With a coat that had him looking like a woolly mammoth, an injured leg too sensitive to touch and a misshapen hoof, there was a time not too long ago that Lucky Nine didn't even look like running in Sunday's Group One Chairman's Sprint Prize (1,200m) - let alone winning first-up after a two-month break.

Lucky Nine's litany of problems have been well documented throughout his spectacular career, but trainer Caspar Fownes revealed the setbacks suffered in the lead-up to the seven-year-old's sixth Group One win were considerable, even by his standards, and had the horseman finding a new level of admiration for his warrior.

"I was very emotional - and I don't get like that often - but yeah, I was choked up, and that was the reaction from a lot of the staff, too. We have worked long hours to get him out there," Fownes said after a tenacious victory typical of the plain-looking gelding's style.

"He had swelling in his tendon sheath, his feet were terrible and his coat was shocking. It's taken a lot of TLC, working on him every night, but for a while there was a chance he wasn't even going to run in this race. It was only a week ago we were working his leg, he was just too sensitive, and you couldn't even touch him."

"It was a test - it kept me on my toes, and the team worked hard. I had the boys working overtime, getting in early, leaving late, and doing everything we could. In the end he just tries, and he gives you everything. He may not have won by far, but that is what he does."

Lucky Nine, third favourite at 5.9, fought off a late challenge from Charles The Great, with even money favourite Sterling City a desperately unlucky third and Frederick Engels - who loomed on the outside of the winner - finishing fourth.

Jockey Brett Prebble has been on Lucky Nine in each of his top-level wins, but admitted he felt it might be too much this time for a horse he calls "a character".

"This might have been the most emotional I've been after a win. It meant a lot to me. I didn't think he was going to win when they came to him, but he just defies them," Prebble said. "Once he gets a neck in front he finds a way to win - he is a courageous horse. They had their chance and I thought they were going to run him down."

After Lucky Nine became the first horse since Silent Witness (2004-05) to win back-to-back editions of the race, Fownes will now consider his options for the globetrotter.

A return tilt at the Group One Golden Shaheen in Dubai or the Group One Takamatsunomiya Kinen in Japan - both races over 1,200m on the last weekend of March - are on the table, but staying closer to home with a run in the Group One Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup (1,400m) on March 16 seems more likely.

Wherever he ends up, Fownes said he will be better for Sunday's memorable effort. "He is going to improve for that - he has gone around at 80 or 85 per cent," he said.