They left Warrnambool almost 20 years ago "eating the paint off the walls".

But the Brunton family returned on Thursday to win the their old home town's Cup with Banca Mo - and they'll be back in Melbourne in the spring in search of much better races.

Banco Mo, the $3.70 favourite, gave trainers Scott and David Brunton, who are now based in Tasmania, one of their biggest and most impressive wins, taking the $200,000 Warrnambool Cup race by five lengths.

While the Bruntons have enjoyed great success in Tasmania and on regular raids to Melbourne, Scott Brunton recalled the family wasn't always travelling well.

His father David learned his craft as foreman for Noel Kelly at Ballarat, but when the legendary trainer died, the going got tough.

"When Dad worked for Noel things were pretty good," Brunton said.

"But we ended up eating the paint off the walls after he went. We left here on the bones of our arse."

Scott Brunton said things got so tough that as a 12-year-old he resorted stealing potatoes from a paddock near Warrnambool - and got caught.

"I thought I was going to jail, but they just made me work on the potato farm," he said.

Brunton said he and his father had considered taking Banco Mo to Brisbane for the winter, but might now set their sights higher and bring the five-year-old who cost owner Mandy Gunn $2000 for a Melbourne spring campaign.