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By Graeme White

There are hundreds of racing followers that support a horse because of its name and in the case of the Osborne stable there are no shortage of options.

You can take your pick from Dancing Duck, Lovely Llama, Mighty Mongoose, Pretty Penguin or Brilliant Badger who will race over the next few days at Albury (Thursday) and Tatura (Saturday) for trainer Olivia Osborne.

Pretty Penguin is the most probable on recent form to strike another win for the 25-year-old trainer whose twin sister Sarah assists her of a morning riding trackwork at the property of their parents at Benalla.

Olivia Osborne with Pretty Penguin at Corowa

It’s also the home to a successful stud and breeding operation named Riverbank Farm where there are plenty of horses and lots of jobs to be done.

For Olivia it’s about training racehorses and when times allows it she is also a myotherapist where she treats muscles, joints and nerves in humans.

She has been training for less than two years and has enjoyed consistent results with her first winner Zooming Zebra successful at her second meeting with a starter at Benalla.

When the Osborne twins were younger they would give their horses names after animals and so it came to be that they would also carry that name into the races.

Their father Russell trained Pretty Penguin in her early races and she has been able to win four times since being prepared by Olivia.

Her last two victories have been with Hannah Edgley aboard who will be on board in the Atura Albury Benchmark 66 (1000m).

Pretty Penguin is a daughter of Pretty Possum which won 11 races for Russell Osborne including her last at Moonee Valley.

“Pretty Possum was the first horse we named like that then we had a squirrel which was Squeaky Squirrel (7 wins) and went on from there with one named after a ferret and another after a frog,” she said.

Pretty Possum is sired by one of the stud’s stallions Boulder City while another home bred, Redente, is the sire of Squeaky Squirrel and plenty of others. Pretty Penguin has won four of her past nine starts and was successful at Corowa at her latest start.

“I’m confident she will run well at the distance again from a good draw and with Hannah aboard,” she said.

Osborne’s other runner, Heart Of Venice, has had a few starts with her since joining the stable from Peter Moody. The plan is to try and record another win before she is retired to stud and mated with Prince Of Caviar with also resides at Riverbank Farm.

Prince Of Caviar is a son of the great Black Caviar who was also raced by the breeders of Heart Of Venice. Osborne’s other Albury contender is Brilliant Badger in the Dux Albury Maiden (1400m).

“He has been a frustrating and tricky horse. When you think he can win he produces nothing and then other times he runs well,” she said.

It’s all still a learning process for the young trainer who was born into the racing industry and has had her share of success in less than two years: “I live and breathe it. I just love the racing,” she enthused.

View the final fields with full form & race replays for Albury here