The Warrnambool-based trainer broke through on day three, collecting race two - a three-year-old benchmark 70 handicap - on Thursday after a tough start to his campaign.

Jockey Jarrod Fry led Dustland Fairytale home.

Follow our live coverage of the May carnival here

Smith said it was a relief as he had "felt the weight of the world on my shoulders".

"I thought I'd go away with three winners over the carnival and I have one (so far)," he said.

"I have another 12 to go, so let's hope.

"I have a lot of owners who live in Warrnambool and they support me and a lot of them will be here today, so they like to see their trainer winning races and know they have confidence in me.

"It is a big thing (to win here) and I haven't got a lot of spring horses, if any, so the stakemoney (here) is good and it's very important for me to keep winning in my area."

Fry worked Dustland Fairytale down the outside to gain an advantage to win from the Patrick Payne-trained Imposing Brook and Michael Moroney's runner Caesar.

"The going seemed to be better out there so it was a good heavy ride by the jockey," Smith said.

"It was good to get this horse over the line. I bought her out of a paddock at Mikaybe Stud for relatively cheap, $30,000.

"Some good friends of mine from Perth are in it and some from Sydney and there's some boys from Melbourne here, so it's a good crew and we'll be singing the song tonight."

The Smith-Fry combination teamed up to win race four too - a 1400m flat race -with Puckapunyal.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: