That colt was called Rising Prince and he went from being a local star to the winner of some of the racing industry’s biggest prizes. His earnings were in excess of $500,000.

Among his successes were the Villiers Stakes and Summer Cup in 1984 while in 1985 the Round Top x Bonlene colt won the Chipping Norton Stakes, AJC Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the Cox Plate and the Mackinnon Stakes.

But before this came a win away from the metropolitan tracks, Rising Prince taking out a two-year-old race called the Gold Nugget.

That race was a feature at Bathurst’s Tyers Park and when the 2011 version of the Gold Nugget is run this Sunday, it will be known as the Rising Prince Gold Nugget.

Cecil Thompson, a member of the syndicate who leased Rising Prince from Stein, was delighted to hear the race would carry the name of his horse.

He will be track side on Sunday to watch the latest crop of two-year-olds in action and he will bring the Cox Plate trophy with him as a reminder of what the Rising Prince Gold Nugget winner could go on to achieve.

“For sure it’s great to have the race named after him, it’s terrific I reckon,” Thompson said.

“I will be there to watch and so will another of the owners, Ted Healey, there are only five or six of us [from the 12-person syndicate] who are left now.”

Rising Prince was leased by Thompson and his fellow syndicate members, all of whom were based in Lithgow, and trained by Deidre and Vince Stein.

The agreement saw the syndicate get the colt at no initial cost, but they paid the training expenses and Violet Stein was given one-third of any winnings.

Both parties were happy with the agreement.

“We had leased a couple of other horses off Mrs Stein, we had his [Rising Prince’s] sister and a brother as well,” Thompson said.

“The sister cut her leg in the river and from then on was basically racing on three legs and his brother, Rising Chance, he got a bowed tendon, but he looked like he was going to be real good.

“But Rising Prince, he was a really good horse. The first time I saw him he was only a foal in the paddock.

“He had his first start in Bathurst and he never trialled, he ran fourth, his next start he won by a big margin and then he won the Gold Nugget.”

Thompson can’t remember all the details of the Gold Nugget win, but said Rising Prince came from third last.

He said that this Bathurst win gave Deidre Stein, who was officially listed Rising Prince’s trainer, the confidence that bigger successes would follow.

Thompson can also remember what jockey John Bateup said.

“John told us we needed to get used to him being in the winners’ stall, he told us that he would win more races,” Thompson recalled.

Stein and Thompson were correct as Rising Prince went on to not only be a hero of local tracks, but win in the city as well.

While taking out the Group 1 weight for age Cox Plate as a 7-1 chance was the biggest win of Rising Prince’s career, Thompson’s favourite run came in another race.

“The Cox Plate was the most special, but for me the best win was the Queen Elizabeth. He fought it out with Ability all the way,” he said.

“He broke the TAB in Lithgow too, the lady at the TAB there used to ring up and ask when he was racing so she could put more staff on.”

Whether or not the winner of Sunday’s Rising Prince Gold Nugget will go on to reach the lofty heights of the race’s new namesake remains to be seen, but Thompson thinks the Bathurst region can produce another star.

“It would be terrific if this year’s winner went on to big things, I think the area will have another great horse, it will come,” he said.

“There have been a few good horses from around that way and I reckon there will be another one.”

The Bathurst Cup meeting, which includes the 1100m Rising Prince Gold Nugget, will be staged at Tyers Park this Sunday.

The meeting will consist of eight races.