Craig Garland and the remaining Horsham part-owners had their bags packed and were ready to make the trip down to Black Caviar Lightning Stakes.

The syndicate never made it Flemington, but it was little worry when their champion sprinter Nature Strip saluted in the $750,000 Group 1 race.

"I was pretty excited. I was jumping up and down watching the race," Garland said.

"It was very disappointing not to be there, but it was still fantastic that the race could go ahead.

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"The five of us just watched in our own houses, and it's probably just as well otherwise Horsham would have erupted.

"It's amazing to see him back to his brilliant best."

The enigmatic sprinter is part-owned by Garland, Giampaolo, Geoffrey Dumesny, Craig Bennett, and the late David McCluskey.

Victoria's snap lockdown meant no crowds were on site to see Nature Strip's near-faultless run to seize a fifth Group 1 win.

In her first ride on the six-year-old, Jamie Kah settled Nature Strip off frontrunner Pippie, getting the star sprinter to relax before busting away from a star-studded field.

"(Jamie's ride) was superb. She was absolutely incredible," Garland said.

"She didn't chase the leader Pippie. Previously, (Nature Strip) would have tried to keep with the leader.

"When she let him go at the 400-metre mark, he just exploded and held on enough for the win."

Jamie Kah only bagged the ride when regular hoop James McDonald opted to stay in Sydney.

"What a horse. Unbelievable. I just let him do whatever he wanted to do then. It was beautiful earlier," Kah said after the race.

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The result was the Australian Horse of the Year's first win since last year's TJ Smith Stakes.

Saturday's win ended a rocky period for the superstar sprinter that ushered a sub-par performance at The Everest and nagging barrier problems.

"Last spring, things just didn't go right," Garland said.

"He had the breathing problems with mucus on his lungs, and he threw James McDonald off the barriers during a trial.

"But he's come back 100 per cent and he was absolutely magnificent (in the Lightning Stakes).

"It was fantastic to watch, and it was fantastic to have Jamie Kah on board. It looks like she's the number one jockey in Australia at the moment."

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