrier, that will just show how good he really is."
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Payne said winning from barrier 19 would be "a tough one, but [with] two-year-olds, you never know". "One good positive about it: he's gonna be out of trouble out there."
Payne said the Golden Table would not have invested in Yes Yes Yes if it was not for Weir, who had trained Golden Table horses for a decade. Payne described the investment as "probably a bit of a gamble, but it's paid off".
He said Weir knew Yes Yes Yes was a "quality horse", and "we're so lucky to be involved with him [the horse]".
Weir's spectacular demise was "disappointing", he said, adding that "life goes on".
As of Friday afternoon, Yes Yes Yes was at $7.50 to win the Slipper, according to Sportsbet. The Peter Snowden-trained Cosmic Force ($4.50) was the favourite.
