One metre longer or one metre shorter and trainer Joe Cleary would be celebrating his third straight Queanbeyan Cup to join Archie Turner as the only trainer to achieve the feat.
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But the bob of a head denied the loveable larrikin, with Keith Dryden cheekily declaring he should "share it around a bit, son" after he won his first Cup since teaming up with Scott Collings.
There wasn't much between Cleary's Uncle Gerry ($4.20) or Dryden and Collings' Midnight Obsession ($4 favourite) in the market and there was even less separating them at the end of the 2000-metre race on Sunday — the latter saluting by a short head, with Only In Red ($5.50) a further 1¾ lengths away third.
Uncle Gerry stumbled out of the gates, but jockey Simon Miller still managed to take her to the lead where she settled until halfway around the home turn with Midnight Obsession tucked in behind.
Then Cleary's gelding made his move with 600m to go and shot clear to open up a three-length lead down the straight, only to get caught right at the post.
Midnight Obsession has been in stunning form over the last two months, with the four-year-old mare's Cup win her fifth victory on the trot.
While Dryden has lost count of how many Queanbeyan Cups he's won, it was the first one since he teamed up with Collings to form a super stable based out of Canberra and Goulburn.
"We're in the business of winning races for our owners and with Joe he's got a long career ahead of him and he's quite a good trainer," Dryden said.
"A setback back this week, but he did win it last year. Share it around a bit, son, that's all I can say."
The training duo will wait to see how their daughter of Zariz pulls up before deciding where to next for her, but they have their eye on the Country Classic (2000m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
Midnight Obsession could find herself up against Uncle Gerry again, with Cleary also eyeing off the race, which is restricted to country trained horses.
Cleary also has his eyes on a bigger prize for the horse named after retail mogul Gerry Harvey, with the $1 million Magic Millions Trophy (2200m) on the Gold Coast in January a possibility.
"The plan was to grab her by the balls with the weight advantage at the 600m mark and the plan nearly came to fruition," he said.
"I've got a massive respect for Keith Dryden as a bloke, known him all my life, too good. I was only a short half head off winning three Queanbeyan Cups, but I'll be back next year bigger and better than ever."
