Street Spirit’s win marked the third time in the past five years Smith has claimed the cup after champion stayer For Cruyff’s Sake twice took out the same race in 2009 and 2010.

Remarkably, Smith has placed in every edition of the Sapphire Coast Cup since its inception in 2009 with For Cruyff’s Sake (2011) and Star Hawke (2012) having also both previously run third.

“It’s 2200m so it’s the right distance for a lot of my runners and it’s always a beautiful track,” Smith said of the Bega-staged race.

“It’s generally a bit too far away for the Sydney trainers to come down to as well so it’s a true, country staying cup which is great. It’s become a nice race for me to focus on.”

Smith has nominated Street Spirit for next week’s race meeting at Queanbeyan but will likely only run the last-start winner on a wet track.

Next Tuesday’s meeting meanwhile, is expected to provide a substantial financial boost for the QRACING which will be the only club in NSW to race on the day.

QRACING administrator Brendan Comyn estimated the benefit of hosting a standalone meeting to be in the order of $20,000 directly into the club’s coffers. 

“It’s not a given that club’s will get [a standalone meeting] each year so it’s a bit of a plus for us in terms of money in our pocket,” Comyn said.

“Reading between the lines, Racing NSW must have thought we were doing ok to give us a bit of a bonus meeting.”

What: QRACING Race Meeting

Where: Queanbeyan Racing Club, McCrae Street

When: Tuesday, February 12. First race at 1.25pm