While she wasn't able to watch it happen live after a bout of heat stroke unfortunately struck during the Dubbo Greyhound's New Year's Eve racing, Samantha Ashman is still celebrating her winning double at the massive evening.
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The trainer, who experienced success with both Little Winlock and Winlock O'Clock, fell ill shortly before her second win of the evening, and has thankfully made a full recovery.
"I'm coming a bit better, I went away at Christmas time and we drove to Queensland and put one out in the performance trials and when I came back, it was very hot," Ashman said.
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Ashman and her family are originally from the coastline and while adjusting to a forty three degree day has been a challenge, one thing that hasn't proved tough has been adjusting to the track in Dubbo.
The trainer, now based in Wellington, has already notched up a huge win in the Lesley Ann Leonard Memorial earlier in the year with Winlock Pirate, who won through in the heats in Dubbo, and a double win with two of her best prospects is a perfect way to cap off a great year.
"They've come along really well, the maiden one, she's only had the three starts even, with a third and a second and now the win and she just got there by a head, so it was great," Ashman said.
Winlock O'Clock, on the other hand, has been performing well for the trainer all year, with nine starts, four wins and a number of placings rounding out an impressive slate of racing for Ashman.
"He's been going really good for us, he's only a sprinter, but he's coming along really well," Ashman said.
"It's all been very good."
The results are a huge step up for the Ashmans, who've been racing mostly as hobbyists for the past decade and have only recently made the step up to something close to full time training.
"We've been going for about nine years now, we've only just been racing really small and sort of hobbyist, but now we've moved out here and we've brought a couple of different ones and really stepped up to a different level in training, the dogs have been going really well."
Next up for her hounds will likely be a turn to Gunnedah, or another appearance in Dubbo, the trainer's 'second home' of sorts.
"We'll probably head towards Gunnedah or back to Dubbo, they seem to like the track there, it's basically their home track even though we're based in Wellington and hopefully they can keep their winning ways."
Greyhounds are next expected to race in Dubbo on January 19, 2020.
