Olivia Osborne didn’t have much time to prepare for her first runners as a trainer at Benalla last week with her license only coming through four days before her first official day on the job.
The 24-year-old daughter of Benalla trainer Russell almost had a dream start to her career when Zooming Zebra was beaten a head, but it’s that horses victory eight days earlier she was hoping to bank as her first winner had her license been processed in time.
“Dad was away in Ireland for three weeks, he got back on the Saturday and took her to the races on the Monday and she won,” Osborne recalled.
“I become an assistant trainer to my Dad two years ago and I started 18 months ago the course work to become a trainer.
“The workload hasn’t changed much more the responsibility, accepting, nominating and scratching horses.
“Now that the first day is over I am a lot more relaxed about it all.”
Osborne, a third-generation trainer who rides her own trackwork, has seven horses in work, four of which will race at Benalla on Monday.
Osborne has also spent time working for Chris Waller and Lindsay Park.
With her father’s commitments through the families stud Riverbank Farm which has seven stallions on its roster, a training partnership could be on the cards in the future.
“When I was six or seven I would sit at the window and wait for Dad to ride a horse past the stable and I would wait all morning just to get that little glimpse,” she recalls.
“So I always passionate about it so it’s a dream come true.
“Dad was happy to offload a few as well, he is busy as the family breed and stand stallions and Prince of Caviar and Boulder City are always pretty busy and he is excited to increase his workload there.”
WATCH: Zooming Zebra finish second at Benalla
While Osborne may be relatively unknown in the training ranks to begin with, her and sister Sarah may be better known in racing circles for their now famous naming of racehorses.
On Monday they will saddle up Kool Kat, Zooming Zebra and Miss Mouse to continue the tradition.
“Some of them now are animals I didn’t know existed,” she laughed.
“It started when Sarah and I first got involved and Dad had one that had big white eyes and loved to cuddle and we thought she was like a possum so she got the name Pretty Possum.
“And then from there is stuck, we went from squirrel to chipmunk and we are known for it a bit now.
“It is starting to get a bit harder to come up with new ones!”