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But he is overjoyed when Nature Strip won his third Everest attempt with great class and style.
“It was the biggest thrill and we cheered him on,” he said Lyons recalling the unforgettable evening.
“As the race is in Sydney and we live in Melbourne, due to COVID we are still in lockdown and were unable to attend in person.
“As you can imagine we were devastated but we watched the race at home.
“I celebrated (the win) with my wife Marie and on Zoom with our dearest friends. We celebrated till the early hours of the morning,” he said.
In front of 10,000 racegoers at Randwick in Sydney, Nature Strip proved his mettle as the best sprinting thoroughbred in Australia.
He held on grimly to beat the fast-finishing Masked Crusader and Eduardo with last year's winner Classique Legend winding up fourth.
“He was being chased by two top-class horses in Eduardo and Masked Crusader,” said Lyons.
“He has the magnificent temperament and is a magnificent specimen of a thoroughbred.
“As he had done all the work, we knew he would get tired late. His big heart and courage saw him through.
“When he crossed the line in the first place, the feeling was euphoric!” he said.
In the world’s richest race on turf, the winning prize was a staggering A$6.2 million.
It was Nature Strip’s third attempt at the race after two unplaced efforts.
“He has done it on the biggest day and won the championship. It’s very special because he is a horse that deserves to have that accolade,” trainer Chris Waller said of his star sprinter.
“He has been the highest-rated sprinter in the world for a while. That gave me confidence and he has justified it today.”
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“I never imagined getting to the fence and the front. From there I just let him be Nature Strip, and when you do that they just don’t beat him,” said jockey McDonald, “They get close, but they don’t beat him.”
With COVID restrictions being lifted, albeit too slowly for Lyons, he hopes to see his horse win on the world stage soon.
“After speaking with our champion trainer Chris Waller, if the horse recovers well from the Everest he will be coming to Melbourne for a Group 1, the VRC Darley Sprint on the last day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival on November 6th.
“Following this race, the connections will have discussions with Mr. Waller as to his thoughts of an overseas campaign as we would love to show him off to the world.
“We would be very happy for him to win all his races,” said Lyons.