Lord Von Costa, a horse who has come back from two tendon injuries, has delivered an emotional win for his connections at Flemington.
Trained by Donna Scott at Albury, the family-owned and bred Lord Von Costa's victory in Saturday's Thankyou Firefighters (1200m) at Flemington was the seven-year-old gelding's first win since the 2016 Listed Creswick Stakes at the same track.
An emotional Scott said it was a big family effort and she was thrilled to see the gelding win at his second start back from his latest lengthy injury lay-off.
Lord Von Costa was ridden by Blaike McDougall who is the partner of Scott's daughter, Danielle.
"It's huge. This is just massive," Scott said.
"There's nothing bigger than winning a race on Saturday at Flemington.
"It's been a long time for the horse.
"He won the Creswick Stakes here as a three-year-old and he's had no luck since.
"He has done two tendons.
"We got him back the first time but I wasn't happy with it. We tipped him out again.
"It's been a big team effort."
Lord Von Costa ($26) sat close to the lead in the straight-track race, hitting the front at the 300m before beating Montenegro Man by a neck to land his third win from 22 starts.
Scott said this year's The Kosciuszko for NSW country-trained horses at Randwick in October would be a long-range target.
"He's now won over the 1200 metres and you've got to get a slot obviously but I think on winning that today he would be one of the main chances for something like that," Scott said.