In short, Myrtleford galloper Cameno Road and Bendigo nag Panton, who multi-millionaire Lloyd Williams paid $120,000 for five years ago, couldn’t be split in the first race of the day, despite being the only two horses in the race.

Connections of both runners were forced to split the winner’s cheque, but heads were scratched when it came to the winner’s trophy.

“We didn’t know what to do,” part-owner of Cameno Road Gerard Garoni told Backchat yesterday.

“In the end we decided to toss a coin, but you won’t believe what happened.”

Connections watched in anticipation as the coin spun and spun and spun back to earth, only to plug itself into the turf directly on its edge.

Another spin produced a heads, allowing Panton’s owner-trainer Paul Banks to take the trophy home.

“I just got a ‘thanks for coming’,” Garoni lamented.

Although he would have rather taken home the full prizemoney, Cameno Road’s shared victory had a self-imposed silver lining for Garoni.

“After (Cameno Road) won his first race I said to the trainer (Dick Dale) ‘next time he wins I’ll give up the cigarettes’,” Garoni said.

“Well I decided a dead-heat meant I only had to cut back to three a day.

“It’s not going very well, which probably explains why I’m still so cranky about the dead-heat.”