A horse partly owned by five Horsham residents finished fourth on Saturday in the world's richest horse race on turf.
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Nature Strip - partly owned by Craig Bennett, Geoffrey Dumesny, Craig Garland, Frank Giampaolo and David McCluskey - had a tremendous run in The Everest at the Randwick racecourse in Sydney.
Nature Strip was a 26-1 outsider with most bookies prior to the race.
Garland said they were ecstatic with the result.
"It was just an incredible effort," Garland said.
"What just happened today ... it's something you only dream of.
"Some of the papers up here had him in the bottom three or four, so he's done brilliantly.
"It's quite amazing really, when you think about what he's done. For him to hang onto fourth was just absolutely incredible."
The five-year-old front runner held a substantial lead at the 200 metre mark, daring Garland and his fellow owners to dream of winning the prestigious race.
"At the 100 metre mark I thought we still had a chance to win," Garland said
"We were going off a bit, and why wouldn't you? They broke the track record, and he probably made them with his effort leading up until the last 200 metres.
"It was just a great sprint, and a fantastic effort."
For finishing in fourth place, Nature Strip received $820,000 of the race's $13 million prizemoney. Mr Garland hoped there were more exciting times to come.
"Frank Giampaolo went and had a look at him after the race and said he pulled up magnificently, so we're all just so happy," he said.
"We're not sure if he stays in Sydney now for a race in two or three weeks time, but there's a 1200 metre sprint down the straight at Flemington on the 9th, and he hasn't been beaten at Flemington, so we would love for him to go there.
"We'll wait and see - it's just amazing to be a part of such a great horse."
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