It was a victory to savour for Cooper in front of her home crowd, but she said there was no time to rest on her laurels.

“Racing’s seven days a week, there’s no day off,” Cooper said.

“You’re always getting ready to go somewhere. It’s hectic, it’s not an easy lifestyle.

“It is exciting though and that’s what gets you out of bed every morning to go and train horses in the dark.

“You’ve got to be dedicated and motivated, but it’s a passion, that’s why I do it.”

Cooper’s father was a trainer and she grew up around horses, getting her own trainers licence seven years ago.

Since then she has trained about 40 winners in three different states, but Tuesday’s Mallee Cup win was one of her biggest.

“There have been lots of highs and lows and yesterday was quite exciting,” she said.

“It’s exciting for the local industry as well because you don’t want to come to Mildura and see away trainers win all the races.

“My next aim is to win the big one in Mildura, the Mildura Cup.”

Being based in the country can make it tough for trainers, especially smaller operations like Coopers.

For more of this story, purchase your copy of Thursday’s Sunraysia Daily 5/11/2009.