KERANG-based trainer Donald Hird has only won a single race this season - but he picked the right one to do that.

On Saturday, his six-year-old gelding Rutilant took out the $20,000 Balranald Cup after a well-judged ride by veteran NSW hoop Cameron Quilty.

It is a remarkable comeback story, when the Hird family bought the horse from Sydney’s Freedman stable as a second-hand runner it would tak...