Celebrate: International Women's Day, March 8
Jess Fothergill's school guidance counsellor would not have had too many problems in making suggestions of career paths.
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It was all there in front of them, documented in drawings.
"I always wanted to be a dog trainer," Jess conceded.
"When I was at school, instead of doing my school work I'd be drawing pictures of kennels and dogs and tracks.
"As a kid I'd be the one who would be playing around with all their toys, pretending they were greyhounds racing around a racetrack.
"You could say I was a bit obsessed, and that obsession has continued throughout my life."
Like so many young girls and boys, Jess was born into the sport. Her father Brian "had a couple of greyhounds" at their home near Shepparton, and as an early teenager Jess would tag along to the track and catch the dogs.
"Dad was always involved in greyhounds, and I was always helping him out with the dogs, always wanting to get involved," she said.
"I got my first dog - I wasn't old enough to have it in my name so it raced in dad's name - when I was about 15.
"His name was Apache Spur and he won first-up for me at Shepparton and I caught the bug straight away. That was it. That was going to be me from that moment on.
"I was lucky actually. I nominated him for the Cup as well as a grade five race.
"Luckily, I got into the grade five race as he clearly wasn't good enough for the Cup heats and dad would have killed me if he had got a start. But it all worked out."
Jess left home and learnt more about the sport from experienced trainers such as John Maple, before embarking on becoming a hobby trainer.
She enjoyed a lot of success with her team in Victoria for almost a decade before meeting Clint Colaiacovo, packing up and relocating with Clint to Glenfield Park in Wagga Wagga.
"I actually met Clint at Bendigo when I would go there a bit," she explained.
"He was originally from Wagga, we started seeing each other, he moved back there and I followed. We've been here for five years now.
"I really enjoy it. It was a little bit of adjustment at the start being so far from the city and the beach and everything that's nice and close in Victoria, but because of where we are I still get back across the border to race fairly often and sometimes stay at Dad's place which is only a few hours away."
Jess has six greyhounds in the kennel with their combined tally rising to 16 when you include Clint's team.
"It's a team effort with us, but the ones in my name I choose where they race and how they work and he's the same with his dogs, but we're still doing them together, and working together every morning, and of course helping each other out whenever help is needed."
Jess enjoyed some great success at an elite level late last year with her chaser Scorching Boy.
He qualified for the finals of the Group 3 Goulburn Cup in October, then reached the final of the Group 3 Bidgee Cup at Wagga in November, and then in December reached the final of the Group 2 Maitland Cup.
"Yeah, that was huge those few weeks," Jess said.
"To make the group finals was very exciting, in fact when he won his heat and made the Maitland Cup final, that night before the race I was too excited and got no sleep at all.
"But it's just good to know that all your hard work is paying off and that you are doing something right."
While Scorching Boy was living up to his name, Jess had his kennelmate Agent Chevrolet absolutely flying.
Through November, December and into January, Agent Chevrolet won 10 in a row; eight at Wagga and a pair of wins at Dubbo.
"He was a maiden and a few trainers had a few issues with him and he didn't really want to chase.
"I thought he'd be a placegetter dog for us, so I bought him cheap.
"I knew he could run but he had some problems, but we sorted those things out and he's been huge," Jess said.
"Whether he can go to the next step is yet to be seen, but we've already got so much more than we expected from him."
Since Jess took over as trainer the dog has won 13 of 17 starts and been placed three other times.
Jess Fothergill is one of a number of female trainers carving her niche in the industry, and it's appropriate that today on International Women's Day, she, along with other women in the sport, is celebrated.
"There are so many women having a great run in the industry right now, and one of the best things about this industry is that everyone, men and women, are always offering encouragement and help if needed. It makes you proud to be a part of it."
This article was produced as part of an ACM partnership with Greyhound Racing NSW.
