GEMMA Hewitt's driving debut couldn't have gone any better on Wednesday night.
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Driving at the Bathurst Paceway, Hewitt was in the gig for the four-year-old gelding she trains Kash Us Back ($5) in the Cobbity Equine Pace (1730 metres).
She said she was overcome with emotion after her first win in the fourth race of the meeting.
"It was pretty unbelievable really. It was so surreal," she said.
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"He's a pretty special horse to me Kash Us Back. I bred him, named him and trained him.
"It was just so special to have my first drive on him and to come away with the win, it was just so surreal.
"I couldn't explain it. I was numb for a while afterwards. I said, 'I think I won' and I could hear everyone yelling.
"He's just an unbelievable horse to me. I've got a special bond with him."
She started from barrier one but was caught three back on the fence at one stage before making her move and coming home down the outside to win ahead of Wendy Turnbull's Rock Bottom ($4.80) and Steve Turnbull's Firestorm Red ($3.60) in second and third respectively.
"He got crossed and we ended up three back at the fence. Coming around the last bend, the two in front of me weren't going too far and I was travelling, so I had to find a way to get off the pegs," she said.
"It took me a while and I almost ended up last but I got off and got through them and came down the inside."
And Hewitt then backed it up in the second last race of the meeting - the Cobbity Equine Pace (1730 metres), the seventh race of the meeting - when she drove her father Bernie Hewitt's Lady Swiss ($3.30) to victory, a neck ahead of Veronica Fisher's Star Play ($2.15 favourite) in second and over three metres ahead of Greg Rue's Williewa Lightning ($8.50) in third.
Lady Swiss had a poor start, and fell back to last early in the race, before Hewitt waited until the final turn to move to the outside and come around the racing pack and finish as the winner four wide.
Obviously her 100 per cent win record as a driver is unlikely to last forever, but to have that stat after only two career drives is something Hewitt can always look back on fondly.
Her first drive was six months in the making.
"It was probably about six months ago when I got my trial license and you've got to complete 20 trials before you can go to the races," she explained.
"So I was getting marked off once a week. It was good because it finished when the season started, so I just upgraded my license at the start of September."
Other winning drivers at the eight-race meeting included Nathan Hurst, Justin Reynolds (twice), Amy Rees, Mitch Turnbull and Peter Wood.