Saturday night was a rollercoaster ride for the injured centre - watching his pacer Send It salute in the Regional Championships State Final (2300 metres) at Menangle before turning his attention to the Raiders' loss to the Sydney Roosters.

Croker's always been a racing fan and has owned plenty of horses, and the 30-year-old's finally broken through for his first group 1 win.

To make it even more special, he shared it with his good mate Brad Hewitt - the trainer-driver also tasted group 1 success for the first time as a trainer, having already driven one for his dad.

Croker's been sidelined with first a shoulder injury and now a knee problem.

Send It's victory was a ray of sunshine in what's been a bleak eight weeks for the Green Machine.

Croker watched on from home as he continued his recovery.

"It was a big thrill. Unfortunately he couldn't be there - the Raiders were playing [Saturday] night so he couldn't make it down, but he was over the moon," Hewitt said.

"It's a good release for him. It's like anything you do [for a living], it's good to get away from it and talk about other things.

"He loves the horses ... even more so when you're winning $100,000 races.

"He's coming down today. We're going to have a bit to eat this arvo.

"He's going to make his way down [to Goulburn] and catch up. He was over the moon - I think he was more excited than me.

"It's my second - first training - I've driven another one for dad, but I've placed in about a dozen group 1s I reckon.

"But it's first time I've been able to knock one off. It's good to do it with Jarrod too - we've had a heap of horses with him over the years."

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The win's taken Send It's prize money to $176,000 with a crack at the $250,000 group 1 Rising Sun coming up in Brisbane in July.

"He's been a good little horse and he's got it all ahead of him too, he's just going to keep on improving," Hewitt said.

"He's got a quarter-of-a-million-dollar race in another month or so and aim towards that.

"He's only a four-year-old so he'll keep on getting a bit better."

Hewitt was also hopeful of a crack at the Inter Dominion at the end of the year - the Melbourne Cup of harness racing.

"It's at Menangle this year. They swap it around [each year]. It was at Perth, I think it was at New Zealand last year or the year before, and Victoria," he said.

"They sort of swap it around everywhere. This year it's at Menangle in Sydney so we can aim towards it.

"Whether he's good enough or not is another thing, but just because it's in our own backyard we've got nothing to lose.

"You don't have to pack it up and travel away or anything ... I reckon he deserves his chance anyway."