Isobel Ross paid a heartfelt tribute to trainer Amanda Turnbull after the pair combined to win Friday night's Group 3 Red Ochre Fillies and Mares Classic with Gotta Party Doll.
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The Group 3 race headlined the Carnival of Cups meeting at Dubbo Paceway and it, like the rest of the meeting, belonged to The Lagoon trainer-driver Turnbull.
As well as training the Red Ochre winner, the Turnbull took out the Little Red Jug Final and Quambys Stayers Cup while she also drove the Mathew McCarthy-trained The Weekend to victory in the Club Dubbo Golden Gig Final.
The result marked the second Group 3 win Ross had achieved for Turnbull and speaking post-race the talented reinswoman gave a huge amount of credit to someone in the sport has has idolised for so long.
"I love her and she means the world to me," Ross said of Turnbull.
"She's taught me lots and we work really well together and get a lot of success."
Ross said the race "couldn't have worked out better" for Gotta Party Doll, as she was able to stay near the front early, take the lead as the field received the bell, and the powered away late for a victory scored in a slick mile rate of 1:57:6.
"It was amazing. That was a really good feeling," she said.
"I was confident leading, she went so well last time and she was prob up in grade tonight but I was really happy with her.
"It panned out perfectly, it couldn't have worked out better."
Gotta Party Doll went into Friday's 2120m event having broken the track record at Parkes last time out.
Ross was in the gig then and got the nod again for Friday night while Turnbull teamed up with Meraviglia ($26), and got the the lead early on at Dubbo after some rapid speed across the front.
With the pace still on in a big way, Ross skirted around the field and took Gotta Party Doll ($3.20) to the lead as they went past the post for the first time.
The pace finally began to ease as they approached the bell, with one of last year's Red Ochre winner Scarlet Babe ($7.50) pushing up to second.
Scarlet Babe and Meraviglia continued to pressure the leader but as they rounded the bend for home Gotta Party Doll found another gear and powered on to win by a massive 17.9m.
It was a Turnbull trifecta, as the Steve Turnbull trained-and-driven Myra Dawn ($11) finished well to get second ahead of Meraviglia.
It was all about Gotta Party Doll though and with the COVID-19 restrictions that kept crowds away from the track for much of this year easing, Ross savoured the experience.
"It's probably even more special being out here at Dubbo and there's the big crowd and atmosphere. You can't beat country racing," Ross said.
"The feeling of coming down the home straight and actually seeing a crowd and hearing them roar, that's a good feeling."