During a Carnival of Cups night loaded with features, one victory stood above the rest at Dubbo Harness Racing Club.
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Ned Pepper's win in Quamby's Stayers Cup (2525m) sparked wild celebrations among connections.
It had been a frustrating recent run for Katie Jenner's proven country campaigner, as feature wins proved hard to come by.
But Angela Hedges produced one of the drives of the night to deliver the eight-year-old gelding victory in the $16830 feature.
"To win another cup, he really deserves it," Jenner said.
"We've been around in I think every cup this season and he's been drawing bad and not having great luck.
"But finally we got the draw to use it and show how good he is and put it to some of the really big names.
"He went super."
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With the advantage of starting from gate one, Angela Hedges got Ned Pepper ($12) quickly to the lead.
Gottashopearly ($34) pushed up on the outside and threatened the leader but shortly after they passed the post for the first time he began to fade.
Ned Pepper started put some space between himself and the rest of the field while Holy Camp Clive ($26) moved into the second and the hulking Courtsinsession ($1.15) was soon urged forward from deep by Mitch Turnbull.
Courtsinsession was forced wide and by the time he got into the race Ned Pepper had skipped clear, and Hedges drove the eight-year-old on to win by 3.4m from the Steve Turnbull-trained hope while Holy Camp Clive was third.
"I was pretty confident because he loves the long trip," Jenner said.
"It doesn't worry him and getting a break I knew he'd be strong on the line. He'd been working great and racing great, it was only Courtsinsession coming with a run (that was a worry).
"Our fella is pretty small compared to him but I was pretty confident."
Jenner also had plenty of praise for Hedges, who first drove Ned Pepper when he was a two-year-old.
"Ange knows him as good as anyone and has always driven him great so there was no worries about that," she said.
"I knew Ange would drive him great and be able to get out of the gate and she's aggressive so it worked well."
Jenner's veteran now has a record of 17 wins from 81 career starts.
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Nick Guthrie
I started working at the Daily Liberal in 2013 and now hold the position of senior journalist. I cover all that's happening in sport in Dubbo and the wider western area and have a passion for doing so. If you've got a story that needs telling, reach out.
I started working at the Daily Liberal in 2013 and now hold the position of senior journalist. I cover all that's happening in sport in Dubbo and the wider western area and have a passion for doing so. If you've got a story that needs telling, reach out.
