As Barbara Joseph sips a cup of tea in her busy Canberra horse stables, she admits a lot has changed since she began horse training 48 years ago.
"When I first went up to Randwick, we weren't allowed to go into the members [section], there was an area there that would be for men only and there was a white line you couldn't cross," Ms Joseph said.
"It was different, definitely different to these days for sure."
It was years earlier in 1975 when her horse training career began through a customer at her Bombala butcher shop.
Barbara was no stranger to the horse racing industry.
As one of ten children, she was taught how to ride by her older sister at six years old and at 14 rode racehorses during their training as a track rider.
So, when the opportunity arose to start training, she welcomed it.
"A gentleman came in and said he had a horse, and he needed a trainer. So, I said, well, because I still love my horses, I'll get a licence," Ms Joseph said.
"Starting out in the industry to get my trainer's license was pretty difficult because there weren't many women that had licenses.
"I did all the work, all the riding and his first start in a race, he won. I thought 'Oh good god, how easy is this?'"
That horse went on to win 17 races under Ms Joseph.
But this was only the start of her journey to success.
"People from around Canberra would come up to me and I ended up with probably five or six horses in the backyard, so I built stables in the backyard in the house in town," she said.
But it wasn't until 13 years later when she became the first female trainer to win the group one Doncaster Handicap that Ms Joseph began to turn heads.
The race, now worth $4 million, was won by her horse Merimbula Bay, the first yearling she had purchased.
The horse had been purchased for just $5,000 and won over 50 times that amount.
"Oh, [I got a] hell of a lot of publicity, great publicity and photos and the telegraph came down to do interviews in Bombala.
"It was funny, everybody wanted to talk to you and I just said, 'God what's happening?'
"That was a turning point in my career."
Women play a vital role
Nowadays, training looks a little bit different for Ms Joseph.
While she stands back and admires the passing horses, it's clear the baton has been handed to her sons, Matt and Paul Jones.
"To watch mum grow from a two-horse stable in the back of a residential, to now we're split between two stables and maintain 36 to 40 horses," Paul Jones said.
Joseph and Jones Racing have continued their success — they most recently won a medal named in Barbara's honour for best trainer at the Canberra Racing Carnival.
Women, once banned from member stands at race meets, now play a vital role in the industry, but female trainers are still few and far between.
Just under 24 per cent of Australia's licensed thoroughbred trainers are female, with Victoria leading the way with 219 female trainers.
"In racing, women do play a big role because they are probably more 'horsey' people and there's lots of women and young girls coming through pony clubs and things like that," Mr Jones said.
"I'd say well over 50 per cent of the staff on the track would be women, and it's obvious they're an attribute to the game."
"The girls are just as good as the boys," Ms Joseph said.
