Newcastle-based apprentice Louise Day hopes a winning double at Kembla Grange on Saturday will kick-start a career-best season.
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The Irishwoman pushed the Gwenda Markwell-trained Captain Manering and Jason Coyle's Rancho Notorious to victories for her fourth provincial meeting double.
Day has five wins in the opening 18 days of the season, which is her third since joining the stable of premier Newcastle trainer Kris Lees.
"I'm just trying to improve every year," said Day, who had 40 winners last season and 38 the campaign before.
"I was a bit disappointed with how last year started off.
"It took a while to get the ball rolling, so hopefully I can just keep it going now.
"That was my 20th winner at provincials, so I'm down to two kilos at provincials, so I'm just steadily trying to do it the right way, and not go to town too early."
The 24-year-old was having her first rides on Captain Manering and Rancho Notorious, which was also her first time on a Coyle-trained horse. Captain Manering hit the lead 200m out and held on gamely, while Rancho Notorious flashed home late.
"A couple of really good horses who were able to make up the ground when not a lot of horses were," she said. "They were running some very quick times, so they did well.
"[Captain Manering] covered a lot of ground around the field and I was worried about getting to the front too soon, so I just tried to go through the gears slowly, and when he heard them coming, he just kept fighting.
"[Rancho Notorious] loomed around the corner like he was going to letdown but he just gradually built up momentum.
"He copped a little bit of interference which I think actually helped him in the last few strides because he has a tendency to lay in, so that prevented it."
Day said she was "absolutely loving" her time with the Lees stable. She will ride several of Lees' team, including Gem Gong, at trials at Newcastle on Monday.
"It's a great team to have the backing of and he's been very supportive," she said. "He's put me on a couple of really nice ones tomorrow. That's the beauty of riding for such a well-renowned trainer, you get to ride some really quality animals."
"It's great experience."
Gem Song will run in a star-studded trial featuring Everest contender In Her Time and Graff.