It's been the most successful season of Clint Lundholm's training career but he wants to make sure it isn't a one-time thing.
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The powerhouse Dubbo trainer lead the Country NSW premiership with just a handful of days left in the 2022/23 season, currently sitting on 74 wins with one of those coming in Sydney.
Set to be crowned the top trainer in the bush, Lundholm couldn't help but smile when talking about his season to date.
"It's been a really great season, last year was our best one and we had 48 and a half wins," he said.
"That was probably our best season to date, now to have 74 winners. The team has worked really hard for it, we've put a lot of money into it and we've got the job done."
Amassing more than $1.6 million in prize money, the Dubbo trainer trails Kris Lees for total wins in country races this season, a stable which has four times more horses than Lundholm.
"A couple of months back we got within five or six wins of him," Lundholm said of Lees.
"I thought we could try and push it but he has a massive team, it was always going to be hard to peg him back but I can't credit our stable enough."
It's been a whirlwind season for Lundholm to say the least.
Highway wins in Sydney and numerous successes at various tracks around the bush have been ticked off but his highlight isn't either of those.
Originally from Coonamble, Lundholm admitted his season highlight came out at his old stomping ground when Listen To The Band produced a fairytale-like few weeks, headlined by winning the Western Districts Country Championships qualifier.
"I hadn't won one before, we'd placed in it before numerous over the years," he said.
"Probably winning it with a horse we didn't expect to make the races was special.
"I honestly didn't think he would make the races, I thought he was mad doing the surgery when he did it and for him to go through to win five from six starts or something like that was super.
"Obviously he couldn't get us to the final but he is in the paddock now and ready to go so hopefully he can do it all over again."
Cruelly, Listen To The Band was ruled out of the final at Royal Randwick due to an injury which opened up the door for Smooth Esprit to take his place.
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But on that day in April, it was all about another Dubbo trainer.
Brett Robb's Sizzle Minizzle stormed home late to take out the biggest race in Country NSW racing and Lundholm believes it is successes like the Country Championships final which prove how strong the industry is in Dubbo.
"You had 'Snow' (Robb), myself and Connie who were up there last year alongside Mick Mulholland," he said.
"Everyone like that is punching up the table, it just goes to show that Dubbo is a hub of racing and we are strong out here.
"We had 'Snow' go down and win the final of the Championships, we've had numerous Highway winners from out here too."
With race meetings at Dubbo, Muswellbrook and Wellington still left this season, Lundholm is hoping for a few more winners at least but already has eyes on next season.
"I want to back it up, that's my number one goal," he said.
"I don't want to be a one-hit wonder, it takes a lot of work and money to try to keep competing and buying these horses.
"It's a credit to our database and our clients, they've backed us 110 per cent. They keep buying horses and I can't thank them enough because that is probably the biggest point of how we have gotten to where we have.
"It's just the backing of them and my staff, they have worked hard. That's my number one goal for next year but I'd love to push into the city."
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